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Download pdf: uploads/WP5 Collection of ongoing international standardization activities in the area of OLAE.pdf

Generally, standards are requirements or recommendations based on best practices and are created by bringing together the experience and expertise of diverse groups of interested parties – the manufacturers, sellers, buyers, users and regulators of a particular material, product, process or service. This site focuses on the activities related to standardisation of measurement protocols for Organic and Large Area Electronic devices, more specifically: Organic Photovoltaics (OPV), Organic Light Emitting Diodes/Lighting (OLED/Lighting) and Organic Thin Film Transistors (OTFT).

OPV
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), ASTM International (originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) and Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) all publish standards for photovoltaic (PV) products.
Standardized protocols for performance testing in terms of efficiency and stability are defined according to IEC and ASTM norms and are specifically adapted to well-established PV technologies like crystalline silicon and amorphous silicon for professional outdoor use. Adapted protocols for emerging and novel PV technologies like OPV are not existing yet. Main efforts that have started and are still ongoing are focusing on measurement protocols for determination of the efficiency and stability of OPV devices.

Efficiency
Accurate determination of the photovoltaic power conversion efficiency is essential for a comparison of results and product compatibility. Photovoltaic device efficiencies are notoriously difficult to measure accurately because, among other reasons, of the sensitivity of the device performance to deviations between the emission spectrum of the solar simulator used in the testing and the true AM1.5 spectrum. In order to quantify the cell performance in a comparable manner, a set of Standard Reporting Conditions (SRC) has been defined. These are specified as a radiant density of 1000 W/m2 with a spectral distribution defined as “AM1.5G” (ASTM G173) at a cell temperature of 25 oC.
Standardized efficiency measurements and reference cell calibrations are carried out in photovoltaic calibration laboratories like NREL (US), FhG ISE (D), AIST (Japan) and are based on the protocols that have been developed in the US in the 1980s [ , ]. Some efforts have been made in the past to motivate and educate the research community to use these protocols (or simplified forms) for the accurate performance determination of OPV [ , , , ].An overview of maximum power conversion efficiencies for PV devices measured at “AM1.5” conditions is semi-annually published in the Solar Cell Efficiency Tables in Progress in Photovoltaics. An excerpt for OPV from the January 2009 edition is shown in Table I

Stability
The current existing tests for PV are: IEC 61215and 61646 for x-Si and thin film (a-Si) modules respectively. Internationally accepted (accelerated) ageing tests have not yet been established for organic-based solar cells, which is understandable considering the stage of development of these cells. At this stage of development of OPV, individual accelerated lifetime tests are carried out to identify critical stress factors as well as determination of acceleration factors when subjected to certain stress factors. A recent example of a setup for studying stability and degradation of polymer solar cells was published by Krebs et al.[ ] The intention of these tests is to study the performance as a function of materials, compositions, processing schemes in the various processing lines with the aim to find material combinations that permit long-term stable cells and not to define the potential lifetime that can be obtained with OPV devices under outdoor conditions. Accelerated studies may be necessary, but it is important that the exact experimental conditions are given; otherwise the results will be impossible to reproduce and interpret. Finally, results from accelerated lifetime testing cannot be viewed as generally applicable to other device geometries than the one tested as different materials and different device constitutions may give widely different responses to accelerated test conditions.

The first International Summit on Organic Photovoltaic Stability (ISOS) took place in Golden, Colorado, USA July 14-16, 2008. It was sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE), Plextronics and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Suggestions for shelf-life measurements, outdoor testing, indoor accelerated light soaking, packaging/encapsulation, and determination of the stabilized efficiency were done. Conclusions of the summit can be found in a presentation that is provided here.

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee 82 Solar Photovoltaic Energy System (TC82)

The scope of TC82 is “To prepare international standards for systems of photovoltaic conversion of solar energy into electrical energy and for all the elements in the entire photovoltaic energy system.” The “dashboard” for accessing TC82 information is found here, which you can also reach by typing “82” in Search Site box at the bottom of the IEC home page (www.iec.ch) and pressing the “TC Dashboard” button. IEC TC82 comprises five working groups (covering Glossary, non-concentrating and concentrator modules, systems and balance of system components) and a joint committee working group on decentralized rural electrification.

