Organic and Printed Electronics Offer Great Potential for Growth

„The market for organic and printed electronics will grow to a multi-billion Euro market in the next ten years“, said Wolfgang Mildner, Chairman of the Organic Electronics Association (OE-A) and Managing Director, PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG, at the OE-A press conference on the occasion of the grand opening of the new conference and exhibition, LOPE-C – Large-area, Organic and Printed Electronics Convention, on Wednesday in Frankfurt, Germany.

Third OE-A Roadmap describes future focus of the industry

„The world of organic and printed electronics is changing very rapidly. Based on the great advances in the areas of materials, processes, process technologies and applications, substantial investments are currently being made in building production lines“, emphasized Mildner. In its new Roadmap, the OE-A illustrates which applications are already possible today, and gives an outlook on future product generations through the year 2025. Organic photovoltaics, flexible displays and OLED-lighting as well as data storage devices and circuits, e.g. for RFID-tags (radio frequency identification), were identified as the largest areas for growth in the medium term. „With the OE-A Roadmap, now in its third edition, we are supporting the industry, the public sector and scientists in planning their products as well as research- and development activities“, said Mildner.

Organic electronics opens new markets to manufacturers

Global interest in organic electronics is booming, reported Mildner. „Every branch of the economy will be affected by the use of organic electronics in the future; some of them will even experience a ‚revolutionary’ transformation by incorporating this technology – as exemplified by the samples presented at LOPE-C.“

The combination of new conductive materials – in many cases polymer materials – with mass production processes such as printing technologies, allow manufacturing of thin, light-weight, flexible and very cost-effective electronics. „The OE-A Demonstrator projects impressively illustrate the possibilities of organic and printed electronics. The most recent Demonstrators of the OE-A, ranging from a printed electronic game to a flexible display with an organic solar cell, give just a preview of future mass-produced applications. The competencies of our members in the areas of materials, process technologies and components all come together in these projects“, explained Mildner.

The Roadmap as well as additional information on the Demonstrators can be found in the new OE-A brochure „Organic and Printed Electronics“.