David Savastano, Editor12.07.11
Printed Electronics USA 2011, organized by IDTechEx and held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California, saw a tremendous amount of news on the first day regarding commercialization of printed electronics (PE) products.
The second day of the conference looked more toward the parts of the printed electronics supply chain, from raw materials and equipment to the manufacturing process. The conference broke up into four concurrent sessions featuring more than 50 presenters, with plenty of interesting information to hear.
In particular, Track 2 began with Creating New Products, featuring speakers from leading PE manufacturers, beginning with a talk given by Risto Huvila, Enfucell’s COO global customer operations, and Jani-Mikael Kuusisto, chief business development director for Ynvisible.
Enfucell and Ynvisible collaborated on the interactive conference badges, which Kuusisto noted “brings a new level of printed communication to badges.” He added that Ynvisible just set up its first production line in late November, and these badges were the first item produced on that line.
Huvila offered his views on the state of the PE market’s ecosystem, comparing it to a hamburger business.
“It is like the early hamburger business,” Huvila said. “We all have the parts to make the hamburger, but there is no kitchen to put it all together. There is prototyping and piloting being done without a clue of the integrated manufacturing processes that are needed.”
One of the companies that is successfully manufacturing PE products is GSI Technologies, which is producing glucose and diabetes test strips, smart cards and other PE projects. GSI Technologies’ CTO, Dr. Gordon Smith, offered his insights to the session’s attendees during his presentation on "Manufacturing Printed Electronic Devices."
“We came out of the graphic arts industry, and for us, screen printing is by far the technology that we use,” Dr. Smith noted. “Screen printing has proven to be a very versatile printing technology. We do print nano materials, and we have seen some customers inquire about flexo. The printed electronics industry has challenges, but the future is very exciting.”
Thin Film Electronics has achieved several breakthroughs in the past year, and Dr. Davor Sutija, CEO of Thin Film Electronics, analyzed "From Stand-Alone Memory to Printed Systems."
“Memory and logic will play a critical role in future printed electronics applications,” Dr. Sutija noted. “We see strong industry momentum for toys and games, and we think that package functionality will be a key value point once NFC becomes ubiquitous. There are massive market opportunities for Thin Film Electronics.”
Another area of interest was Quantum Displays, which was part of Track 1. Dr. Andre Arsenault, chief technology officer for Opalux Inc., discussed "Opalux P-Ink Displays: Flexible, Low Power, Reflective Color," in which he showcased the company’s photonic ink.
“A key advantage of printed electronics is its ability to use flexible substrates and readily produce custom graphics using printing,” Dr. Arsenault reported. “Our P-Ink can be tuned to any color in the spectrum by using specific voltages.”
Seth Coe-Sullivan, co-founder and CTO of QD Vision, followed with his talk on "Printed Quantum Dots Devices for Lighting and Displays," highlighting the progress being made on its Quantum Light technology.
“We are screen printing our systems, and the result is great color rendering,” Coe-Sullivan said.
Reactions to the Conference
Exhibitors and attendees alike came away pleased about the conference and optimistic about the direction that the PE industry is heading.
“We are really pleased,” said Raghu Das, IDTechEx’s CERO. “Our show has grown by a significant amount on both the floor and in terms of attendees. The nice thing is that we are seeing strong progress in the market, and a shift in companies becoming more pragmatic.”
“This show has been great,” said Stan Farnsworth, vice president - marketing at NovaCentrix. “It gives us the opportunity to be available to end users and potential customers to investigate how printed electronics can play a role for product needs, and we bring tools and samples to show people that what we do is real.”
“It really was an excellent show for us,” said Jennifer Ernst, vice president, North America at Thin Film Electronics. “There were some interesting new things to see, and we had the opportunity to showcase the advances we have made with our Thinfilm Addressable Memory.”
“It’s been a really good show for us, and we are very pleased with the turnout,” said David Torres, CEO of nTact.
Many of the exhibitors noted that attendees had specific projects to discuss.
“The traffic was very good,” said Joe Peirce, North American sales manager for Xenon Corporation. “There is a high level of interest in sintering with pulse lighting. We’ve had people from every part of the globe come by looking for specific solutions.”
“It is interesting to see the number of companies that are realizing the potential value of printed electronics for consumer products,” said Jim Boeder, director, sales and marketing for ImTech.
“We had a lot of real projects to discuss here,” said Thomas Kolbusch, vice president, Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH.
“The conference was excellent,” said Udo Dittmar, president of Ohio Gravure Technologies. “What has changed is that more and more companies are looking for a complete solution.”
“It’s been good,” Huvila said “There have been more customers with concrete, practical development plans. Still, the gap between corporate R&D and launched commercial products must be bridged.”
“It’s been non-stop,” said Matt Ream, vice president marketing, Blue Spark Technologies. “We’ve talked to a lot of people who are new to the technology, who are looking at the form factor and lower power requirements. We are also seeing some consumer products goods companies that are interested in Interactive Printed Media. Our pipeline still looks good, and viable new products are coming in.”
