A soldier overseas uses advanced electronics to detect chemical weapons before they can do anybody harm; a hiker recharges his GPS with a portable high-powered solar panel; Pipe Dream is displayed on flexible electronic paper.

Binghamton University took a step towards bringing these imaginable but unrealized technologies to life last week when it officially inaugurated the Center for Advanced Microelectronic Manufacturing (CAMM). The center, located on a 10,000-square-foot property in Endicott owned by Endicott Interconnect Technologies (EIT), includes unique and sophisticated electronics manufacturing equipment. It is expected to take a leading role in researching and testing new manufacturing methods that have the potential to revolutionize the electronics industry.

“CAMM is a true partnership between government, academia and industry, which will provide BU the opportunity to perform unparalleled research in the area of flexible electronics and small-scale systems integration and packaging,” said Bahgat Sammakia, CAMM’s director and a professor of mechanical engineering at BU.

Along with founding partners Cornell University and EIT, BU has ambitious plans for CAMM.

The roll-to-roll manufacturing method that the University hopes to pioneer involves printing electronics onto plastics in a method analogous to printing newsprint onto newspapers. Much of the research at CAMM will explore ways to overcome technical difficulties in this process, with the hope of allowing experimental manufacturing on a small, cheap scale.

Roll-to-roll manufacturing has the potential to produce flexible electronics with novel applications in far greater bulk than current manufacturing processes produce in today’s electronics.

Private institutions will be given the opportunity to partner with CAMM in a variety of joint arrangements uniting privately funded researchers with CAMM facilities and staff, which is composed of 15 BU students and 15 paid staffers.

CAMM allows companies to use its facilities for private research or, for $60,000, to become “full members” with privileges that include participation in the facility’s executive advisory board and access to collaborative research. Current members include EIT, General Electric, Kodak and Samsung Electronics. NASA and the U.S. Army have also partnered with CAMM.

“By offering unique, state-of-the-art tools and process expertise for roll-to-roll manufacturing, CAMM will be a cornerstone of the new flexible electronics revolution,” said Charles Becker, a scientist employed by General Electric.

Development of CAMM began in 2005, when the United States Display Consortium, an organization representing companies working in the field of electronic displays, chose Binghamton to host the initiative. The trade group invested $12 million into the project.

Also involved in the agreement was the New York State Center of Excellence in Small Scale Systems Integration and Packaging, which is a group based at BU that works to unite public and private institutions for research into microelectronics. It is hoped that investments like CAMM will aid in an economic revitalization of the Southern Tier with a focus on high technology.

“I am confident that [CAMM] will provide practical, measurable benefits to our local economy while advancing critical national priorities,” Rep. Maurice Hinchey said.