Manufacturing plays a key role in spurring innovation and economic development.  The recent call for proposals for the formation of a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation focuses on the topic of Flexible Hybrid Electronics.  Auburn University is leading a thematic node on harsh environments on the FlexTech Team in response to the FOA for an IMI on the topic of Flexible Hybrid Electronics.  The thematic node team in addition to AU consists of key players from categories of material suppliers, equipment makers and system integrators.  Flexible electronics has been identified as one of the frontier goals by the National Academies of Engineering Reports on Leading Edge Engineering in 2013.  In order to make flexible electronics possible, processes must meet the demands of soft, pliant and often easily damaged surfaces.  Compatibility with delicate surface often requires low temperature processing.  There are no large flexible electronics manufacturing firms in the US engaged in large scale commercial manufacturing of products that integrate flexible and printed electronics technologies.  Thirty years ago when large corporate laboratories were prevalent, applied research and practical application of science used to be an area of strength in the United States.  However, pricing pressures, commoditization of products, and the migration of manufacturing to the Far East has resulted in the downsizing and many cases elimination of the corporate research laboratories.  There is a chasm between the laboratory research and the realization of commercialized products.  The global flexible electronics industry is in its infancy as scaled up production for commercial applications exists in only a few niche areas including e-paper, RFID tags and organic light emitting diode screens.  An IMI in the area of flexible electronics will fill in the void between lab research and commercial products.  The semiconductor manufacturing is highly automated, utilizing complex processes developed by multiple vendors which cannot be readily integrated without coordination between players.  The manufacturing challenges exist at multiple levels including raw materials, material handling, fabrication and assembly.  Processing at low temperatures on conformal bendable, stretchable and foldable substrates is needed or device assembly integration.  Adequate survivability in harsh applications will require development of flexible encapsulation approaches in addition to physical packaging and common interconnects and interfaces.  Stretchable electronics will need device designs for mitigating the interconnect failures due to fracture and delamination under large deformation and strain.  Innovative thermal management schemes are needed to ensure thermal and thermo-mechanical survivability in the presence of multi-material thin-film interfaces.  In parallel with the development of manufacturing protocols, it is envisioned that the development of modeling tools and prediction methods is needed to assess the device design, layout, and fabrication parameters.  Accelerated test methods and test conditions which have been developed for rigid electronics will need to be scaled to flexible hybrid electronics.  The existence of the prior research expertise in the area of harsh environment electronics for automotive and military environments uniquely positions the AU led thematic node to put together a successful IMI-node in the area of flexible hybrid electronics.