Ideas change everything

Can we "print" smart objects?

Dan Walker |

TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

• November 2017

According to technologist Dan Walker, the future is going to be printed. Well, not exactly, but many things that we today patch together or assemble, will actually come to us as complex printed objects. By loading the standard printers we use today with special inks that conduct electricity, we can print electronic circuits onto the objects, making it even easier to connect them to the Internet of Things.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

According to technologist Dan Walker, the future is going to be printed. Well, not exactly, but many things that we today patch together or assemble, will actually come to us as complex printed objects. By loading the standard printers we use today with special inks that conduct electricity, we can print electronic circuits onto the objects, making it even easier to connect them to the Internet of Things.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

About the speaker

Dan Walker

Advanced technologist

At Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Dan Walker is a Project Leader and Print Champion for the Chilworth site in the United Kingdom. His aim is to lead a dedicated printing team with digital, analogue and additive printing capabilities. After studying physics and astronomy at the University of Southampton, Walker started at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany as a Research and Development scientist. He went on to pursue a PhD at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany on solution processed inorganic semiconductors which led him to work today on inkjet printed OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes).

About TED Institute

Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas. The culmination is an event produced, recorded, and hosted by TED, generating a growing library of valuable TED Talks that can spur innovation and transform organizations.

Read more about the TED Institute