Traveling extensively around Europe the last couple of weeks I encountered an all too familiar problem: I was constantly running out of battery life be it for my shaver, cell phone, or laptop computer - there simply never was a power outlet available when needed. When it comes to electronic devices, one can either design a system that consumers less power or one can opt for a battery that can store more charge. The first one is being extensively done already, and in the shrinking world of electronic devices a larger battery is often times not an option. Further, with System on a Chip (SOC) designs integrating ever more functionality and components, any potential battery life gains due to low voltage operation are quickly cancelled out. To compound this problem, the current batch of rechargeable batteries looses significant capacity after only a few hundred recharge cycles. For the weary traveler what is needed are batteries with a higher density that loose less capacity over time. Luckily, there seems to be at least some hope on the horizon.

Earlier this year, we wrote about batteries that are to be composed entirely of liquids and for which the commercialization is expected within the next five years or so. On the exactly opposite side of the spectrum one can find a company called Seeo, a battery startup out of Berkeley, CA which is developing rechargeable lithium batteries utilizing a solid-state polymer electrolyte. Just a few days ago the company raised an additional $8.6 million in funding to bring the total funding to a little over $10 million. Seeo is being pretty stealthy regarding its technology and you won’t find anything but a simple messages on the company’s website informing you that the company is developing advanced materials that will revolutionize electricity storage and delivery. However, digging around the web yielded at little bit of information.

The technology Seeo is using was licensed by the company from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and is based on a nano-structured polymer electrolyte (NPE). Unlike current lithium-ion batteries the NPE based batteries being developed by Seeo have several advantages: They can be designed to resists dendrite growth which under certain circumstances can lead to shorts and potential explosions. They lack the highly flammable liquid electrolytes and are thus inherently safer than traditional lithium-ion batteries. NPE based batteries should also exhibit a significantly higher energy density over existing batteries. Finally, the batteries are expected to only loose about five percent of their capacity after a thousand cycles. On the downside, NPE batteries are expected to require a longer charge time than lithium-ion batteries. Even with this short coming there are likely to be plenty of products that will be able to take advantage of this new technology. And if nothing else, it is good to see that there is plenty of innovation happening on the battery front as well.

Now and then a company comes along that is developing a technology so unique that it has the potential of completely changing the way we think about how things get done. Case in point, Kovio Inc., a semiconductor startup based out of Milpitas, California. Several years after spinning out from the MIT Media Laboratory, the company has been pursuing printed silicon electronics and slowly but surely the hard work seems to be bearing fruit. Back in October, Kovio announced the world’s first printed silicon RFID platform for item-level intelligence, which utilized printed ICs operating at 13.56 MHz, that containied 128 bits of read-only memory as well as an integrated capacitor. In July of this year, the company was able to raise an additional $20 million in Series E venture capital funding from a myriad of Venture Capitalists (VCs), to begin volume shipments of their RF Barcodes which can be integrated into various consumer products such as nutrition information on food items, tickets, and so on. In addition, Kovio has been collecting awards left and right, including the 2009 Red Herring 100 North America and IDTechEx Printed Electronics Awards.

The advantages of printed silicon are numerous, including lower fabrication costs as opposed to traditional silicon technology, high customization potential, and a rapid time to market. Obviously, performance levels are not comparable to high-end silicon processes, but the innovation here is Kovio’s proprietary silicon based ink, depicted below,  and process technology that makes low-cost printed silicon based products a reality, such as the RF barcodes that the company is currently pursuing. Software developers are probably licking their chops, thinking about all the applications they will be able to build on top of the printed silicon once it penetrates the market.

But what if this was only the beginning? What if a few years from now anyone could design a basic system and print it as easily as one can print a piece of paper today? If a substantial amount of copies were needed, one could take the design to a place similar to a printing/copying center, such as FedEx Office, and make a few thousand copies. Only for millions of copies one would need to consider foundries. Let’s be honest, most designs do not need to operate in the GHz realm. If the common person could sit down, design a system, and bring it into the real world by simply printing it, similar to how graphics artist and designers work today, the creativity of individuals would be unleashed. Just maybe this would lead to a semiconductor renaissance where the actual design and function would matter more than the latest process node on which it was fabricated.

Jeff Immelt, GE’s chairman and chief executive, has been one busy guy as of late, if not with actual work then at least with giving speeches and publishing articles regarding the future of the Unites States as it pertains to business, technology, and innovation. Consider his latest piece, co-authored with John Doerr who is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Coufield & Byers, that was published the other day in the Washington Post. The article, titled Falling Behind on Green Technology, is more or less a call for the U.S. to get serious about green technology. Two major points are presented: First, the U.S. has the top five leading internet technology companies, but when it comes to green technologies the U.S. has only one of the top five wind power producers, one of the top ten solar panel producers, and two of the top ten next generation battery manufacturers. Second, because long-term guidance from policy makers is lacking, and current policy is detrimental to green technology startups, the U.S. is falling behind significantly when compared to other countries, especially China.

Of course, the statistics above might only become a problem if one truly believes that renewable energy is indeed the next big thing - a very hotly contest topic as is evidenced by the number of comments left by readers. One should not really be completely surprised that Jeff keeps pushing green technologies. GE is heavily vested in wind turbines, heavy machinery, and appliances. Each one of these segments is likely to profit significantly from any regulation requiring higher efficiencies - then again maybe profiting handily while cleaning up the environment might not be so bad after all. The article’s introduction of the China scare is also somewhat amusing; after all, the Russian scare during the cold war era seems to have worked wonders for American ingenuity, so maybe all that is needed now is a green war era? All humor aside, it is a brief article so you can consumer it quickly and decide for yourself.

In case you need a longer dose of Jeff Immelt you might be interested in the video below showing the speech he gave when GE announced a new Manufacturing and Software Technology Center outside of Detroit. The speech, titled American Renewal is rather long one coming in just short of 45 minutes. If you don’t have your coffee handy and a comfortable chair, here is quick synopsis: Jeff argues that the U.S. cannot rely on being a service-led and consumption based economy. It needs to be technology based and export that technology. Further, goals need to be set long term in terms of great undertakings and compensation must be adjusted such that people that truly have brains are valued more than bean counters. Jeff proposes a plan that consists of five fronts: First, an increase in R&D spending is needed since technology makes countries and people wealthy in the long term. Second, the U.S. needs to focus on clean energy and affordable healthcare as the engine for future job growth. Third, the U.S. needs to seriously commit to manufacturing and exports, rather than relying on the American consumer to lead the recovery. Fourth, the U.S. should utilize the government as a catalyst for leadership and change through public/private partnerships, while at the same time be cautious about too much regulation that might stifle innovation. And finally, he encourages business leaders to be responsible for the competitiveness of their own country. In addition to all of the above, Jeff encourages those who have capital to invest, for the best time to invest is when it is hard to do so for others. The video is below, so you can watch it and make up your own mind. Regardless, whether you agree with Jeff regarding renewable energy or affordable healthcare, if either of them comes to pass there ought to be plenty of opportunities to capitalize on this for low-power and analog semiconductor startups.