We present polymer optical waveguides on foils created by a combination of flexographic and ink-jet printing. While prior work focused on the creation of bare polymer tracks to guide light, this work looks into optical waveguides with a printed lower cladding layer, which makes the
waveguide design independent from the optical properties of the foil substrate. First, the lower cladding is printed by flexographic printing on PMMA foil. Then, the sample is placed in an ink-jet printer, where the waveguide core is created. To control the wetting behaviour, temperature and
oxygen plasma treatment are used, and continuous tracks are obtained. The waveguide functionality is demonstrated by guiding 785 nm laser light through a 20mm long sample.