David Savastano, Editor07.29.09
The emerging field of printed electronics (PE) is drawing much attention, ranging from global companies and start-ups, universities, R&D institutes, component and material suppliers and producers and end-users.
With all of this action, there is a need for a structured group to help promote the growth of the industry. That is where the Organic Electronics Association (OE-A) fits in. Founded in December 2004, the OE-A is a working group within the German Engineering Federation (VDMA), which has more than 3,000 member companies. It has grown to more than 120 member companies, and in 2008, the OE-A expanded into North America, opening its office in Pittsburgh, PA.
In June, OE-A hosted the Large-area, Organic and Printed Electronics Convention (LOPE-C), its initial conference, which brought more than 1,000 people to Frankfurt, Germany. During the three-day convention, OE-A selected its new leadership. Wolfgang Mildner, managing director of PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG, Germany, continues to serve as chairman, while Andrew Hannah, president and CEO of Plextronics Inc., U.S., returns as vice chairman.
Additional board members include:
• Dr. Pierre P. Barthélemy, Solvay S.A., Belgium.
• Prof. Dr. Reinhard R. Baumann, pmTUC, Germany.
• Dr. Michael Heckmeier, Merck Chemicals Ltd., Great Britain.
• Woolas Hsieh, Solarmer Energy, Inc., USA.
• Dr. Stephan Kirchmeyer, H.C. Starck Clevios GmbH, Germany.
• Thomas Kolbusch, Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH, Germany.
• Jaap Lombaers, Holst Centre, The Netherlands.
• Philipp Weissel, plastic electronic GmbH, Austria.
The board of directors represents the entire value chain of this emerging industry, and these leaders say there is no doubt that there have been significant gains being made by PE, with more to occur.
For example, Dr. Stephan Kirchmeyer, head of operations and technology for H.C. Starck Clevios GmbH, pointed to the first real products announced to the market, such as Plastic Logic’s E-Reader as well as materials gaining technical maturity, while Thomas Kolbusch, vice president of Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH and managing director of Solarcoating Machinery GmbH, noted the increased investment into the industry as a clear sign of PE’s potential.
“The most significant gains I have seen are the increasing numbers of companies investing in printed electronics and already offering parts of the value chain,” Kolbusch said. “The other important development I see, especially for Europe, is the successful implementation of technology clusters for printed electronics, like in Dresden; also, the fundamental understanding of the EU that printed electronics technology could be a new industry for the Europeans and create not only a new market, but also new jobs. To see the speed of development within five years in OLED lighting or in organic photovoltaics, for example, is impressive. There seems to be a similar industrial revolution and evolution process like the development of printing in Europe.”
“Progress was made in all areas of development such as material, technology and production on the way from lab to market,” said OE-A chairman Wolfgang Mildner. “PolyIC has overcome many obstacles like demonstrating fast and stable circuits and demonstrating the world’s first roll-to-roll printed RFID production.”
“The volume of companies that are involved in printed electronics has grown substantially, and the technological developments of those companies have positioned our industry to be on the verge of high volume commercialization,” said Andy Hannah, OE-A’s vice chairman.
There are key needs to be met for PE to grow to its full potential. Kirchmeyer pointed to the need for worldwide know-how to set up production processes for PE devices, especially for pilot lines or small production lines, while Hannah stressed the involvement of more OEMs in the development process.
Kolbusch said key developments are real life end-use devices with high quality and reliability within the next two years, and competitive pricing compared to silicon is also critical.
“Low energy consumption and ‘green’ production methods will also have an impact on the printed technologies,” Kolbusch added. “There must be a real advantage in price compared to most silicon-based technologies, and the price has to decrease further to be competitive.”
Mildner said that printed electronics will be used in many applications; a lot of those applications are in addition to RFID, such as displays, sensors or photovoltaics. “Even printed RFID will open additional applications to conventional RFID,” Mildner said. “One of the keys is that printed electronics will be thin and flexible as well as easy to integrate.
“Printed electronics will reach its full potential as soon as most companies will have scaled up their production facilities,” Mildner added. “PolyIC’s existing reel-to-reel production allows producing mile-long rolls of printed electronics, not only laboratory samples.”
The OE-A is taking an active role in promoting PE, through LOPE-C as well as developing the Roadmap, promoting education and training programs as well as standardization, demonstrator projects and public relations.
