There are a lot of commercial opportunities emerging in flexible and printed electronics, and with these, more applications are appearing on the horizon. That is one of the key messages from IDTechEx Show! USA 2019, which was held Nov. 20-21 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA.

With  leaders in the fields of automotive, healthcare, sensors, wearables and more on hand to offer their experiences with flexible and printed electronics, as well as their needs going forward, attendees and exhibitors were able to pick up insights.

Part of the IDTechEx Show!, Printed Electronics USA 2019 will be held Nov. 20-21 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA. In addition to Printed Electronics USA 2019, there will be seven co-located programs, including Graphene, Sensors,  Internet of Things, Wearables, Electric Vehicles, and Energy Storage.

Chris Clare, IDTechEx’s event director, said that Printed Electronics USA 2019, part of the IDTechEx show, was a great success with very positive feedback from attendees and exhibitors alike, with major brand owners discussing their experiences and needs for the technology to grow. 

“The event focused on the application of printed and flexible electronics and the speaker program featured organizations ranging from GM, Geely, Faurecia and others in automotive to brands such as ABInBev to industrial giants such as UTRC, LG and Microsoft and many more discussing changes in their industry and what they seek,” Clare added.

In addition to Printed Electronics USA 2019, there were six co-located programs, including Graphene, Sensors, Internet of Things, Wearables, Electric Vehicles, and Energy Storage. Clare noted that a key aspect of Printed Electronics USA is that the full range of applications and technologies of printed electronics are covered at the event.

“Due to the nature of the diverse range of industries attending, organizations can meet with and explore opportunities of printed electronics in many different vertical segments,” Clare pointed out.

Clare observed the show opened with three cornerstone speakers, highlighting key progress and future visions across the topics covered at the event.

“General Motors, the $147 billion vehicle maker, opened the session covering ‘Opportunities in the Automotive Industry: From Materials to Printed Electronics to Electric Vehicles,’” Clare reported. “The presentation covered the changes in the auto industry such as the move to electric power trains and autonomous transport as a service, and how GM is responding to that through exploiting emerging technologies.

“Following this was the $19 billion automotive parts supplier Faurecia, the number one in vehicle interiors and emission control technology present on the evolution of human-machine interfaces (HMI) in vehicles, with reference to their work on technologies including structural electronics, in a presentation titled ‘The HMI Evolution in Vehicles.’ Completing the cornerstone presentations was Tony Chahine, CEO of Myant, discussing computing via textiles,” Clare added.

Clare noted that the exhibition hall provided numerous highlights as well.

“The feedback from exhibitors indicated that the exhibition felt busier than last year. The 268-company strong exhibition featured zones such as Demonstration Street – where products can be seen and handled – to the Launchpad Zone, with early stage companies showing new products, often for the first time,” she said. “There were also more pavilions this year, namely the Healthcare Sensor, Innovation, AFELIM, Canadian, AIM Rain, Graphene and Additive Electronics Pavilions.  The exhibition theatre ran throughout the show and was the location of the IDTechEx Awards Ceremony, Women In STEM and the IDTechEx Analyst led forum on Progress In China.”