It is interesting to see how much fundamental R+D work is going into flexible electronics, including systems focused on LED and lighting applications.

The PLACE-it project (Platform for Large Area Conformable Electronics by InTegration) is a research consortium funded via the European Union 7th Framework program. According to the site:

The objectives of PLACE-it are to analyse, develop and implement technology for the proper combination of functionalities in foil, stretchable and fabric substrates, resulting in conformable opto-electronic systems. Therefore PLACE-it shall develop:
— Integration platform of foil, stretch and fabric technologies with opto-electronic functionality
— Foil, stretchable and fabric-based devices for light emission, electronics, sensing and with interfaces to other technology building blocks
— Design guidelines to implement the technology platform in a broad range of applications
— Demonstrators, i.e. opto-electronic systems, showing the capabilities of the technology platform

Continuing on:

Flexible foil substrates with embedded standard silicon electronics are industrialized and already using in a large variety of products, technologies to implement flexibility also into the silicon dies are currently under investigation (e.g. EU funded SHIFT project) Organic electronics and specifically organic opto-electronics are currently a very popular research topic, covered both by universities and companies. The high intensity of research implies that the quality of organic opto-electronic devices will improve rapidly within the next years. Due to the freedom of shape, organic opto-electronic lighting has a clear advantage over other light sources. First stretchable substrate materials are available (e.g. Belgian-funded SWEET project or the EU-funded STELLA project). Opto-electronics are not yet integrated into these substrates, but merely implemented using different adaptation technologies.