Table 1 Positions in IEC TC82
Position Name Organization Country
TC Chairman Heinz Ossenbrink Joint Research Center European Commission
TC Secretariat Howard Barikmo
Sunset Technology USA

WG 1 (Glossary)
Convenor Hidenori Shimizu International Standards Engineering Japan

WG 2 (Modules, non-concentrating)
Convenor John Wohlgemuth
BP Solar USA

WG 3 (Systems)
Convenor Ted Spooner

Martin Cotterell University of New South Wales
Sundog Solar Australia
UK

WG 6 (Balance of System Components) Convenor Charles Whitaker
BEW Engineering USA

WG 7 (Concentrator Modules)
Convenor Robert McConnell Amonix USA

WG1 glossary: Task
To prepare a glossary.

WG2 Modules, non-concentrating: Task
To develop international standards for non-concentrating, terrestrial photovoltaic modules. These standards will be in the general areas of photoelectric performance, environmental test, quality assurance and quality assessment criteria. The standards ultimately produced should be universal and non-restrictive in their application, taking into account different environments and manufacturing technologies. In addition to the basic electrical and mechanical characteristics, standards will be written for other important factors such as module thermal performance, high voltage performance, fault resistance and fault-tolerant design.

WG3 Systems: Task
To give general instructions for the photovoltaic system design, construction and maintenance. For each particular user's application, each activity should be the object of a separate study area. The Working Group should incorporate the existing standards on the functional blocks that are different from the photovoltaic array field, and promote the production of new specific standards when necessary.

WG6 Balance-of-system components: Task
To develop international standards for balance-of-system components for PV systems. These standards will be in the general areas of performance, safety, environmental durability (reliability), quality assurance and quality assessment criteria. The standards ultimately produced should be universal and non-restrictive in their application, taking into account different environments and manufacturing technologies. In addition to the basic electrical and mechanical characteristics, standards will be written for other important factors such as thermal performance, electromagnetic interference, and climate applicability/rating.

WG7 Concentrator modules: Task
To develop international standards for photovoltaic concentrators and receivers. These standards will be in the general areas of safety, photoelectric performance and environmental reliability tests. The standards ultimately produced should be universal and non-restrictive in their application, taking into account different environments and manufacturing technologies. In addition to the basic electrical and mechanical characteristics, standards will be written for other important factors such as thermal performance, high voltage performance, fault resistance and fault-tolerant design.
A list of IEC standards can be found here.

IEC 60891, Procedures for temperature and irradiance corrections to measured I-V characteristics of crystalline silicon photovoltaic devices
IEC 60904-1, Photovoltaic devices. Part 1: Measurement of photovoltaic current-voltage characteristics
IEC 60904-2, Photovoltaic devices. Part 2: Requirements for reference solar cells
IEC 60904-2/A1, Photovoltaic devices. Part 2: Requirements for reference solar cells, Amendment 1
IEC 60904-3, Photovoltaic devices. Part 3: Measurement principles for terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) solar devices with reference spectral irradiance data
IEC 60904-4 Ed.1: Photovoltaic Devices - Part 4: Procedure for establishing the traceability of the calibration of reference solar devices
IEC 60904-5, Photovoltaic devices - Part 5: Determination of the equivalent cell temperature (ECT) of photovoltaic (PV) devices by the open-circuit voltage method
IEC 60904-6, Photovoltaic devices - Part 6: Requirements for reference solar modules
IEC 60904-6/A1, Photovoltaic devices - Part 6: Requirements for reference solar modules, Amendment 1
IEC 60904-7, Photovoltaic devices - Part 7: Computation of spectral mismatch error introduced in the testing of a photovoltaic device
IEC 60904-8, Photovoltaic devices - Part 8: Measurement of spectral response of a photovoltaic (PV) device
IEC 60904-9, Photovoltaic Devices—Part 9: Solar Simulator Performance Requirements
IEC 60904-10, Photovoltaic devices - Part 10: Methods of linearity measurement
IEC 61277, Terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) power generating systems - General and guide
IEC/PAS 62011, Specifications for the use of renewable energies in rural decentralised electrification
IEC 61215, Crystalline silicon terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) modules - Design qualification and type approval
IEC 61345, UV test for photovoltaic (PV) modules
IEC 61646, Thin-film terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) modules - Design qualification and type approval
IEC 61701, Salt mist corrosion testing of photovoltaic (PV) modules
IEC 61721, Susceptibility of a photovoltaic (PV) module to accidental impact damage (resistance to impact test)
IEC 61829, Crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) array - On-site measurement of I-V characteristics


IEEE SCC21 – Standards Coordinating Committee on Fuel Cells, Photovoltaics, Dispersed Generation, and Energy Storage.

