Flexible and hybrid electronics (FHE) are making inroads globally, and Canada has built a strong ecosystem to further its growth. CPES 2018, which will be held May 23-24 at Centennial College’s Conference Centre in Toronto, will bring together brand owners, end users and leaders from throughout the supply chain to highlight the latest gains being made in the field.
 
Peter Kallai, president and CEO of IntelliFLEX Innovation Alliance, which organizes CPES2018, said that the organization continues to see growth in interest in FHE and participation in CPES.
 
“Most important for us is the caliber of participation from various corners of the industrial sector,” Kallai added. “We have attracted more involvement and built deeper relationships with manufacturers that stand to benefit from the adoption of FHE technologies. I am talking about well-established and globally competitive companies, many of which are multibillion-dollar enterprises, such as auto parts maker Martinrea, transportation giant Bombardier, Tyco Connectivity (formerly Tyco Electronics) and CMC Esterline, which makes avionics electronics systems.
 
“We have at CPES2018 the big materials companies in the space, like Sun Chemical, companies that are providing rapid prototyping capabilities at different scales – like Voltera, BotFactory and Nano Dimension – and we have companies important to the supply chain for in-mold electronics for transportation,” he added. “Meanwhile, we have companies like Metamaterials, which is pushing the envelope of what 2D can do on aircraft components, like wing surfaces. These different types of additive electronics and how they interact with different end user market segments and needs is important to us.”
 
Kallai reported that there is more commercialization occurring in the flexible and hybrid electronics field, and startups are also making significant gains.
 
“From a Canadian perspective, there is certainly more growth in the marketplace that is relevant to FHE,” Kallai observed.“We are seeing more commercialization. While our focus at CPES2018 is on larger industrial firms, we are also featuring eight startups that we have mentored for our Launchpad and our pitch competition. Canada has hundreds of startup companies in our space and we are trying to create a more inclusive ecosystem that will connect them with the larger players then need to validate their products and scale up for volume manufacturing.”
 
For example, automotive and aerospace are two opportunities.
 
“Automotive and aerospace are two verticals of particular interest to us as key players from those supply chains take a serious look at what FHE can do for them,” said Kallai. “Canada already has a strong track record of innovation in these areas. Aircraft and automobiles are premium applications that demand high reliability and robustness. Use cases of successful FHE deployments in these verticals will demonstrate the value of FHE and help manufacturers become more competitive in their own domains.”
 
One area that is showing promise are 3D printable electronics.
 
“Industry has been very heavily focused on 2D printable electronics, but one of the strengths of this conference – beyond the broader set of applications that we are highlighting in a number of market verticals – is 3D printable electronics,” Kallai observed. “3D offers Canada a strong opportunity to revolutionize the traditional domestic electronics design and manufacturing industry for sectors like automotive and aerospace.
 
One of the new additions to this year’s program this year is the Women in FHE STEM networking breakfast and award.
 
“It’s part of our broader emphasis on the value of diversity in all its dimensions,” Kallai said. “Our industry is certainly well-positioned to provide more opportunities for employment and advancement, to help woman engineers, executives and others achieve their full potential. We are a growth sector with a lot of emerging opportunities – there are career openings across the ecosystem.”
 
 
“Canada is increasingly seen as a destination for collaboration in FHE,” said Kallai. “International organizations want to learn more about our favorable atmosphere for commercialization, diverse talent pool, business-friendly immigration policies, our strengths in many established manufacturing industries that stand to benefit from FHE, and the R&D capabilities of our colleges, universities and publicly funded labs.
 
“We have a very strong and stable business environment of foreign investment. We have an interesting convergence of all these different factors that should take us past the tipping point,” he continued. “But what is missing is the glue – the financing. That’s what we are working on, for product validation and development, to get products market ready and to scale for volume manufacturing,” Kallai concluded.
 
For more information, see https://intelliflex.org/cpes2018/.