Dr. Klaus Hecker, OE-A: "A Global Market of Over 50 Billion Dollars"
Dr. Klaus Hecker is the Managing Director of OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association) and knows the printed electronics market better than most. In an exclusive interview with OPE journal, he provides an overview of the market development, trends and opportunities. He emphasizes why OPE is a driver of sustainability and how it helps to save resources.
A wine bottle whose label lights up with a brand logo as soon as you touch it. A thin, highly flexible solar film. An ultra-thin heating element that heats up when you connect a battery: For the interview at the OE-A offices at VDMA in Frankfurt am Main (Germany), Dr. Klaus Hecker has brought a small selection of typical products to showcase the applications of flexible and printed electronics. It's a sneak peek before the LOPEC trade fair, where the OE-A is a key partner, and which Hecker and his team are currently preparing for. Visitors can expect a showcase of the entire range of products and the latest developments in the field of printed and flexible electronics from 5-7 March in Munich – reason enough for an interview with Dr. Klaus Hecker.
OPE journal: Dr. Hecker, how do you view the market development for flexible printed electronics?
Dr. Klaus Hecker: Flexible, organic and printed electronics has evolved into a global market worth over 50 billion US-dollars. According to market research firms, it is anticipated that the market will grow to over 75 billion US-dollars by 2032. According to the la-test Business Climate Survey of our members, revenue growth of around 13% in printed and flexible electronics is expected this year.
In which product segments do you see particular dynamism or economic opportunities?
There is the key aspect of OLED displays, which are used in smartphones, tablets and TVs, for example. They have held the largest market share within our industry for many years. But other areas are growing strongly, such as the automotive sector. Take, for example, printed seat occupancy sensors, which have been used in millions of cars for many years now. Touch surfaces and in-mold electronics are gaining in importance in the automotive sector. Efficient heaters are also becoming increasingly important, in particular for the heating of electric vehicle interiors. The move towards semi-autonomous driving is paving the way for steering wheels with integrated hands-off detection. And printed battery management and monitoring systems are helping to optimize battery performance and costs in the field of electric vehicles. These are all areas where production is now being massively scaled up.
Are there any other developments which hold future potential?
In the coming years, strong growth is expected in further applications such as NFC, RFID, sensors and wearables, as well as in medical applications.
Can you provide some examples?
In medical technology, there are already some established applications, billions of which are produced every year, such as printed glucose sensors for diabetes tests. Other established applications are printed electrodes for ECG and EEG measurements. But many additional medical applications are currently in development and have progressed to the pilot stage. Smart patches that facilitate the long-term measurement of vital functions like heartbeat, temperature or respiration, and which deliver data wirelessly to the smartphone open up new possibilities for the long-term monitoring of patients.
What is the situation with wearables?
Wearables are already integrated into everyday life, and we expect further growth. Consider, for example, smartwatches. Especially in the wellness and sports market, there are many applications, such as "smart" T-shirts which analyse the pulse, breathing or posture of athletes. Or shoe soles with integrated electronics which analyse foot roll and gait. A person’s gait pattern provides initial indications of certain clinical conditions such as Parkinson’s or dementia.
But wearables have been talked about in the clothing sector for years. We are still waiting for the breakthrough, right?
It's important to realise that clothing is an extremely price-sensitive industry. In addition, fashion operates in relatively short cycles. Putting printed electronics into products often represents a revolution for these companies because they basically have to become an electronics manufacturer, which requires additional and completely different competencies. But we are seeing first examples, where electrical functionalities are integrated in smart textiles. Especially in sports apparel.
How long does it take to reach market readiness? Are the development cycles too long?
Development cycles always take several years and even when the products have reached market readiness, in the automotive or medical technology sectors it takes another three to five years until the product enters the market. This is just the standard timeframe in these industries. Overall, we are talking about a very dynamic market that constantly produces new applications, and its growth dynamics surpass those of conventional electronics, although, of course, we are talking about a different order of revenue.