SCC21 oversees the development of standards in the areas of fuel cells, photovoltaics (PV), dispersed generation, and energy storage and coordinates efforts in these fields among the various IEEE Societies and other affected organizations to ensure that all standards are consistent and properly reflect the views of all applicable disciplines. IEEE SCC21 reviews all proposed IEEE standards in these fields before their submission to the IEEE-SA Standards Board for approval and coordinates submission to other organizations. The SCC21 Official web site is found here.


American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) E44.09 Committee on Photovoltaic Electric Power Conversion

ASTM E44.09 has continued its pursuit of product and system test procedures with two new standards underdevelopment, one of which will define procedures for evaluating the performance of concentrator modules. The E44.09 web page with a list of active standards can be found here.
A list of ASTM standards can be found here:

ASTM E 927, Standard Specification for Solar Simulation for Terrestrial Photovoltaic Testing.
ASTM E 948, Standard Test Method for Electrical Performance of Photovoltaic Cells Using Reference Cells Under Simulated Sunlight.
ASTM E 973, Standard Test Method for Determination of the Spectral Mismatch Parameter Between a Photovoltaic Device and a Photovoltaic Reference Cell.
ASTM E 973M, Standard Test Method for Determination of the Spectral Mismatch Parameter Between a Photovoltaic Device and a Photovoltaic Reference Cell.
ASTM E 1021, Test Methods for Measuring Spectral Response of Photovoltaic Cells.
ASTM E 1036, Standard Test Methods for Electrical Performance of Nonconcentrator Terrestrial Photovoltaic Modules and Arrays Using Reference Cells.
ASTM E 1036M, Standard Test Methods for Electrical Performance of Nonconcentrator Terrestrial Photovoltaic Modules and Arrays Using Reference Cells.
ASTM E 1038, Standard Test Method for Determining Resistance of Photovoltaic Modules to Hail by Impact with Propelled Ice Balls.
ASTM E 1040, Standard Specification for Physical Characteristics of Nonconcentrator Terrestrial Photovoltaic Reference Cells.
ASTM E 1125, Standard Test Method for Calibration of Primary Non-Concentrator Terrestrial Photovoltaic Reference Cells Using a Tabular Spectrum.
ASTM E 1143, Standard Test Method for Determining the Linearity of a Photovoltaic Device Parameter with Respect To a Test Parameter.
ASTM E 1171, Standard Test Method for Photovoltaic Modules in Cyclic Temperature and Humidity Environments.
ASTM E 1328, Standard Terminology Relating to Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conversion.
ASTM E 1362, Standard Test Method for Calibration of Non-Concentrator Photovoltaic Secondary Reference Cells.
ASTM E 1462, Standard Test Methods for Insulation Integrity and Ground Path Continuity of Photovoltaic Modules.
ASTM E 1596, Test Methods for Solar Radiation Weathering of Photovoltaic Modules.
ASTM E 1597, Standard Test Method for Saltwater Pressure Immersion and Temperature Testing of Photovoltaic Modules for Marine Environments.
ASTM E 1799, Standard Practice for Visual Inspections of Photovoltaic Modules.
ASTM E 1802, Standard Test Methods for Wet Insulation Integrity Testing of Photovoltaic Modules.
ASTM E 1830, Standard Test Methods for Determining Mechanical Integrity of Photovoltaic Modules.
ASTM E 2047, Standard Test Method for Wet Insulation Integrity Testing of Photovoltaic Arrays.
ASTM E 2236, Standard Test Methods for Measurement of Electrical Performance and Spectral Response of Nonconcentrator Multijunction Photovoltaic Cells and Modules.
ASTM G 173, Standard Tables for Reference Solar Spectral Irradiances: Direct Normal and Hemispherical on 37° Tilted Surface.

