Peter Harrop

Thin Film Electronics, an Oslo, Norway-based company with R&D facilities in Linkoping, Sweden, known as Thinfilm, and InkTec Co. Ltd, known as InkTec, have together made a breakthrough in producing printed memory on flexible substrates. Here Dr. Peter Harrop of analyst IDTechEx, interviews Johan Carlsson, President and CEO of Thinfilm and Kwang-Choon Chung, President and CEO of InkTec, about the latest development.

Even where a thinner battery is needed and footprint is not a constraint, the choice is usually coin cells not the laminar batteries made by an increasing number of businesses. Because their products can cost ten times as much as coin cells, the laminar batteries are usually having success only where the need for thinness and flexibility is extreme. [...] several smart skin patches are about to be announced that incorporate printed batteries and such things as electronic swing tags for apparel retailing are near to significant orders thanks to the tremendous payback from adjusting prices remotely. [...] they should take high volume orders even at a loss so they can get economy of scale and get down the experience curve. [...] they must be standardised.

by Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman, IDTechEx Electronic circuits that are wholly or substantially printed are a commercial success today. Companies such as T-ink, E Ink, Toppan Forms, Soligie, GSI, Electroluminate, Schreiner, Delphi, Avery Dennison, and Power Paper are selling printed electronic products to many famous brands such as Timberland, Caterpillar, Sears Craftsman, Hallmark, Toys R Us, John Dickinson, Kent, McDonald’s, Estee Lauder, Ford, Toyota, GM, Playtex, Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, Duracell, NTT DoCoMo, and Sony. Brand enhancement is a popular theme, from the tester on a battery to the animated display on a recent edition of Esquire magazine and the heated outdoor apparel

RFID and printed electronics—these two emerging technologies represent a tremendous amount of potential growth for package printers and label converters across the globe. Neither technology has hit the mainstream yet, so usage is not widespread. However, package and label printers should be watching each. Why? If, as Peter Harrop, chairman, IDTechEx predicts, we are only 10 years away from RFID being as ubiquitous as bar codes (only printed on labels), then label printers will have to integrate RFID tags into their workflows. And, once RFID is printed, watch out! The global market In “Vibrant RFID -Markets,” a publication issued by IDTechEx, Harrop states that

By Dr. Peter Harrop, chairman, IDTechEx The RFID business is quintupling in value in the next ten years but the Active RFID business is growing about ten times, driven by such business as the $475 million military order currently being serviced by Savi Technology and innovations such as the first 100,000 Active RFID labels from Power ID with greatly enhanced range over passive alternatives. Within Active RFID, the market for Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) is projected to grow even faster - from $145 million today to $2.7 billion in 2018. Several analysts have come up with broadly similar figures to these projected by

More than 600 delegates from 28 countries were in attendance at the recent IDTechEx Printed Electronics Europe event held in Dresden. The event featured the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Awards in recognition of outstanding achievement, which were given at the gala dinner on April 7. The categories and winners were: • Technical Development Device Award Winner: LG Displays • Technical Development Manufacturing Award Winner: Hewlett Packard and PowerFilm Solar • Technical Development Materials Award Winner: Ciba • Best New Product Development Award Winner: PolyIC • Best Commercialization Award Winner: GSI Technologies • Printed Electronics Europe Champion: Wolfgang Mildner, CEO, PolyIC An independent panel of judges