Internet of Things (IoT) devices are booming. While these devices make daily tasks more convenient, it comes at a cost. IoT devices include:
- Home security.
- Activity trackers.
- Smart speakers like Alexa.
- Basically, any physical object that connects to the internet to collect and exchange data in real-time.
In 2016, the CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. Masayoshi Son forecasted that there would be a trillion connected devices globally and orbiting the Earth over the next two decades. The United Nations expects the volume of e-waste created worldwide to reach up to 52.2 million metric tons this year, with a significant portion being dead batteries.
With this in mind, French startup Dracula Technologies, exhibiting virtually at Computex, developed the inkjet-printed organic photovoltaic (organic solar cells, or OPV) technology.
Dracula Technologies’ OPV modules, dubbed LAYER (Light As Your Energetic Response), operate indoors on artificial or natural ambient light and can be used to run low-consumption indoor devices. Since the OPV modules are printed and not made of silicon, its shape is more customizable, and, unlike most batteries, it doesn’t contain rare-earth or heavy metals. Instead, the modules are made from carbon-based material.
LAYER is better for the environment and more economical. It’s a win-win. According to the startup, it can reduce the total cost of ownership by four-fold compared to batteries.
Dracula Technologies has partnered with AND Technology Research and Japanese semiconductor company Renesas Electronics. It is currently working with manufacturers to produce a self-powering, battery-less IoT device that can send messages via BLE to a mobile app.
When Dracula Technologies was founded in 2011, CEO Brice Cruchon saw the tech’s commercial potential and began the research and development phases. After six years, LAYER was launched via the Hello Tomorrow program for deep tech startups.
So far, Dracula Technologies has raised millions and will use the funds to increase the production of its photovoltaic modules throughout its pre-industrialization stage. In 2024, the startup expects to move into the industrial phase to produce millions of modules each year.
Dracula Technologies’ industrial partners include ISRA Cards, which produces high-value electronic cards (licenses or loyalty and gift cards), and MGI Digital, a digital printing and finishing tech company. It’s also part of the Solar Impulse Foundation’s Beyond 1000 Solutions, which offers economical and political decision-makers a guide to green and profitable energy solutions that can be implemented on a large scale.