Work package 5
Deliverable 5.2
Creation of task forces

Click here to download pdf version: uploads/OPERA TASK5_2 REPORT.doc

Author: Albert van Breemen
Date: 05 01 09
Version: 1.1
Status: Final 
 

 
Work package 5
Deliverable 5.1
Definition of thematic areas

Please download pdf:   uploads/OPERA TASK5_1 REPORT.doc

Author: Albert van Breemen
Date: 05 01 09
Version: 1.1
Status: Final

ISOS 2009
21 - 22 April 2009

Sheraton, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The first International Summit on OPV Stability was held last year in Denver, USA. It nucleated an international effort to look at lifetime, round robin testing and development of a concurrence roadmap for OPV. At the end of the meeting we agreed to follow on with a second conference so as to help refine and develop the initiatives started at the ISOS I. Thus, we are organizing the 2009 ISOS event, which will be held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It will be a joint initiative of Plextronics, NREL, DOE, Konarka and the European Coordination and Support Action Projects OPERA and OrgaPVnet. This event will bring together a select group of global leaders in the area of OPV development and commercialization to create global standards for measuring OPV stability, performance and lifetime. The meeting will consist of an introductory set of talks and then break into working panels to develop actionable plans.

We would like to invite you to attend and participate in this event to be held on April 21-22, 2009 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands at Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel & Conference Center. No participation fees will be charged for the workshop.
Please indicate whether you will attend ISOS 2009 in a reply email to albert.vanbreemen@tno.nl  by March 6, 2009.

We look forward to seeing you in Amsterdam!

ISOS 2009 Organizers
Dr. Darin Laird, Plextronics
Dr. David Ginley, NREL
Dr. Jens Hauch, Konarka
Dr. Jan Kroon, ECN (representative of OrgaPVnet)
Dr. Albert van Breemen, Holst Centre (representative of OPERA)

Meeting details:

Venue:
Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel & Conference Center
Schiphol Boulevard 101
1118 BG Amsterdam
Netherlands
Phone: (31) (20) 316 4300
Fax: (31) (20) 316 4399

Accommodation:
We have blocked a number of rooms in the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel & Conference Center for your overnight stays. Room rates are Euro 199 p.p. per night (including breakfast). Please make your own room reservation before April 7, 2009. The link toward an online reservation system will be sent to you shortly.

The cursory agenda of ISOS 2009:

Day 1, April 21
09:00 Opening/welcome/meeting objectives
09:30 Correlation and Acceleration - How does laboratory accelerated testing correlate to real-life ageing?
Dr. Andreas Riedl, Atlas MTS
10:15 Stability and degradation of R2R processed flexible polymer solar cells.
Dr. Frederik Krebs, Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy
10:50 Coffee break
11:15 Recent OPV lifetime efforts and results and status of current DoE roadmap
Dr. David Ginley, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
11:50 Standardization of OPV lifetime and Technology Update
Dr. Darin Laird, Plextronics
12:25 State of the art in ALT and outdoor testing of OPV
Dr. Jens Hauch, Konarka
13:00 Lunch
14:15 Break-out session 1: Testing protocols for OPV Lifetime
Break-out session 2: Round robin lab-to-lab efficiency measurement correlation
15:15 Coffee break
15:45 Break-out session 1: Testing protocols for OPV Lifetime
Break-out session 2: Round robin lab-to-lab efficiency measurement correlation
17:00 End of day 1

19:00 Dinner

Day 2, April 22
08:45 Coffee/tea
09:00 Summary of break-out session 1 + 2
09:45 Invited lecture: speaker and title to be confirmed
10:15 Coffee break
10:45 Break-out session 3: Techniques for measuring lifetime of cells/modules
Break-out session 4: OPV Roadmap review - DoE (USA) and EU
12:30 Lunch
13:30 Summary of break-out session 3 + 4
14:15 Wrap-up and post-summit activities
15:00 End day 2

ISOS 2008 website: http://www.wikispaces.com/opvlifetime
_________________________

HOLST CENTRE
Dr. Albert J.J.M. van Breemen
Sensor Tags and Systems
SP2 Smart Bandage

P.O. Box 8550
5605 KN Eindhoven
The Netherlands
Email albert.vanbreemen@tno.nl
Phone +31 40 277 4422
Mobile +31 6 22544247
Fax +31 40 274 6400

www.holstcentre.com  
Visiting address:
High Tech Campus 31
5656 AE Eindhoven
Holst Centre - open innovation by IMEC-NL and TNO

OPERA project announces Organic Electronics Venture Forum 19 May 2009

OPERA Organic Electronics Venture Forum

Downloadable PDF's
Download Programme: uploads/OPERA Organic Electronics Venture Forum 19 May 2009 V9_1.pdf
Download presentation guidelines: uploads/Presentation guidelines V3.pdf
Download registtaion form: uploads/Registration form V1.pdf and uploads/Registration form V1.doc
NEW! Presentation schedule: uploads/OPERA Venture Forum Presentation Schedule 19 May 2009 V2_1.pdf

19 May 2009 - Novotel Brussels Centre Tour Noire
(updated on 19 February 2009)
NOTE: New venue!

Organic Electronics Have Arrived!