Mildner said that the OE-A is the key international association in this growing industry.
“OE-A offers the platform for a network that makes cross-fertilizing possible,” Mildner said. “As a middleman between the companies that develop printed electronics, OE-A makes a fundamental contribution to this growth by helping the industry to gain critical mass and to speak with one voice.”
“The OE-A will become a worldwide promoter of the printed electronics technology and provide a platform for members to build strategic alliances,” Kirchmeyer said.
Hannah noted the importance of creating a platform for developers and marketers to meet and invent, which in turn fosters collaboration, new ideas and generally moves the industry forward.
“The OE-A has several key positions: informing the public, lobbying and events like the LOPE-C are fairly developed, and the global approach of the OE-A is one key to further develop the strategy,” Kolbusch noted. “The B2B cooperation between the industrial partners can be expanded further. The OE-A can create pull from the marketplace for the industrial community, especially from end-users and consumers. Education in printed electronics should be a focus of the OE-A’s activities.”
The OE-A’s officers uniformly noted that they are pleased with the reception and quality of LOPE-C, and anticipate LOPE-C becoming an annual event. LOPE-C is already scheduled for May 31-June 2, 2010 at Messe Frankfurt.
“LOPE-C was fantastic,” Hannah said. “I expect double the attendance next year.”
“The LOPE-C is a good event and I expect the exhibition to stay in Frankfurt,” Kolbusch said. “The number of visitors was great.”
Kirchmeyer said that the LOPE-C was an excellent conference.
“What makes LOPE-C unique as a conference is that it is providing a non-profit platform to the community and our industry,” Kirchmeyer added.
“LOPE-C, as the premier event in the field, was perceived as a great success by PolyIC,” Mildner said. “PolyIC used LOPE-C as a platform to show its capabilities in technology and applications and was rewarded with multiple new, high-level customer contacts.
Mildner said that OE-A and PolyIC anticipate that LOPE-C will grow even further.
“LOPE-C has been the largest event in the industry, with more than 1,000 attendees over three days in the conference and exhibition,” Mildner said. “PolyIC anticipates that LOPE-C will become even more international. It has already had attendees from more than 30 countries; however, we expect that the attendees will even be more diversified in the future.”
What is the future for PE? Hannah believes that the technological challenges facing PE will be solved in the near future.
“I would expect that the hurdles the industry faces now – manufacturing processes and cost – have been overcome, resulting in the integration of printed electronics technologies onto and into everyday objects,” Hannah said.
Kirchmeyer discussed some of the innovations he anticipates, including flexible full plastic touch screens appearing on the market and being incorporated into devices; first smart labels on tickets, stamps with simple electronic function; and first RFID prototypes (not demonstrators) that allow full function. He also expects Asian institutes and companies to become much more involved.
“My expectations are that there will be a complete vertical value chain in some areas like OLED lighting, OPV, printed batteries and smart textiles in Europe, with a lot of product manufacturers,” Kolbusch said. “It will be essential for all European activities to increase the number of product manufacturers and of course to keep the competitive advantage in R&D. Consumers will understand more and more the benefits of the new technologies, and they will become part of our daily life. There will be a shift from entrepreneurship from small start-ups to the big players, but around the technology cluster, we will see a growing number of start-ups. This also might change the risk culture in Europe to start companies and the finance structure of these new companies.”
“Our expectations are a further commercialization of printed electronics products,” Mildner concluded. “We observe that there is increasing interest in RFID in general. Also, for printed electronics, there is high interest in this topic. Customers can see now that printed electronics comes from vision to reality. We see that the market for printed RFID will be stimulated through this. PolyIC started several pilot applications to gain experience for a broader market entry.
“Printed electronics and thus printed RFID will be a long-term development,” Mildner added. “At the moment, more and more printed electronics products come onto the market, which shows a steady increase in growth. PolyIC also notices that more and more companies start to enter the printed electronics market such as chemical companies who supply materials, which helps to improve performance and functionality and will consequently stimulate the markets and applications.”
For more information on the OE-A, contact contact Dr. Klaus Hecker (tel.: +49-69-6603-1336, [email protected]) or Barbara M. Fisher (tel.: +1-412-828-0370, [email protected]).
