Industry Leaders are Seeing Growth for PE

By David Savastano

As industry leaders gather in Santa Clara, CA, for Printed Electronics USA 2010 and Photovoltaics USA 2010, hosted by IDTechEx, there is a sense that the printed electronics (PE) industry has weathered the economic storm and is moving forward.

“Printed electronics has been recession-proof, which is a great sign,” said Dr. Peter Harrop, chairman of IDTechEx. “More and more large companies are expanding into the market through acquisition and investment, It’s all beginning to stir, and printed electronics seems to be only limited by the imagination.”

“It’s all in the early stages, but we are seeing a number of applications in the market, such as OLED lighting,” said Dr. Klaus Hecker, managing director, Organic Electronics Association (OE-A). “We are also seeing more opportunities for raw material and equipment manufacturers.”

“Even with the uncertain economic conditions from 2010, the companies that are coming to us are still innovating, working to better position themselves on how to use printed electronics when the economy picks up,” Stan Farnsworth, vice president of marketing for NovaCentrix, said. “Even though the economy was slow, our projects did not slow down, and at the end of the year, we saw a surge in activity. We ended up with a strong year as a whole.”

Enfucell COO Risto Huvila agreed that the economy’s improvement is spurring new opportunities in areas such as temperature sensors, displays, and battery-assisted passive (BAP) RFID.

“Since the PE USA 2009 show, the market has been recovering, and investments by major corporations has increased,” Huvila said. “We believe that large global brands will have printed battery functionality in promotional packaging in the coming year.”

Matthew Ream, vice president marketing, Blue Spark Technologies, said the market for printed batteries is growing.

“We are starting to see some progression, and certainly with Graphic Packaging International entering the market, printed batteries are becoming more of a reality,” Ream said. “Ultimately, this will lead to tighter integration with other aspects of printed electronics as well.”

There are increasing opportunities emerging as companies and designers look at PE’s capabilities.

‘I don’t think that we are at the inflection point yet for PE, but we are seeing signals,” Jennifer Ernst, director, business development for PARC, said. “Partnerships are emerging which will allow the industry to make a more complete ecosystem from design to manufacturing.”

“We are seeing more clarity and reality,” Dr. Kate Stone, director of Novalia, said. “I think people are moving away from seeing printed electronics as a dream, to more of a vision as to how PE can add value to their products as well as how these products can be manufactured in a way that makes sense.”

“Pilot programs are ongoing, and we believe that will create a snowball effect,” Enfucell CEO Marko Hanhikorpi concluded. “This market is now showing real promise.”