Flexible Electronics, Sensors, Wearables and More are Focus of PE USA 2017

Printed Electronics USA 2017, organized by IDTechEx, will be looking at the opportunities that are coming into focus for a wide range of technologies, from flexible and hybrid electronics (FHE) to sensors, wearables, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing and more.

PE USA 2017 will be held today and tomorrow at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA. Raghu Das, IDTechEx’s CEO, said that this year’s conferececoudl be the largest ever in terms of attendance and exhibitors.

Once again, PE USA 216 features co-located programs covering growing sectors that overlap each other This year’s conference features co-located sessions on 3D Printing, Electric Vehicles, Energy Harvesting, Energy Storage Innovations, Graphene, Internet of Things (IoT) Applications, Sensors, and Wearables.

“We have exceeded 250 exhibitors, our largest exhibition yet, with the tradeshow floor fully sold out, as well as a record number of pre-event bookings for attendees so far,” said IDTechEx CEO Raghu Das. “There is a particularly strong focus on flexible electronics and hybrid electronics in the conference program, including component integration.” 

PE USA 2017 has an impressive list of brand owners on hand to offer their insights on the technology. 

“We will feature speakers from NASCAR, Samsung, Google, OSRAM, Galvani Bioelectronics, Mercedes Benz, JCDecaux, The US Army, Porsche and many more,” said Das.

After Das gives the opening talk, the Cornerstone presentations begin with Julia Landauer, owner of Julie Landauer Racing, who will cover “The Clash of Silicon Valley and Racing.” The world of racing is ideal for new technologies, from electrinc vehicles and augmented reality to wearables.

“Applications for Emerging Technologies for Digital Out of Home Media” will be the topic of Thomas Morel, JCDecaux’s R&D custom solutions director. JCDecaux is the industry leader in the field of outdoor advertising, which presents opportunities in areas from flexible and printed displays, solar, connected street furniture. 

“Bioelectronic Medicine” will be preesented by Sebastien Ouchouche, principal engineer for Galvani Bioelectronics.Terrafugia CTO Dr. Carl Dietrich concludes the Cornerstone session with “Transportation of the Future Today,” a look at Terrafugia’s flying/driving vehicles, athe Internet of Things, sensors and autonomous systems. 

The conference then breaks into eight concurrent tracks. Track 1 is split between 3D Printing and Graphene. 3D Printing keynotes will be given by IDTechEx, Carbon 3D, BigRep GmbH and Shapeways. After lunch, Graphene keynotes will be offered by Robert Bosch LLC, Alpha Assembly Solutions, Haydale Limited, Cambridge Graphene Centre, University of Cambridge and CPI – Graphene Centre.Graphene Applications, led by speakers from The Graphene Council, Graphenea, Thomas Swan & Co. and Standard Graphene, closes Track 1.

Electric Vehicles will be the focus of Track 2, starting with keynote talks by executives from IDTechEx, Zero Motorcycles, BYD Heavy Industries and Porsche Cars North America. EV Opportunities and Successes: Cars, Buses, Off-Road, Industrial and Commercial will be covered by California Energy Commission, Energica Motor Company, IDTechEx, University of Campinas (Unicamp) and IDTechEx. Energy Independent Vehicles and Overviews, the closing session, will be discussed by presenters from Udacity, csi entwicklungstechnik GmbH, California State University and Alta Devices. 

Track 3, Energy Harvesting, begins with keynote presentations by IDTechEx, Matrix Industries, Alta Devices and Wuerth Elektronik eiSos GmbH & Co. KG. Applications, Technologies and ROI of Energy Harvesting will offer analysis from DiPole Materials, IDTechEx, Flex, e-peas and University of California San Diego. Track 3 closes with RF Energy Harvesting, with presentations from Ossia, Jennova, Powercast and SquareTrail.

Track 4 looks at Energy Storage, Innovations beginning with keynote talks from IDTechEx, Google, Mercedes Benz Energy and Sion Power. Track 4 heads into the topic of Advanced Li-ion Batteries, featuring speakers from TankTwo, Kalptree, Amprius, Enevate and SolidEnergy, and a sessiopn on Post-Li-ion Batteries, with talks from Cuberg, Paper Battery Company, EnCap Energy and BroadBit Batteries Oy.

Track 5 looks at the Internet of Things (IoT). This track opens with keynote talks by IDTechEx, Samsung Electronics America, Hitachi Vantara and Corning. IoT Connectivity will be the focus of talks by Iotium, Helium, Pod Group, Orange IoT Studio and Multi-Tech Systems. IoT Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence will be discussed by executives from Sixgill, TIBCO Software and SAP.

Track 6 will examine Printed Electronics, beginning with keynote talks by IDTechEx, OSRAM OLED GmbH, US Army ARDEC and Multek. Structural Electronics and 3D Printed Electronics will be analyzed by speakers from FIAT Research Center, Holst Centre and TNO, Eastman Kodak, Optomec and TactoTek. Hybrid Electronics and 3D Printed Electronics will include talks by X-Celeprint, American Semiconductor, Nano Dimension and Interlink Electronics. 

Track 7 examines the area of Sensors. Sensor Keynotes will be given by IDTechEx, Tacterion GmbH, Synaptics and AerNos.  After lunch, the Sensor track heads into Flexible and Printed Sensors, led by leaders from Multek, Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center (BSAC), Joanneum Research, Solvay Specialty Polymers Italy s.p.a. and Creative Materials. Track 7 then heads into the topic of New Sensors for Mobile Devices, with presentations by Alpha Szenszor, Sensel, Chirp Microsystems and Melexis.

Track 8 focuses on Wearables. The Wearable Keynotes include talks by IDTechEx, Myant, Roam Robotics and BeBob Sesnors. After lunch, the Wearables track heads into talks on AR/MR/VR: Headsets and Applications, featuring presentations by   HTC Vive, Huawei Technologies Japan KK, Optinvent and Raayon Nova. Track 8 closes with AR/MR/VR: Components and Enabling Technologies, with talks by IDTeckEx, imec, Avegant and WorldViz.