Flexible and Printed Electronics are Becoming More Mainstream

There is a lot of R&D and product development that is occurring in the field of flexible and printed electronics, as well as some commercialization. Industry leaders say they are seeing much in the way of commercialization of these new products.

“We see a great interest in wearables and medical devices,” said Janos Veres, director of engineering at NextFlex. “There are many innovative developments in this space by both large and small companies, as well as startups. There is a natural fit for devices to conform to the body of the wearer and this might include customization to the person. Clearly, the range of functions and use cases being explored is extremely broad, which is another benefit of some of the digital techniques we and other players use to fabricate flexible electronics.

“We see a need for a great deal of iteration to arrive to the right form factor and convenience,” Veres continued. “It is all driven by the end user and we all must learn what makes sense most for user experience. Another important area, albeit in smaller volume, is specialist RF antennae and sensor