Printed Electronics USA 2008 grows by 30 percent

Attendance at the annual IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA 2008 event in San Jose, California, on Dec 3-4 reached almost 700 people from 22 countries. Most attendees were from North America, followed by Korea and then Japan. There were 55 exhibitors – making this event the largest in the world on the topic, and it was substantially bigger than previous years – up 30 percent compared to 2007.
 
The theme of the event was ‘the new era of printed electronics products’, with exhibitors and speakers highlighting the existing and emerging products, such as printed RFID tags, e-readers, skin patches and much more. This grabbed the attention of a diverse range of major consumer brands, advertising companies, toy/leisure companies and consumer electronics companies that were present.
 
Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx, gave an industry update. He noted the three main ways that printed electronics is being commercialized – products that compete primarily on cost, such as those printing RFID tags; products that use the unique attributes of printed electronics to create new propositions and allow for premium pricing, such as flexibility, transparency, thinness (examples being e-readers and skin patches); and those using printed electronics in conventional electronics manufacture, such as Sharp inkjet printing LCD color filters based on technology from Epson.
 
Dr Peter Harrop, chairman of IDTechEx, said: ‘The growth of the event has been remarkable. We have concentrated on making the Printed Electronics series of events the focal point for the industry by addressing applications, technologies and user requirements.’
 
At the event IDTechEx launched the bi-annual journal Printed Electronics World Review, sponsored by IDTechEx and industry leaders, aimed at educating people about the technology and assessing the latest trends. The journal is being sent free of charge to global databases.