The new board of the OE-A, from left, are Woolas Hsieh (Solarmer Energy Inc.), Jaap Lombaers (Holst Centre), Philipp Weissel (plastic electronic GmbH), Wolfgang Mildner (PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG, chairman OE-A), Dr. Pierre P. Barthélemy (Solvay S.A.), Andrew Hannah (Plextronics Inc., vice chairman OE-A), Dr. Klaus Hecker (OE-A Managing Director), Dr. Michael Heckmeier (Merck Chemicals Ltd.), Barbara Fisher (regional manager, OE-A North America), and Dr. Stephan Kirchmeyer, (H.C. Starck Clevios GmbH). (Not pictured: Prof. Dr. Reinhard R. Baumann (pmTUC), Thomas Kolbusch (Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH). |
In June, OE-A hosted the Large-area, Organic and Printed Electronics Convention (LOPE-C), its initial conference, which brought more than 1,000 people to Frankfurt, Germany. During the three-day convention, OE-A selected its new leadership. Wolfgang Mildner, managing director of PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG, Germany, continues to serve as chairman, while Andrew Hannah, president and CEO of Plextronics Inc., U.S., returns as vice chairman.
Additional board members include:
• Dr. Pierre P. Barthélemy, Solvay S.A., Belgium.
• Prof. Dr. Reinhard R. Baumann, pmTUC, Germany.
• Dr. Michael Heckmeier, Merck Chemicals Ltd., Great Britain.
• Woolas Hsieh, Solarmer Energy, Inc., USA.
• Dr. Stephan Kirchmeyer, H.C. Starck Clevios GmbH, Germany.
• Thomas Kolbusch, Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH, Germany.
• Jaap Lombaers, Holst Centre, The Netherlands.
• Philipp Weissel, plastic electronic GmbH, Austria.
The board of directors represents the entire value chain of this emerging industry, and these leaders say there is no doubt that there have been significant gains being made by PE, with more to occur.
For example, Dr. Stephan Kirchmeyer, head of operations and technology for H.C. Starck Clevios GmbH, pointed to the first real products announced to the market, such as Plastic Logic’s E-Reader as well as materials gaining technical maturity, while Thomas Kolbusch, vice president of Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH and managing director of Solarcoating Machinery GmbH, noted the increased investment into the industry as a clear sign of PE’s potential.
“The most significant gains I have seen are the increasing numbers of companies investing in printed electronics and already offering parts of the value chain,” Kolbusch said. “The other important development I see, especially for Europe, is the successful implementation of technology clusters for printed electronics, like in Dresden; also, the fundamental understanding of the EU that printed electronics technology could be a new industry for the Europeans and create not only a new market, but also new jobs. To see the speed of development within five years in OLED lighting or in organic photovoltaics, for example, is impressive. There seems to be a similar industrial revolution and evolution process like the development of printing in Europe.”
“Progress was made in all areas of development such as material, technology and production on the way from lab to market,” said OE-A chairman Wolfgang Mildner. “PolyIC has overcome many obstacles like demonstrating fast and stable circuits and demonstrating the world’s first roll-to-roll printed RFID production.”
“The volume of companies that are involved in printed electronics has grown substantially, and the technological developments of those companies have positioned our industry to be on the verge of high volume commercialization,” said Andy Hannah, OE-A’s vice chairman.
PE’s Needs
There are key needs to be met for PE to grow to its full potential. Kirchmeyer pointed to the need for worldwide know-how to set up production processes for PE devices, especially for pilot lines or small production lines, while Hannah stressed the involvement of more OEMs in the development process.
Kolbusch said key developments are real life end-use devices with high quality and reliability within the next two years, and competitive pricing compared to silicon is also critical.
“Low energy consumption and ‘green’ production methods will also have an impact on the printed technologies,” Kolbusch added. “There must be a real advantage in price compared to most silicon-based technologies, and the price has to decrease further to be competitive.”
Mildner said that printed electronics will be used in many applications; a lot of those applications are in addition to RFID, such as displays, sensors or photovoltaics. “Even printed RFID will open additional applications to conventional RFID,” Mildner said. “One of the keys is that printed electronics will be thin and flexible as well as easy to integrate.
“Printed electronics will reach its full potential as soon as most companies will have scaled up their production facilities,” Mildner added. “PolyIC’s existing reel-to-reel production allows producing mile-long rolls of printed electronics, not only laboratory samples.”
OE-A’s Role in Printed Electronics
The OE-A is taking an active role in promoting PE, through LOPE-C as well as developing the Roadmap, promoting education and training programs as well as standardization, demonstrator projects and public relations.
