The 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is in the books, and the show once again highlighted the fast-changing world of electronics.

An estimated 170,000 industry professionals and media attended the annual show, which was spread out throughout Las Vegas from Jan. 7-10. There was too much to see, from robots to drones, AI to TVs and displays, sensors and wearables, and much more. Companies exhibiting ranged the gamut from multi-national conglomerates like Procter & Gamble and Samsung to the myriad start-ups who pitched their innovations at Eureka Hall in the Sands Convention Center.

The flexible and printed electronics industry was well represented at the 2020 CES. The OE-A had a pavilion in the Sands, featuring industry leaders such as NovaCentrix, Coatema, Ynvisbile, American Semiconductor, IEE S.A., Tacterion GmbH and Leonard Kurz GmbH; major research institutes like Holst Centre, Fraunhofer FEP, VTT, Copt. Centre for Organic Electronics University of Cologne and InnovationLab GmbH; and key suppliers like Genes Ink, CondAlign and Screentec OY.

There were numerous other companies in the flexible and printed electronics field on hand. Aernos showed its environmental sensors; BeBop Sensors highlighted its Forte glove; Canatu and TactoTek showed its in-mold electronics offerings. Faurecia showed its Tier 1 automotive innovations, and Audi highlighted its OLED plans for its taillights.

On the display side, LG showed its flexible and rollable OLEDs; TCL displayed its quantum dot TVs, produced with quantum dots from Nanosys; Samsung highlighted a wide range of products, including a 292” Wall TV as well as its quantum dot TVs.

Among some other intriguing offerings, CareWear, Owlet, MAS Holdings, Xenoma, Sensoria, Smardii and Myant highlighted its wearables; Isorg its optical photodiodes; Living Packets with its E-Ink display driven reusable shipping packages; PassiveBolt’s Shepherd Lock deadbolt system, featuring TactoTek’s in-mold structural electronics (IMSE); Sure PetCare highlighted its RFID-driven cat products; PowercastCo exhibited its collaboration with Liquid X Printed Metals on a lighted T-shirt and lighted packaging; SCIO Printelligence highlighted its printed circuitry, SP Technology showed its printing capabilities; and Tapp highlighted its smart packaging capabilities.

Award Winners
A few of the above companies earned CES Innovation Awards honors during CES 2020.

• Aernos’ AerSIP – A 5 mm x 5 mm multi-gas sensing technology that can be used for IoT and wearables;
• LG Signature OLED TV RX – This is LG’s rollable display, that can be rolled back down when not in use;
• LivingPackets’ SAS THE BOX – A reusable shipping package, it features an E Ink display and other flexible sensors;
• Myant Inc.’s Skiin Connected Health & Wellness System – Myant’s conductive wearables connect to its Skiin app, allowing people to monitor their health throughout the day;
• PassiveBolt’s Shepherd Lock – A smart door locking system that allows the homeowner to monitor the lock and access the lock remotely. It features IMSE technology from TaxctoTek;
• Xenoma’s e-skin Sleep & Lounge – Analyzes sleep conditions and adjusts the room’s environment.

Thoughts on CES 2020
There were more than 4,500 exhibitors at CES 2020, and they had good things to say about the show.

“It’s been great,” said Kabir Maiga, PassiveBolt’s CEO. “We have hit all of the milestones we wanted to hit. We have had significant B2B interest, and we will go to market as well as through distribution channels.”

“The show has been great,” added Sensoria CEO Davide Vigano. “There is a lot of interest from large companies here.”

“It’s been busy here. NFC is really gaining in interest 2020, now that Apple is finally using NFC,” noted Niels Postma of Tapp.

“CES is fantastic,” said Larry Eason, EVP, corporate strategy for AerNos. "We’ve got more business than we can handle. All of our customers are here, as well as the big companies we want to work with in the future.”

The OE-A also hosted a conference session on printed and organic electronics.

“The session was very crowded,” said Wolfgang Mildner of MSWTech. “There were a lot of interesting questions and it is good that we showed a lot of the pieces.”

“The conference session was very well attended,” said OE-A managing director Dr. Klaus Hecker. “Our members have been very pleased with the interest from visitors.”

Holst Centre featured human-centric wearables at its booth in the OE-A pavilion.

“It’s been great to see all of the people here,” said Dr. Charlotte Kjellander of Holst Centre. “There is a lot of interest in smart clothing that helps people become more aware of their health.”

“It’s been a very exciting CES for us,” an LG spokesperson noted.

“CES has been very nice for us,” concluded Nicolas Bernardin, business development manager for Isorg. “We have had high traffic in our booth and a high level of contacts from major companies with well-defined expectations. We weren’t expecting such a successful exhibition.”

Next year’s CES will be held Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas. For more information, check out www.ces.tech.