There are many interesting applications occurring in the field of printed electronics, with new opportunities seemingly appearing daily. Companies are developing new products that were not even thought of just a few years ago.

GAAmericas has held three symposiums on printed electronics in recent years, and its latest, the upcoming GAAmericas Fourth Printed Electronics, Functional Printing & Intelligent Packaging Symposium, will be held June 23-24, 2014 at Clemson University, Clemson, SC. Its theme is “Forging Effective Design-to-Commercialization Value Chains,” with an agenda that covers the gamut from intelligent packaging to printing cars and much more.

Don Carli, CEO and founder of the market research and strategy consulting firm Nima Hunter Inc., and senior research fellow with the nonprofit Institute for Sustainable Communication, is serving as the chairperson of the symposium.

Carli has put together an impressive list of speakers for the symposium, adding that Freedonia Group predicts U.S. demand for active and intelligent packaging will grow 8% per year to $3.5 billion in 2017, well above total packaging demand growth.

“There is a diverse lineup of speakers representing different aspects of functional printing and additive manufacturing value chains, including Bruce Smith, senior director of global packaging process Innovation for The Molson Coors Brewing Company; Lisa M. Nieman, director of customer segmentation with the U.S. Postal Service; Dr. Adam Scotch, R&D manager for lighting innovation at Osram Sylvania; Humair Mandavia, executive director of the Zuken SOZO Center, faculty from Clemson’s Sonoco Institute, and entrepreneurs from ground-breaking startups like Electrozyme, SafeSense Technologies and Tactonic Technologies and many more,” Carli saud.

“One of the highlights of the program will be a presentation by James Earle, of LocalMotors, one of the more exciting companies capitalizing on disruptive technologies for collaborative innovation, functional printing, additive manufacturing and connection to the Internet of Things,” Carli added. “James is using additive manufacturing for the recently launched LocalMotors Microfactory in Knoxville, TN, where they are 3D printing cars.”

Cold chain packaging of food and pharma products is a key opportunity for printed electronics. Carli noted that research firm MarketsAndMarkets estimates that revenues of the global cold chain market for perishable products were $75.6 billion in 2011, and according to the 2014 Biopharma cold-chain forecast by Pharmaceutical Commerce, worldwide spending on cold-chain logistics 2014 will add up to approximately $8.4 billion in an overall pharma logistics market worth $64 billion.

To cover this area, the symposium features representatives from two of the leading companies in cold chain packaging innovation, Dr. Bill Smith, director of packaging R&D with SealedAir Corporation, and Kaz Lawler, CTO of PakSense.

Other symposium topics include:
• Innovation in Intelligent/Interactive Products & Packaging: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
• Intelligent/Interactive Packaging: Brand Owner & Supply Chain Perspectives.
• Collaborative Innovation, Functional Printing, Printed Electronics, Microfactories and You.
• New Printed Electronics Sensors and Cyber Physical Systems.
• The Internet of Postal Things, RFID, NFC and the Quantified Consumer.
• Technology Roadmaps & Standards for Printed Electronics.
• An Update on FlexTech Alliance Initiatives in Printed Electronics.
• Tools for Model-Based Design & Simulation of Printed Electronics.
• Intellectual Property and Innovation: An Overview of Best Practices.
• Printed Electronics Materials, Processes & Business Resources, Sonoco Institute Printed Electronics Pressroom Tour and Demonstrations.
• Substrates, Functional Inks, Coatings, Adhesives and Processes for Printed Electronics.
• Brand Protection, Brand Security, Product Safety & Functional Printing.

“The symposium is not a trade show,” Carli concluded. “Rather, it is a curated interdisciplinary event bringing a diverse group of plugged-in innovators together for two days in a highly interactive setting providing many opportunities for them to network and learn about ‘Forging Effective Design-to-Commercialization Packaging and Product Value Chains for an Internet of Things.’”

For more information, see www.gaa.org/printed-electronics-symposium to register, or call Allen Krusenstjerna at (201) 523-6042 ext. 104 to register by phone.