Stretchable electronics

Today's emerging technologies are varied, vast - and moving at the blink of an eye. Here are the top 10 key trends we'll see at the show that are changing the way the world lives, works and plays.

The transparent conductive film industry will nearly be a $430 million industry in 2015, according to the IDTechEx Research report Transparent Conductive Films (TCF) 2015-2025: Forecasts, Markets, Technologies. This is counting the value of the entire un-patterned film, and excluding markets based on glass (most thin film PV and LCD displays).

Thought leaders IDTechEx were among the first to identify three new megatrends in the world of technology: Structural Electronics (SE); 3D Printed Electronics (3DPE); Energy Independent Electric Vehicles (EIVs).

Perovoskite photovoltaics promises over 20% efficiency, low cost materials and even flexible, transparent and stretchable versions dearly needed for new applications. Record power to weight ratio is needed for the electric vehicle end game, the land vehicles, boats and aircraft described in the IDTechEx report, Energy Independent Vehicles 2016-2026.

Elastic piezoelectric generators are being developed with microwatts demonstrated and watts in prospect for large formats.

High Power Energy Harvesting: Off-Grid 10W-100kW 2016-2026 is the title of a new IDTechEx report examining a newly significant off-grid energy market.

Totally different. Everything that constitutes a hybrid or pure electric vehicle will change beyond recognition, advises analyst group IDTechEx.

In 2012 a tsunami of media hype began around consumer 3D printing that turned a lacklustre 30-year-old technology into a household name and created massive growth in the industry even among large established players.

A new design strategy has emerged for making batteries flexible.

By Raghu Das, CEO, IDTechEx - The 11th annual IDTechEx Printed Electronics Europe event in Berlin was a huge success thanks to our customers and partners, with attendees coming from 47 countries! This is the largest show on the topic in Europe and, more importantly, more adopters, OEMs and technology providers announced products and showed off their impressive solutions.