Printed Touch Beacons

Novalia’s existing work creates printed iPad-like capacitive touch controllers by combining
conductive inks, print and silicon microcontrollers to introduce interactivity, touch,
connectivity and data into printed items. We use low cost BLE microcontrollers attached to
conductive print; which communicate with apps running on smartphones and tablet
computers. There is a tremendous opportunity here, in that many smartphones and tablet
computers are connected to the internet by wi-fi, 3G and 4G. This means that physical printed
items can seamlessly connect to the internet, offer a novel & immersive experience for the
user and can generate real time interaction data.
We have already developed the physical printed items, which are manufacturable by
established, existing production processes. Within this project we will develop the software to
create iOS and Android apps and fashion compelling, immersive user experiences. In doing so
the system will generate relevant user interaction data allowing the client to analyse who is
touching what, why, where and when. The project will introduce Beacon technology into the
printed devices allowing for more subtle, seamless interactions, such as unlocking location
based content, loyalty schemes, check-in, offers, competitions, Facebook ‘likes’, advertising
and market research. The interaction data can be analysed in order to understand the user’s
decision-making process. We believe that there is very significant innovation in generating
meaningful, real-time, interaction data.
This project will develop a web-based back end data-structure, and a scaleable, reusable API
(application programming interface) which will be required by third party app developers to
be able to integrate our printed technology into connected systems.