Remarkable Changes of Emphasis Revealed at Printed Electronics USA 2006

Companies are thrashing about to find their sweet spots in all this. Some not involved say they are launching improved conductor patterning, including new materials as their entry point. Some in printed conductors are considering developing semiconductors. Others hope to replace Indium Tin Oxide semi-transparent electrodes in OLEDs, AC electroluminescent displays and so on. Here progress is slow but HC Starck is a leader. Conductive plastics with better than resistor-like performance are still elusive. However, these problems are all seen as commercial opportunities and the giants of the chemical, plastics, electronic, printing, packaging and electronics industries were all there in force to see how they could participate in this new industry, with its potential of hundreds of billions of dollars yearly, dwarfing the success of the silicon chip. Plenty of potential purchasers of the resulting products were there to say what they wanted and presentations by venture capitalists and companies seeking funds attracted much attention. Investment is hotting up too.