Printable Electronics

The printing industry is quite excited right now due to the rapidly developing field of printable electronics. The technology will allow for innovations ranging from flexible e-paper displays (which, in turn, could radically change the way we read books), more easily manageable RFID tags, and, among other things, animated posters. Today’s Gizmag.com article on the subject explains why it is so exciting:

Industry analysts are encouraged by the quick take-up of the technology, as well as growing research into future uses - and are predicting that more than 15,000 specialized printable electronics printers will ship between 2007 and 2013.

The growing number of new plants designed to produce printed electronics products such as displays, backplanes, RFID tags, sensors and photovoltaic cells, coupled with escalating R&D activity in this field will provide a huge boost for firms supplying related printing equipment. This is according to a new report from NanoMarkets, an industry analyst firm based in Virginia. NanoMarkets‘ new report forecasts that between 2007 and 2013, a total of 15,000 printers will be shipped for printed electronics applications.

It looks as though this business is going to be a winner. Certainly, by the sound of the technology itself, it’s hard to deny that the world is poised for a major shift in the way it does paper and printing. We’ll keep you posted.

Printable Electronics on the Rise