David Savastano, Editor06.19.12
As LOPE-C 2012 opens its doors at the ICM – Internationales Congress Center München from June 19-21 for the fourth international conference and exhibition hosted by OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association) in conjunction with Messe München International, leaders in the field of printed electronics say they are seeing good growth and opportunities.
Jennifer Ernst, vice president, North America for Thin Film Electronics ASA (Thinfilm), is seeing gains being made in the sensor field, among others.
“I'm very excited about the progress we at Thinfilm are seeing,” Ernst said. “Component technologies have matured, ecosystems are coalescing, and integrated systems like the Thinfilm Temperature Tag are on the foreseeable horizon. That integration, particularly around disposable sensor tags, is creating customer pull.”
Risto Huvila, president, Enfucell, Inc., and COO, Enfucell Ltd., a specialist in printed batteries, said he is seeing more business leaders looking at what printed electronics can bring to their products.
“One of the major changes in printed electronics since LOPE-C 2011 is that today we see more senior business managers involved in the development projects than ever before, and it seems some big companies are little by little planning to have PE products in their product portfolio,” Huvila said. “It seems that the road from early R&D departments to product/business units is one and a half to three years long.”
Still, PE has a ways to go, as companies are just starting to form value chains.
“The main problem is still on the supplier side,” Huvila noted. “The PE value chain has all the bits and pieces in place, only the chain is missing. And because there is no chain, there is no value. Finally we are seeing some value chains forming up, and Enfucell has been active to form these alliances, recently together with Pragmatic Printing and Printed Electronics Limited.”
While the organic photovoltaic (OPV) market has seen its challenges, Thibaud Le Séguillon, CEO at Helaitek GmbH, said his company is on the right track.
“OPV is going through the ups and downs of any new technology, but we still firmly believe that the path we have chosen – small molecules and vacuum deposition – will be as successful as it is in OLED display today,” said Le Séguillon.
Stan Farnsworth, vice president of marketing for NovaCentrix, said that NovaCentrix is very pleased at the continued growth in business activity in the PE market.
“We continue to be approached to work on new projects, and leading product and technology developers are increasingly familiar with PulseForge tools and photonic curing,” Farnsworth said. “Our existing projects also continue to move forward, and we are seeing further tool placements in the US, EU, and Asia. Applications continue to range from high-volume products such as RFID and flexible circuits, to advanced materials processing in display-related use.
“We have a strong participation in LOPE-C in Munich this week,” Farnsworth added. “Numerous organizations will take advantage of the opportunity to meet with our engineers at the event to process their specific material samples.”
Wolfgang Mildner, managing director, PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG, noted that PolyIC is showing examples of products it has manufactured at its booth, as well as innovative concepts for intelligent packaging.
“I do see good progress for PolyIC in the PE market,” said Mildner. “We see a lot of inquiries for our PolyTC transparent conductive film for mobile phone, automotive, household goods and even lighting. These are steps in the market, but there are a lot more opportunities in the future,” Mildner added.
Leif Ljungqvist, vice president and manager, printed electronics at Acreo, said that Acreo has seen strong interest in its printed display technology.
“I see good progress for our technology, especially our printed display technology,” said Ljungqvist. “So far, the technology is not on the market, but based on the numbers of questions and RFQ’s we have, it is just a matter of time. And I don’t mean years.
‘The overall picture from my horizon is that the interest for printed electronics has increased substantially over the last two years,” Ljungqvist added. “Still there are not that many products on the market, but I believe it will come. The industry is in the phase of integrating printed components into working systems, and I think that will be the key issue for success.”
Jennifer Ernst, vice president, North America for Thin Film Electronics ASA (Thinfilm), is seeing gains being made in the sensor field, among others.
“I'm very excited about the progress we at Thinfilm are seeing,” Ernst said. “Component technologies have matured, ecosystems are coalescing, and integrated systems like the Thinfilm Temperature Tag are on the foreseeable horizon. That integration, particularly around disposable sensor tags, is creating customer pull.”
Risto Huvila, president, Enfucell, Inc., and COO, Enfucell Ltd., a specialist in printed batteries, said he is seeing more business leaders looking at what printed electronics can bring to their products.
“One of the major changes in printed electronics since LOPE-C 2011 is that today we see more senior business managers involved in the development projects than ever before, and it seems some big companies are little by little planning to have PE products in their product portfolio,” Huvila said. “It seems that the road from early R&D departments to product/business units is one and a half to three years long.”
Still, PE has a ways to go, as companies are just starting to form value chains.
“The main problem is still on the supplier side,” Huvila noted. “The PE value chain has all the bits and pieces in place, only the chain is missing. And because there is no chain, there is no value. Finally we are seeing some value chains forming up, and Enfucell has been active to form these alliances, recently together with Pragmatic Printing and Printed Electronics Limited.”
While the organic photovoltaic (OPV) market has seen its challenges, Thibaud Le Séguillon, CEO at Helaitek GmbH, said his company is on the right track.
“OPV is going through the ups and downs of any new technology, but we still firmly believe that the path we have chosen – small molecules and vacuum deposition – will be as successful as it is in OLED display today,” said Le Séguillon.
Stan Farnsworth, vice president of marketing for NovaCentrix, said that NovaCentrix is very pleased at the continued growth in business activity in the PE market.
“We continue to be approached to work on new projects, and leading product and technology developers are increasingly familiar with PulseForge tools and photonic curing,” Farnsworth said. “Our existing projects also continue to move forward, and we are seeing further tool placements in the US, EU, and Asia. Applications continue to range from high-volume products such as RFID and flexible circuits, to advanced materials processing in display-related use.
“We have a strong participation in LOPE-C in Munich this week,” Farnsworth added. “Numerous organizations will take advantage of the opportunity to meet with our engineers at the event to process their specific material samples.”
Wolfgang Mildner, managing director, PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG, noted that PolyIC is showing examples of products it has manufactured at its booth, as well as innovative concepts for intelligent packaging.
“I do see good progress for PolyIC in the PE market,” said Mildner. “We see a lot of inquiries for our PolyTC transparent conductive film for mobile phone, automotive, household goods and even lighting. These are steps in the market, but there are a lot more opportunities in the future,” Mildner added.
Leif Ljungqvist, vice president and manager, printed electronics at Acreo, said that Acreo has seen strong interest in its printed display technology.
“I see good progress for our technology, especially our printed display technology,” said Ljungqvist. “So far, the technology is not on the market, but based on the numbers of questions and RFQ’s we have, it is just a matter of time. And I don’t mean years.
‘The overall picture from my horizon is that the interest for printed electronics has increased substantially over the last two years,” Ljungqvist added. “Still there are not that many products on the market, but I believe it will come. The industry is in the phase of integrating printed components into working systems, and I think that will be the key issue for success.”