The future promises of organic electronics are rapidly unfolding. For example, in 2008 the organic electronics display, lighting and photovoltaic industries have produced several new exciting products:

 Polymer Vision Ltd. [ www.polymervision.com ] introduced the “Readius”, a mobile e-reader device with a rollable display.
 G24 Innovations [ www.g24i.com ] offers flexible solar panels which personalize access to power anytime, anywhere, on 24/7 basis.
 Philips [ www.philips.com/lumiblade/ ] offer development kits for designers and architects to create whole new forms of OLED-based lighting.
These are just a few examples of a whole new industry, covering a broad field of applications, with an estimated annual market value of USD 9 billion by 2012 (Intertechpira 2007) and USD 30 billion by 2015 (IDTechEx 2008) .

Event objective
The OPERA Organic Electronics Venture Forum is organised by a EU-sponsored project OPERA [ www.opera-project.eu ]. OPERA aims to develop the competitiveness of Europe in the field of organic and large area electronics. A particular objective of the project is to boost entrepreneurship and to facilitate interactions between European investors and new start-ups and SMEs.
The OPERA Venture Forum will bring together ventures seeking new capital and venture capital firms seeking investment opportunities. Especially new start-ups are encouraged to participate. However, the participating companies can be at any stage of their development path and can represent any part of OLAE value chain - from materials to commercial applications.

The date and the venue
The OPERA Venture Forum takes place on 19 May 2009 at Novotel Brussels Centre Tour Noire, Rue de la Vierge Noire 32, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
The venue is located in the lively Place St Catherine area, 800 meters from the Grand Place.

Event format
The programme begins with a keynote speech on the prospects for new innovation in organic electronics. After the introduction we proceed to company presentations. We have reserved 10 min for each presentation and 5 min for subsequent questions and discussion. There will be a one hour lunch break, and the presentations will continue in the afternoon.
The rest of the day after the presentations is reserved for pre-scheduled and ad-hoc meetings. If you want to book a meeting room for that purpose, please contact the event co-ordinators in advance (contact details below).

Important deadlines (tentative)
March 31: Submission of presentation summaries (presenting companies)
April 9: Selection and disclosure of presenting companies (organisers)
April 17: Registration for the event, advance booking for meeting facilities (presenting companies and investors)

Instructions for presenting companies
Presentation summaries should be prepared according to the presentation guidelines that are available on the OPERA Venture Forum website [ http://opera-project.eu/index.php?id=13&lang=EN ]. It is also available as a downloadable pdf at the start of this article.
The presentation summaries should be submitted in advance to the event chair or the event co-ordinators by March 31, 2009.
The presenting companies will be announced by April 9, after which they should register for the event by April 17.
Note that there is no participation fee for presenting companies. Please contact the event chair or the event co-ordinators for further information on the event and to register.


Instructions for investors
Registration for the event is requested by April 17 by contacting the event chair or the event co-ordinators. Note that there is a small participation fee for investors (see below). For further information on the event, please contact the event chair, Mr. Ed van den Kieboom.

Fees and payment instructions
Presenting companies: Free of charge
Investors: EUR 295 per person.
Please pay using bank transfer by April 17, 2009.
Beneficiary: Plastic Electronics Foundation
Account (IBAN): NL41RABO0118939165
Bank (SWIFT): RABONL2U

Detailed programme
09:30-10:00 Breakfast
10:00-10:30 Opening and keynote speech
10:30-12:30 Presentations, part 1
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30-15:30 Presentations, part 2
15:30-17:30 Meetings

The keynote speech is given by Dr David Fyfe, Chief Executive, Cambridge Display Technology.

NOTE: If you want to book a meeting room in advance, please contact event co-ordinator Mrs. Victoria Plompen-Philip.

Number of participants
The expected number of ventures presenting is 10-20, and the expected number of investors attending is 15-20.

Funding and sponsors
OPERA project [ www.opera-project.eu ] receives funding from the Seventh EU Framework Programme. If you want to support the event, please contact the event chair, Mr. Ed van den Kieboom.

