The printed electronics field appears to be moving ever closer to commercial production, say industry leaders who are gathered this week in San Jose, CA, for Printed Electronics USA 2009. While many of the conference’s presentations center on potential new applications and technologies, company executives are also discussing what they are seeing in the marketplace. More applications are moving from R&D toward commercialization, they observe, although hurdles remain to be overcome. “The printed electronics market is in transition,” said Dr. Klaus Hecker, managing director of the Organic Electronics Association (OE-A). “A lot of companies are investing in ramping up production, and we are seeing additional products coming online. We are also seeing lots of interest on the information level.” “If you take a look at the printed electronics market, there are so many branches,” said Matthew Ream, vice preside