As Printed Electronics USA 2012 opens today at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, attendees will be learning about the new opportunities that are opening up for printed electronics (PE).

With keynote speakers from Walt Disney Corporation, United Technologies and the Office of Naval Research setting the stage in the morning session, and leading global corporations such as GE and DuPont and PE manufacturers such at T-Ink and Universal Display presenting during the afternoon’s concurrent sessions, there will be plenty to choose from for end-users and PE suppliers alike.

There are many opportunities for PE to make its mark, ranging from organic light emitting diodes (OLED) for displays and lighting to photovoltaics (PV), to smart cards and packaging to sensors and printed energy and much more.

Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx, the conference’s organizer, will open today’s morning keynote talks with a look at these opportunities in his discussion on “Printed Electronics 2012-2022: The Reality, Opportunity and Winners So Far.”

University of Tokyo Prof. Takao Someya will follow Mr. Das with his presentation on “Emerging Applications of Printed Skin-like Sensors and Organic Photovoltaics,” a discussion on ultraflexible and stretchable thin film transistor integrated circuits and OPV for emerging fields such as bio/medical.

Dr. Slade Culp, staff scientist with the United Technologies Research Center, will then discuss buildings and aerospace possibilities in “Opportunities for Printed Electronics in Integrated Buildings and Aerospace Systems.”

Walt Disney Corporation sees interesting possibilities for PE and Dr. Ivan Poupyrev, senior research scientist with Walt Disney, will discus that in his talk on “The World that Feels and Responds: Toward The Next Generation of Physical Computing.”

Dr. Poupyrev will focus on rapid advances in new materials and manufacturing techniques and how they are rapidly blending computation and the physical world, including areas such as tactile and haptics interfaces, deformable devices, augmented reality and novel touch sensing techniques, biological and printed interfaces.

Dr. Chagaan Baatar, programme officer at Office of Naval Research (ONR), will follow with “Graphene: Scaled Up and Down,” a look at the use of graphene for PE.

After the break, IDTechEx will host an End User Forum, followed by a talk by Steven Williams, pack and dispense innovation manager at Diageo, who will present a talk on “Harnessing E-Technologies to Step Change How Consumers Interact with Premium Drinks Brands,” and how e-technologies and social media are changing the way consumers interact with their favorite brands.

Dr. Robert J. Visser, senior director, Advanced Technology Group at Applied Materials, will close the keynote session with his discussion on “Printing for Solar Cells.”

Graphene is an area of interest for PE, and IDTechEx is focusing on the possibilities for this material with its separate keynote sessions on Graphene LIVE! Dr. Khasha Ghaffarzadeh, technology analyst for IDTechEx will get the Graphene session started with a look at “Graphene: Analysis of Technology, Markets and Players.”

Dr. Steve Sinton, principal chemist for Lockheed Martin, will analyze “Opportunities and Challenges for Transitioning Graphene Materials in Aerospace Applications,” including a look at Lockheed Martin’s activities with graphene technology. Dr. John S. Lettow, president of Vorbeck Materials, will then cover “Vorbeck’s Graphene Inks: Enabling High-Volume Applications in Printed Electronics.”

Dr. Branson Belle, research associate at University of Manchester, will analyze Manchester’s progress on new transistors in his talk on “Graphene Heterostructures: Tunnelling Transistors and Photodetection.”

After lunch, there will be a variety of concurrent sessions featuring leaders in the PE field. These will cover areas as varied as Consumer Goods, Toys, Wireless Power; OLED Lighting; Photovoltaics USA; and Touch Screen and ITO Replacement.

Consumer goods are an area where major PE leaders such as T-Ink are making headway, and during the concurrent session on Consumer Goods, Toys, Wireless Power, innovators such as T-Ink, Nukotoys, Leggett & Platt and The Marketing Store will all offer their insights.

T-Ink Inc. is a major innovator in the field of PE, and Andrew Ferber, T-Ink’s co-chairman, will open the session with his thoughts on “T-Ink’s Evolution in Printed Electronic Commercialization from Toys to Aerospace.” Mr. Ferber will be followed by Nukotoys CEO Rodger Raderman, who will discuss “Bringing Physical Toys Online.”

LeRoy Johnson, senior director, emerging technologies for Leggett & Platt, will cover “Wireless Power and the Infrastructure for Point of Purchase Applications.” Warren Kronberger, R&D director for The Marketing Store, will then offer his insights in his talk on “The Promotional Marketing Landscape & Printed Electronics.”

A session on System Integration starts after the break, beginning with a talk by Dr. David G. Sime, Soligie’s director of technology programs, who will analyze “Decisions and Drivers for Efficient Development of Printed Electronics Applications.”

Antti Kemppainen, key account manager printed functional solutions at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, follows Dr. Sime with his talk on “From Printed Electronics Components to Integrated Products,” which will cover VTT’s highly capable pilot factory for manufacturing of printed electronics in roll-to-roll processes.