Event chair
Mr. Ed van den Kieboom
Plastic Electronics Foundation
Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Tel. +31.6.2507 2805
E-mail: ed.vandenkieboom@plastic-electronics.org  

Event co-ordinators
Mr. Jari Kettunen
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
Espoo, Finland
Tel. +358.20.722 6784
Fax: +358.20.722 5888
E-mail: jari.kettunen@vtt.fi  

Mrs. Victoria Plompen-Philip
Plastic Electronics Foundation
Tel. +31.40.851 7530
Fax: +31.40.851 7539
E-mail: victoria.plompen@plastic-electronics.org

Steering committee
• Mr. Marc Lambrechts, Capricorn Venture Partners, Belgium
• Mr. Nicolas Louvet, Sofinnova, France
• Dr. Andre Moreira, BASF Venture Capital, Germany
• Mr. Heiko von Dewitz, Intel Capital Europe, Germany

WP1 - Stakeholders Survey
The Stakeholders survey was originally presented in May 2008 in Oulu. When we first analyzed these responses we were looking at just 60 responses and it was suggested we should try to get more. We restarted work again in September and concluded at the end of the year with 144 completed questionnaires. The results came from a wide selection of countries across Europe with the largest number of responses coming from Germany, Switzerland, the UK, France, the Netherlands and Italy. 

The respondents to the questionnaire could be divided into 3 main groups; the biggest of these were the companies which represented a 45% share of the responses, followed by 25% Universities and 23% Research Institutes and the remining percentages being governmental agencies or other.

The results gave us a clear indictaion of where the industry is now and what the strengths and weaknesses are and what the common problems are that we need to overcome to make Europe's position strong.   If you are interested the full results presentation is available by emailing: victoria.plompen@plastic-electronics.org

WP2 The Future of OLAE in Europe
The task force have produced a vision paper which will be availble to download and comment on in an on-line forum shortly on the Quadriga website. Please click on link below to read the summary:
http://quadriga-org.eu/index.php?id=23&lang=EN or to read the whole vision paper, please email victoria.plompen@plastic-electronics.org and you will be sent it by email. If you would like to make comment on the paper please also email the above address and it would be forwarded to the correct person. We would welcome feedback.

WP4 Entrepreneurship
Ongoing tasks, status 20.11.2008

General
 The DoW has been updated to reflect the importance of entrepreneurship in the context of Opera and other Quadriga projects. In particular, the combined staff effort has been increased to 22.5 person months. The corresponding work package in PolyMap project has been thematically and organizationally integrated into Opera work package 4.

Task 1.
Start-up and SME needs
 A list of SMEs operating in the field of PE has been compiled on the basis of the database of PEF. Other project partners, oe-a, selected consultancies and the Commission have been requested to provide additional contacts.
 A web-based start-up and SME needs survey has been published. The main objective of the questionnaire is to help identify business development challenges and support needs within European SMEs. In the first phase in total 89 SMEs have been contacted by email and requested to fill out the questionnaire. Additional invitations will be sent upon the augmentation of the SME contacts database.

Task 2.
Private funding schemes
 A decision to organize an Organic Electronics Venture Forum has been made. The Venture Forum will be held on May 18-19, 2009, in Eindhoven. We are currently in the process of identifying potential venture capital firms and funds in Europe. Selected firms are to be approached in November-December 2008, after which discussions will proceed with the interested ones.

Task 3.
Mentor networks
 No actions so far

Task 4.
Entrepreneurship training
 A decision to pilot an Entrepreneurship Training Program as part of the project has been made. The main objective of the Training Program is to help would-be academic entrepreneurs and small teams with a preliminary business idea develop their ideas towards a complete business plan. The Training Program is to be held in March 2009 in Munich. The expected duration of the program is 1, 5 working days. Planning is underway.

Task 5.
Services and consulting
 No actions so far

WP5 Standardization

The objective of this work package is to mobilize resources for a faster development of industry standards for Organic and Large Area Electronics (OLAE). Based on the outcome of a survey among the stakeholders, three themes suitable for standardization of measurement protocols were identified: OLEDs/Lighting, Organic Transistors (OTFTs) and Organic Photovoltaic’s (OPVs). The key players in these respective areas will team-up in taskforces coordinated by the University of Dresden (OLEDs), CSEM (OTFTs) and Holst Centre (OPVs), pursuing the development of standardized measurement guidelines. By the end of 2008 an overview of ongoing international standardization activities in the area of OLAE will be made available on this website. (http://opera-project.eu).