The flexible electronics industry is showing strong potential, and the FlexTech Alliance is playing a key role in this development, providing grants, holding workshops and hosting its annual FLEX conference. 2015FLEX, this year’s annual showcase, wil be held Feb. 23-26 at the Monterey Conference Center, Monterey, CA. As always, the conference will provide plenty of talks as well as its exhibition.
 
Heidi Hoffman, director, FlexTech Alliance, said that this year’s attendance and exhibition space is anticipated to be up from last year, which is a good sign for the industry.
 
“We expect both attendance and exhibition to be larger than last year,” Hoffman said. “We are focused on highlighting three areas where we already have products, prototypes or projects: Packaging, Nano-Bio and Displays. Flexible electronics, as the products get to market, becomes a much more practical topic. It is no longer just talking in the theoretical. Practical business deals are being done.”
 
Attendees to 2015FLEX can expect to see a wide range of highlights, beginning with four short courses on Feb. 23. These include:
• Introducing Printed Electronics
• Large-Area, High-Speed and Roll-to-Roll Optical Inspection Methods for Flexible Electronics and Functional Coating Applications
• The Flexform Platform for Designing Hybrid Electronics Systems & Products
• Understanding Flexible OLED Technology
 
The plenary sessions on Feb. 24 offer big-picture overviews and provide insights into what the bigger and smaller companies are thinking for applications for flexible and hybrid electronics (FHE). Session 1’s plenary speakers include FlexTech Allliance’s Mike Ciesinski and Keith Rollins; Anil Duggal, GE Global Research (“Perspective and Plans for Flexible Electronics”); Vivek Subramanian, UC Berkeley (“Printed Electronics: Advanced Technologies Enabling New Applications”); Ho Kyoon Chung, Sungkyunkwan University (“OLED Fabrication: Lessons in Improvement”) and CT Liu, ITRI (“Commercialization of Emerging Flexible and Printed Electronics”).
 
The second plenary session features talks by Michael Durstock, Air Force Research Laboratory (“Flexible Hybrid Electronics for Air Force Applications”); Frank Papay, Cleveland Clinic (“Flexible Wearable Technologies in Healthcare”); Dermot Diamond, Dublin City University (“Wearable Platforms for Biomarker Monitoring – Challenges and Opportunities”); and Brandon Larson, Red Bull (“Exploring Elite Human Performance Through the Lens of Technology”).
 
After Day 1’s plenary sessions, there will be three sessions: Hybrid Flexible Electronics, Manufacturing Process Improvements and Leveraging Industry Consortia: Networking, Partnerships, Funding.
 
Day 2 features 12 sessions, covering a wide range of topics, including Hybrid & ThinFilm Fabrication; Metrology; Nano-Bio Devices; Flex Power; Nano-Bio Sensors & Applications; Devices I: Photovoltaics; Devices II: TFTs; Semiconductors & NanoMaterials; Sensors; Flex Systems: Integration; Process Improvements; and Substrates. The annual;Industry Dinner and FLEXI Awards Ceremony will follow.
 
Day 3 concludes with nine sessions: Smart Packaging Challenges & Solutions; Encapsulation; Novel Flex Displays; Flex Electronic Applications; Conductors; Flex Display; Adhesives; Conductor Process Improvements; and Flexible Systems II.
 
“The invited talks set the stage for more detail on the technical front,” Hoffman said. “At the start of each session, an invited talk is the highlighted talk and provides a great technology breakthrough or a market overview. Several companies will also be making announcements.”
 
Monterey is a new venue for the annual FLEX conference, and Hoffman believes it will be a more informal setting, which allows for great partner opportunities. She added that the new End-User Pavilions should also benefit attendees.
 
“The End-User Pavilions will be a nice addition, and will help the end-users get in touch with vendors who don’t otherwise know how to contact them,” Hoffman said. “It will be a new form of match-making at the event. A schedule of when the end-users can be found in our End-User Pavilion will be published, so meetings and product pitches can be facilitated.”
 
Hoffman said that the interest in flexible electronics is growing, and the government’s support on behalf of manufactuing may make a major difference for the industry.
 
“The U.S. government is making a commitment to creating an advanced manufacturing capability in this country,” Hoffman said, “The additional interest will draw in key players, and maybe convince the device and OEM companies that they can look to U.S. vendors for these advancements and manufacture. Because so much of the industry will be gathered at the Flex Conference, they are holding one of their proposer information days on Thursday afternoon.”
 
For more information on 2015FLEX, visit the website at www.2015FLEX.com, or contact FlexTech at (408) 577-1300.