As 2014 comes to a close, the flexible and printed electronics industry has completed a year in which there was more of a move toward commercialization of products, with new markets taking center stage. Industry leaders report that more end users are coming to them with potential products than ever before.
 
In particular, the wearables market is drawing a lot of attention from consumers, and there are opportunities for flexible and printed electronics in this field. 3-D printing is also gaining much interest. Meanwhile, older markets such as medical sensors (glucose testing strips, for example) remain sizable, while sensors for areas such as food packaging look promising. Organic photovoltaics (OPV) seem to be picking up, as are OLED and flexible displays and touch screens. 
 
In many ways, the industry is growing. The major conferences – IDTechEx’s Printed Electronics Europe and Printed Electronics USA and the OE-A’s LOPEC – continue to grow significantly in terms of attendees and exhibitors.
 
Sensors, RFID and NFC tags have been particularly interesting. Thinfilm is working with a number of major suppliers on food packaging sensors and NFC tags. SMATRAC Group (RFID tags), ASSA ABLOY (NFC sensors for doors) and Confidex (RFID) are among the companies making headway in this field.
 
There is more money flowing into the industry from venture capital groups and major corporations. We are seeing a lot of interesting collaborations between companies in various parts of the supply chain, with equipment manufacturers working closely with material suppliers and product designers.
 
There have been other strategic investments announced for leading PE innovators, including silver nanowire manufacturer Cambrios Technologies ($10 million from Samsung Ventures); printed battery manufacture Imprint Energy ($6 million, led by Phoenix Venture Partners). RFID specialist Alien Technology received $35 million.
 
Solar companies have been receiving funding, with OPV manufacturers Heliatek ($23 million from ACTON, Bosch, BASF) and Eight19 ($1.6 million) among those gaining investments. Ascent Solar, a thin film solar company, received $8 million in late 2014. There were also significant investments in materials and equipment manufacturers.
 
Interestingly, there was not a lot of merger activity this year in the field. Perhaps the most interesting acquisition came in January 2014, when Thin Film Electronics acquired Kovio’s printed near field communication (NFC) technology, IP and manufacturing assets for $3.7 million.  Thinfilm is developing new systems using the NFC inks and tags.
 
A few conductive ink and materials manufacturers were acquired or departed during 2014. Peratech Limited, which developed quantum tunnelling composite (QTC) materials, entered administration in January 2014.
 
After commencing Chapter 11 proceedings in January 2014, Plextronics was acquired by Solvay in March; Solvay cited Plextroncs’ OLED materials technology as a benefit. Also in March, NovaCentrix acquired the assets of PChem Associates, which has developed nano silver ink technology for flexo and screen printing.
 
“The PChem nano silver flexo and screen inks have been well known for offering the best conductivity at the lowest cost,“ said Charles Munson, NovaCentrix CEO and president. “Combined with our existing and soon-to-be-released Metalon-brand ink products, as well as the state-of-the-art PulseForge photonic curing tools, we are better positioned than ever before to serve our customers as a leader in the printed electronics community.”
 
March also saw the announcement of a partnership betweenSun Chemical, the world’s largest ink manufacturer, and T+ink, a leading innovator in printed electronics. The partnership, T+Sun, will develop conductive ink solutions, including the Touchcode systems T+ink had previously acquired from Printechnologics. Sun Chemical has the global connections with brand owners and printers as well as manufacturing and conductive ink experience, while T+ink has worked with Ford, General Motors, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart, among others – to commercialize products over the years.

“T+ink has developed a strong foundation of creating working devices that enable functionality and enhance the consumer experience at the package level, and Sun Chemical has world class materials and capability in R&D and global support in electronic materials,” said Roy Bjorlin, commercial director, Electronic Materials, Sun Chemical. “The combination was a natural fit.”
 
A few solar manufacturers were either purchased or on the verge of being acquired. REC Solar ASA announced it will be acquired by Bluestar Elkem, which is headquartered in Hong Kong. Hanergy Holding Group Limitedacquired Alta Devices, whose flexible thin film gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar technology has a conversion efficiency of 30.8%. Alta Devices’ cells are utilized in the wearables and mobile markets.

“Alta Devices’ thin film solar technology allows more energy to be produced in lower light conditions than any other type of solar cell, giving it greater potential to power a wide range of mobile devices and equipment from phones to cars,” said Li Hejun, chairman and CEO of Hanergy.
There is much going on among research groups and universities, with new announcements of successes in the lab. Research organizations such as CPI, imec and Holst Centre, to name a few, have launched promising new initiatives, and European programs such as MUJULIMA (OPV) and COLAE (Large Area Organic Electronics) are reporting gains in technology. Whether these efforts will ultimately translate into commercial usage remains to be seen.