Flexible and Printed Electronics in Healthcare

Healthcare is one of the most promising areas for flexible and printed electronics. Glucose monitors were among the earliest success stories for printed electronics (PE), transforming into a billion-dollar annual business. Wearables that monitor the user’s health in real time is a promising use case, driven by form factors that can conform to the body.

Monitoring medication usage is an area where printed electronics are being used successfully. Information Mediary Corp. is one of the most successful manufacturers of printed electronics in healthcare, having successfully commercialized its Med-ic smart medication blisters that use conductive traces to show that patients have taken their medications.

Michael Petersen, CEO of Information Mediary Corp., observed that printed electronics has some ideal niches in healthcare.

“Printed electronics is not a miracle process or material that should or will work everywhere,” Petersen said. “There are ni