Mildner said that the OE-A is the key international association in this growing industry.
“OE-A offers the platform for a network that makes cross-fertilizing possible,” Mildner said. “As a middleman between the companies that develop printed electronics, OE-A makes a fundamental contribution to this growth by helping the industry to gain critical mass and to speak with one voice.”
“The OE-A will become a worldwide promoter of the printed electronics technology and provide a platform for members to build strategic alliances,” Kirchmeyer said.
Hannah noted the importance of creating a platform for developers and marketers to meet and invent, which in turn fosters collaboration, new ideas and generally moves the industry forward.
“The OE-A has several key positions: informing the public, lobbying and events like the LOPE-C are fairly developed, and the global approach of the OE-A is one key to further develop the strategy,” Kolbusch noted. “The B2B cooperation between the industrial partners can be expanded further. The OE-A can create pull from the marketplace for the industrial community, especially from end-users and consumers. Education in printed electronics should be a focus of the OE-A’s activities.”
Strong Beginnings
for LOPE-C
The OE-A’s officers uniformly noted that they are pleased with the reception and quality of LOPE-C, and anticipate LOPE-C becoming an annual event. LOPE-C is already scheduled for May 31-June 2, 2010 at Messe Frankfurt.
“LOPE-C was fantastic,” Hannah said. “I expect double the attendance next year.”
“The LOPE-C is a good event and I expect the exhibition to stay in Frankfurt,” Kolbusch said. “The number of visitors was great.”
Kirchmeyer said that the LOPE-C was an excellent conference.
“What makes LOPE-C unique as a conference is that it is providing a non-profit platform to the community and our industry,” Kirchmeyer added.
“LOPE-C, as the premier event in the field, was perceived as a great success by PolyIC,” Mildner said. “PolyIC used LOPE-C as a platform to show its capabilities in technology and applications and was rewarded with multiple new, high-level customer contacts.
Mildner said that OE-A and PolyIC anticipate that LOPE-C will grow even further.
“LOPE-C has been the largest event in the industry, with more than 1,000 attendees over three days in the conference and exhibition,” Mildner said. “PolyIC anticipates that LOPE-C will become even more international. It has already had attendees from more than 30 countries; however, we expect that the attendees will even be more diversified in the future.”
Expectations for Printed Electronics
What is the future for PE? Hannah believes that the technological challenges facing PE will be solved in the near future.
“I would expect that the hurdles the industry faces now – manufacturing processes and cost – have been overcome, resulting in the integration of printed electronics technologies onto and into everyday objects,” Hannah said.
Kirchmeyer discussed some of the innovations he anticipates, including flexible full plastic touch screens appearing on the market and being incorporated into devices; first smart labels on tickets, stamps with simple electronic function; and first RFID prototypes (not demonstrators) that allow full function. He also expects Asian institutes and companies to become much more involved.
“My expectations are that there will be a complete vertical value chain in some areas like OLED lighting, OPV, printed batteries and smart textiles in Europe, with a lot of product manufacturers,” Kolbusch said. “It will be essential for all European activities to increase the number of product manufacturers and of course to keep the competitive advantage in R&D. Consumers will understand more and more the benefits of the new technologies, and they will become part of our daily life. There will be a shift from entrepreneurship from small start-ups to the big players, but around the technology cluster, we will see a growing number of start-ups. This also might change the risk culture in Europe to start companies and the finance structure of these new companies.”
“Our expectations are a further commercialization of printed electronics products,” Mildner concluded. “We observe that there is increasing interest in RFID in general. Also, for printed electronics, there is high interest in this topic. Customers can see now that printed electronics comes from vision to reality. We see that the market for printed RFID will be stimulated through this. PolyIC started several pilot applications to gain experience for a broader market entry.
“Printed electronics and thus printed RFID will be a long-term development,” Mildner added. “At the moment, more and more printed electronics products come onto the market, which shows a steady increase in growth. PolyIC also notices that more and more companies start to enter the printed electronics market such as chemical companies who supply materials, which helps to improve performance and functionality and will consequently stimulate the markets and applications.”
For more information on the OE-A, contact contact Dr. Klaus Hecker (tel.: +49-69-6603-1336, [email protected]) or Barbara M. Fisher (tel.: +1-412-828-0370, [email protected]).