LOPEC 2023 Confirms Status as Leading Industry Platform

LOPEC 2023 hosted more exhibitors than ever before: 168 exhibitors from 25 countries and more than 2,300 visitors from 43 countries attended the ICM – International Congress Center Messe München from February 28 to March 2. Here, the industry’s leading exhibition and conference highlighted the entire spectrum of flexible, organic and printed electronics, and showed the potential that lies in this key technology. The share of international participants was about 60%.

“LOPEC has grown significantly and was able to set an exhibitor record in 2023. Once again, it has proved its status as the world’s leading industry platform for flexible and printed electronics, and illustrated the importance of this cutting-edge technology, which is becoming more and more prevalent in our everyday lives,” said Dr. Martin Lechner, executive director at Messe München.

LOPEC exhibition director Armin Wittmann added: “Especially in an important technology location like Munich, we are helping with this event to ensure that the innovative power of printed electronics spreads even faster to many other industries where the technology has the potential to improve products sustainably.”

“Here at LOPEC flexible and printed electronics comes to life,” said Dr. Klaus Hecker, managing director of the OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association). “I have seen great new applications for a lot of end-user industries. For example, printed electronics solutions for leak detection in buildings as well as a safe and sustainable way for early disease screening. The bandwidth of products one sees when walking through the buzzing exhibition halls is impressive. The momentum is clearly noticeable, which is not surprising. The results of the latest OE-A Business Climate Survey are very positive with an anticipated sales revenue of plus 18% for 2023 and 19% for 2024.”

Within the LOPEC Conference, experts from 22 countries shared their expertise in around 170 presentations.

“As the world’s most important communication platform for the industry, the LOPEC Conference presented the latest state of the technology and provided valuable insights for both new users and industry insiders,” said Wolfgang Mildner, general chair of LOPEC. In various conference formats, companies such as BMW, Microsoft, Pirelli, Samsung, Sun Chemical and Varta presented trends and new applications in printed electronics.

Focus topics of the exhibition and conference were Smart Living and Mobility. “At the same time, sustainability has come into even sharper focus, because printed electronics are produced in a resource-efficient manner and enable green solutions,” added Mildner.

The exhibitors were very pleased with the trade fair. “As soon as the LOPEC Exhibition opened its doors people were waiting to talk to us. They had previously shown interest in our work and now came back to us with projects,” said Stan Farnsworth, chief marketing officer at PulseForge and chair of the OE-A-Board.

Dr. Erika Rebrosova, global technology manager for electronic materials at Sun Chemical, said: “LOPEC offers a good mix of key stakeholders and value chain members supporting the growth and development of electronics applications, so I enjoy the many networking opportunities this event offers.” Many key players in the industry showcased their products, including Coatema, Continental, DuPont Teijin Films, Elantas, Fujifilm Dimatix, Henkel, Heraeus, Kroenert and Panasonic.

In total, 168 exhibitors traveled from 25 countries and regions (2022: 165 | 23), around 62% of them were from abroad (2022: 58%). More than 2,300 visitors from 43 countries and regions attended (2022: 1856 | 35). The share of international visitors totaled about 57% (2022: 56%). Apart from Germany, the other top five exhibitor countries were the USA, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Besides Germany, the top 5 visitor countries were France, Austria, the United Kingdom and Finland.

The next LOPEC will take place in Munich from March 5-7, 2024.