What did Scrona choose to focus on and why?
We chose to take a step back and only focus on the core technology: the printhead. Our printheads do not care whether they are used in a graphical environment or in the display market. Bringing them from one market to another is pretty simple from a technological point of view. It gets more complicated when it comes to marketing it all: having access to the market, building a whole ecosystem, and so on. Applying our printheads to a specific environment involves a considerable amount of time and knowledge. Instead of doing this ourselves, we foster partnerships. Our partners already have the market access and the complementary technology; that is, the printing system. This means that we do not have to limit ourselves to a single application.

How can Scrona’s ultrahigh-resolution printing technology break today’s manufacturing paradigm?
Today, especially in the high-resolution field, manufacturing is done in a way that most people do not know about: microfabrication. This works in a way somewhat like additive manufacturing, layer by layer. The problem is that each layer has many subprocesses and that the machines required have a very high cost burden. In microfabrication, depreciation – the cost of machines – is much higher than in many other industries. In contrast, printing technologies put more of the cost burden on the variable-cost side and generally reduce the fixed costs. This can be considered a change of paradigm, because you can replace tens of machines with a single one, and use fewer material and energy resources.

Can this be considered revolutionary?
We will not replace the whole microfabrication market, but in those areas where we do, it will definitely be a revolution. A director at a big Korean company once told me that what we are doing is industry-changing. I think so, too. If it is properly commercialised, our technology is truly revolutionary.

Competitive additive manufacturing is usually either precise- or fast. How does Scrona combine precision and speed, distinguishing itself from its competitors?
Our printheads combine the precision of electrohydrodynamics with speed by having more than one nozzle. Certain other companies use electrohydrodynamics, but they have no way of making it fast. They do not have a printhead with more than a single nozzle. We do – and that makes us fast. If we have a thousand nozzles on our printhead, we are a thousand times faster than those companies. If we have ten thousand nozzles, which is where we want to go, we are ten thousand times faster. Some companies already have inkjet printers with a thousand or ten thousand nozzles, which makes them fast, but they lack precision.

What industries could benefit from Scrona’s technology?
The display industry will definitely start profiting from our technology very early on. It has things on its roadmap that cannot be achieved with inkjet printing, so it will need our technology. This will have major benefits for manufacturers, but consumers may not see the difference yet, except perhaps for slightly lower prices. Yet as the technology matures and display manufacturers learn to use it, it could have a tremendous effect. For you as a consumer, it could enter every part of your life as displays become increasing widespread. For example, in the automotive industry, every car manufacturer would like to have more displays in their cars. This will certainly be one of the biggest applications for display companies in the future. Other applications include housing and appliances.

Scrona holds a Guinness World Record for the smallest inkjet-printed colour image. What is its significance?
It is an image that could fit on the diameter of a single hair – not something you need every day, but it is highly significant from a technological perspective. With the image, we provided a glimpse of how our technology can be used; for example, in the display field. We received many responses to the image, especially from the display field.

What is your approach to the commercial side of things?
We see ourselves very much as a technology company. We have the model to really focus on our core IP; we want to be innovative and ensure that our product fits our customers’ requirements. From a commercial point of view, we try to do as little as possible. Instead, we build partnerships with big, powerful companies that have market access to bring this technology to the user base. Together, we work to integrate our printheads into their systems, which they then sell. The users cannot just buy our printheads from another manufacturer, so every system placed in the market will directly lead to demand for them.

What are your goals for the year ahead?
Firstly, demonstration. We are building a demonstration lab where we can use our own printheads to demonstrate certain applications, which will help explain the benefits of our technology to the broad public. For example, we would really like to print a full touch screen using our technology. Secondly, we want to build more relationships and to strengthen existing ones. We already have many partnerships, but we want to bring them to the next level. So far, a lot has happened in the lab space. Next year, things will go industrial, so that our partners and clients can actually feel how our technology is changing their production.