Sensors, Haptics & Displays

Stretchable Electronics is a term that conceals great diversity. Indeed, it is an umbrella term that refers to a whole host of emerging electronic materials, components and devices that exhibit some degree of mechanical stretchability.

The IDTechEx Show! in Berlin, Germany on 10-11 May is Europe's most important event for those involved in technology scouting and product innovation, bringing together emerging technologies with global brands.

In Mold Electronics is making a commercial comeback. The behind-the-scenes interest in IME remains robust. The first wave of products are close to market launch, the value networks are being enhanced, volume manufacturers are more engaged than ever, and the material set is transitioning beyond conductive inks to include transparent conductive films, sensors, actuators, and so on. Overall, we expect 2017/18 to the years when IME applications finally grow after years of on and off starts.

Haptics are key technologies found as an essential feature enhancing the user experience in many very familiar products today. Whether as notification provision in a vibrating smartphone, tension building in a video game controller, or input confirmation in an industrial scanner, haptics technologies have now reached billions of electronics devices.

Trends and progress with printing techniques for Printed Electronics.

They call it Airborne Wind Energy (AWE). It started with kites flying higher than a conventional wind turbine to create electricity from the familiar figure of eight trajectory where winds are much stronger and more consistent than those tapped by conventional wind turbines on land or even offshore.

People with diabetes have traditionally self-monitored their glucose levels using disposable biosensors and invasive sampling techniques. While this industry has been one of the success stories of the printed electronics industry, worth around $6 billion today, profitability is falling as government reimbursement models are changing and strain is put on both consumers and manufacturers.

ARM is at the top of its game and its remarkable advances lead the field in most of the sectors covered in the forthcoming IDTechEx Show! May 10-11, with its 3000 paying delegates, 200 exhibitors and 225 presentations in nine parallel conferences. That is why ARM is giving a cornerstone presentation at the start of all of them.

The electronic industry is in the midst of a major paradigm shift: novel form factors are emerging, ranging from the introduction of limited stretchability, through to ultra-elastic and conformable electronics. This transfiguration has been in the making for more than a decade now, but it is only now that it is beginning to make a substantial commercial impact.

The transparent conductive film (TCF) industry will leave behind its years of sluggish growth to achieve rapid growth.