“It was a good show, with a lot of leads,” Martin De Moya, sales and service manager, Haiku Tech, Inc., concluded. “We are very positive that some of these leads will develop for us. We met a lot of people we haven’t seen before, and some of the people we have met are ready to invest.”
Dr. William J. Ray, chief scientist of Nth Degree Technologies, shows his printed LEDlighting system to interested attendees. |
In particular, Track 2 began with Creating New Products, featuring speakers from leading PE manufacturers, beginning with a talk given by Risto Huvila, Enfucell’s COO global customer operations, and Jani-Mikael Kuusisto, chief business development director for Ynvisible.
Enfucell and Ynvisible collaborated on the interactive conference badges, which Kuusisto noted “brings a new level of printed communication to badges.” He added that Ynvisible just set up its first production line in late November, and these badges were the first item produced on that line.
Huvila offered his views on the state of the PE market’s ecosystem, comparing it to a hamburger business.
“It is like the early hamburger business,” Huvila said. “We all have the parts to make the hamburger, but there is no kitchen to put it all together. There is prototyping and piloting being done without a clue of the integrated manufacturing processes that are needed.”
One of the companies that is successfully manufacturing PE products is GSI Technologies, which is producing glucose and diabetes test strips, smart cards and other PE projects. GSI Technologies’ CTO, Dr. Gordon Smith, offered his insights to the session’s attendees during his presentation on "Manufacturing Printed Electronic Devices."
“We came out of the graphic arts industry, and for us, screen printing is by far the technology that we use,” Dr. Smith noted. “Screen printing has proven to be a very versatile printing technology. We do print nano materials, and we have seen some customers inquire about flexo. The printed electronics industry has challenges, but the future is very exciting.”
Thin Film Electronics has achieved several breakthroughs in the past year, and Dr. Davor Sutija, CEO of Thin Film Electronics, analyzed "From Stand-Alone Memory to Printed Systems."
“Memory and logic will play a critical role in future printed electronics applications,” Dr. Sutija noted. “We see strong industry momentum for toys and games, and we think that package functionality will be a key value point once NFC becomes ubiquitous. There are massive market opportunities for Thin Film Electronics.”
Another area of interest was Quantum Displays, which was part of Track 1. Dr. Andre Arsenault, chief technology officer for Opalux Inc., discussed "Opalux P-Ink Displays: Flexible, Low Power, Reflective Color," in which he showcased the company’s photonic ink.
“A key advantage of printed electronics is its ability to use flexible substrates and readily produce custom graphics using printing,” Dr. Arsenault reported. “Our P-Ink can be tuned to any color in the spectrum by using specific voltages.”
Seth Coe-Sullivan, co-founder and CTO of QD Vision, followed with his talk on "Printed Quantum Dots Devices for Lighting and Displays," highlighting the progress being made on its Quantum Light technology.
“We are screen printing our systems, and the result is great color rendering,” Coe-Sullivan said.
Reactions to the Conference
Exhibitors and attendees alike came away pleased about the conference and optimistic about the direction that the PE industry is heading.
“We are really pleased,” said Raghu Das, IDTechEx’s CERO. “Our show has grown by a significant amount on both the floor and in terms of attendees. The nice thing is that we are seeing strong progress in the market, and a shift in companies becoming more pragmatic.”
“This show has been great,” said Stan Farnsworth, vice president - marketing at NovaCentrix. “It gives us the opportunity to be available to end users and potential customers to investigate how printed electronics can play a role for product needs, and we bring tools and samples to show people that what we do is real.”
“It really was an excellent show for us,” said Jennifer Ernst, vice president, North America at Thin Film Electronics. “There were some interesting new things to see, and we had the opportunity to showcase the advances we have made with our Thinfilm Addressable Memory.”
“It’s been a really good show for us, and we are very pleased with the turnout,” said David Torres, CEO of nTact.
Many of the exhibitors noted that attendees had specific projects to discuss.
“The traffic was very good,” said Joe Peirce, North American sales manager for Xenon Corporation. “There is a high level of interest in sintering with pulse lighting. We’ve had people from every part of the globe come by looking for specific solutions.”
“It is interesting to see the number of companies that are realizing the potential value of printed electronics for consumer products,” said Jim Boeder, director, sales and marketing for ImTech.
“We had a lot of real projects to discuss here,” said Thomas Kolbusch, vice president, Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH.
“The conference was excellent,” said Udo Dittmar, president of Ohio Gravure Technologies. “What has changed is that more and more companies are looking for a complete solution.”
“It’s been good,” Huvila said “There have been more customers with concrete, practical development plans. Still, the gap between corporate R&D and launched commercial products must be bridged.”
“It’s been non-stop,” said Matt Ream, vice president marketing, Blue Spark Technologies. “We’ve talked to a lot of people who are new to the technology, who are looking at the form factor and lower power requirements. We are also seeing some consumer products goods companies that are interested in Interactive Printed Media. Our pipeline still looks good, and viable new products are coming in.”
“It was a good show, with a lot of leads,” Martin De Moya, sales and service manager, Haiku Tech, Inc., concluded. “We are very positive that some of these leads will develop for us. We met a lot of people we haven’t seen before, and some of the people we have met are ready to invest.”