Dr. Vivek Subramanian, associate professor, Dept. of EECS at University of California, Berkeley, will close the System Integration session with his insights into “Advanced Printing Techniques for High-Performance Printed Systems.”

The concurrent session on OLED Lighting and Displays will analyze opportunities in these segments. The first half will look at OLED lighting beginning with Dr. Norman Bardsley of Bardsley Consulting, whose talk on “OLED vs LED Lighting: Economics, Markets, Forecasts” compares the two technologies. Mike Lu, director OLED technology at Acuity Brands Lighting, will then present a talk on “Luminaire and Lighting Application Designs for OLED Lighting.”

GE is a huge player in the field of lighting, among many other segments, and OLED is an area of interest for them. Dr. Srinivas Sista, materials scientist for GE Global Research, will discuss “OLEDs for Lighting Application.”

Takahiro Mori, R&D for Konica Minolta Advanced Layers, will then cover “Application of Printed Electronics Technologies to OLED Lighting.”

Displays are the other key opportunity for OLEDs, and the second half of the OLED session features talks from industry leaders such as Holst Centre, DuPont Displays and Universal Display.

Dr. Iryna Yakimets, program manager at Holst Centre, opens the display portion with “OLED Backplane Manufacturing Processes for High Temperature Resistant PEEK Film from Victrex.”

Dr. Marie O’Regan, technology director, OLEDs for DuPont Displays, will cover “Solution Processing for OLED TVs,” and Jeff Silvernail, principal research engineer, Universal Display will close the OLED session with his presentation on “Phosphorescent OLEDs for Display and Lighting Applications.”

The session on Photovoltaics USA will begin with an overview by Paula Mints, SPV market research/strategies unlimited for Navigant Consulting on “Global Markets for Photovoltaic Technologies to 2016.”

Dr. Jia-Ming Liu, deputy general director for Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), will cover “High-Performance and Highly-Durable Organic Photovoltaics Based on Thiophene-Phenylene-Thiophene Conjugated Polymers.”

Solarmer Energy, a leader in the field of flexible solar cells, is next up, with Dr. Vishal Shrotriya, vice president, strategic business development, analyzing “Flexible Solar Cells – from Niche to Mainstream,” a market analysis and look at where flexible solar cells are needed.

Dr. Shrotriya will be followed by Dr. Robert A. Glass, chief technology officer, Quantum Materials Corporation, who will talk about “Tetrapod Quantum Dots: The Future is Now.”

After the break, leaders from Silevo, Dyesol and EMD Chemicals will offer their insights into the PV market.

Christopher Beitel, business development and marketing vice president at Silevo, will discuss “A Roadmap to Grid Parity: A Look at Levelized Cost of Energy, Balance of System Costs and Technological Innovations Leading the Way,” a look at what is needed to enable grid parity to shift the industry towards a self-sustaining market with widespread adoption.

Dyesol is a leader in the field of dye-based solar cells, and Dyesol Inc. CEO Marc Thomas will present his insights on this market in “Third Generation Solar Technology: Transforming Buildings into Power Plants with DSC.”

Dr. Monica Davis, manager, business development, Performance Materials Division at EMD Chemicals – An Affiliate of Merck KGaA, will close the Photovoltaics USA session with her talk on
“High Efficiency, High Performance Organic Semiconductors for Organic Photovoltaics and Organic Sensors.”

Graphene is one of the technologies looked at for touch screens, and Graphene LIVE! continues into its own concurrent session on Touch Screen and ITO Replacement. Dr. Saverio Russo, School of Physics at University of Exeter, will open the session with his talk on “GraphExeter.”

Dr. Young Hee Lee, professor, SKKU Fellow at Sungkyunkwan University, will follow with “Graphene for Transparent Conducting Film: Comparison to Carbon Nanotubes.” Dr. Byung Hee Hong, founder, Graphene Square Inc., will discuss “Toward Roll-to-Roll Production of Graphene for Printed Electronics,” and Dr. Amaia Zurutuza, scientific director, Graphenea, will analyze “High Quality Graphene Films.”

Michael Patterson, CEO of Graphene Frontiers, will close the session with “Graphene Frontiers: Large Scale Graphene Thin Film Synthesis Technology, Applications and Markets.”

Graphene LIVE! then moves to a discussion of New Manufacturing and Equipment, beginning with Neil Graddage, Swansea University and Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, who will cover “Printing of Graphene Dispersions – From Batch to Roll to Roll.” Mr. Graddage notes that graphene has been proven to be printed via inkjet, but inkjet limits speed and ink characteristics that can be overcome. There are also opportunities for deposition in large volumes using roll to roll printing methods such as gravure or flexo.

Dr. Ken Teo, director of nanoinstruments at Aixtron SE, closes Graphene LIVE!’s session with his presentation on “Scaling Graphene Growth Over 300mm Wafers.”