Sustainability is currently on everyone's lips. To what extent is it relevant for the OPE industry?
Sustainability is a very important topic for our industry in many ways. On the one hand, the manufacturing processes of printed electronics are resource-efficient because printing processes consume very small amounts of material and are performed at low temperatures. In most processes, no, or relatively harmless, solvents are used. Even batteries can be produced in an environmentally friendly way through printing, as fewer and less critical materials are used compared to conventional batteries.
And on the other hand?
On the other hand, our technology enables products to be designed more sustainably. Printed electronics is thin, lightweight, flexible, robust, and, not least, resource-efficient. Take, for example, electronics in automotive applications: These account for a growing percentage of the total weight of the electric components and thus of the fuel consumption. Printed electronics applications help to reduce the weight of the car, and less weight means less fuel consumption. Or consider packaging in the food sector with smart labels that can indicate whether the cold chain has been broken. The use of printed electronics offers great opportunities for combatting food waste. Many other application areas related to sustainability can be mentioned. Applications for patient monitoring can relieve the strain on healthcare providers. "Smart Living" technologies make leakage protection systems for homes a possibility. In the automotive sector, efficient heaters are possible examples.
How do OE-A’s member companies benefit from the sustainability boom?
Indeed, many applications developed by companies in our industry are already in use. Take logistics, for example, where printed.electronics facilitate seamless monitoring of the logistic chain, by tagging pallets, for example. There are always new projects and collaborations between providers in our industry and others. In the food industry, there is a certain reluctance when it comes to printed electronics which can create more transparency for consumers, such as by making expiration dates more visible. As an association, we are continually initiating discussions, providing information about the possible applications, and inviting decision-makers from other industries to share their thoughts.
Sustainability is also a theme in this year's OE-A Competition, which will be presented at LOPEC. What can we expect here?
Sustainability is simply at the heart of our technology. This is also reflected in the products and demonstrators that have been submitted for this year’s OE-A Competition. On our stand at LOPEC 2024 you will see many examples of how printed electronics enables sustainability. For example, flexible PCBs for medical applications that have been produced with additive technologies and that reduce energy and material consumption, or integrated battery balancing systems that increase the lifetime of battery packs in cars, to name but two.
AI is also a topic that is very much in focus. To what extent does it concern the OE-A?
AI is a new topic for everyone, and we are currently analysing how it will influence our industry, how we can benefit and what we can contribute. Sensor networks which generate large amounts of data could be an approach here. AI has also great potential to optimize established development cycles as well as general business processes. We are at the very beginning here.
In many areas of the economy, it is notice-able that Chinese companies are systematically building up their know-how and expanding into Europe. How is the development in the field of printed electronics?
Chinese providers have been very active in the display sector in recent years. This is increasingly changing now. We see growing interest from China in a variety of topics related to printed electronics – be it sensors, which are currently more in focus, printed batteries or smart labels. Chinese companies are very active, and there are large development projects often funded by regional governments. It is impressive to see the speed at which Chinese companies enter the market, as well as the financial resources they invest.
What does this mean for Western companies? And how is the OE-A dealing with it?
To weigh opportunities and risks, you must first have a clear idea of what is happening. It is crucial to get a good overview and understand the development. This is one task of the OE-A: We provide information and forge links between companies working in the different fields and regions. The OE-A brings together relevant players, for example, at trade fairs, conferences or joint meetings with local networks in China.
The possibilities offered by printed flexible electronics are little known to a wider audience. Why is that?
Printed electronics is a cross-cutting technology that serves as the basis for new products in a wide range of applications. Ultimately, the customer is not interested in the technology itself, but in the benefits of using it. Because printed electronics is thin, lightweight and flexible, it can be seamlessly integrated – almost “invisibly” – into a wide range of products. So we emphasize the unique benefits of this technology to the customer. And we see how printed electronics enables mass applications in consumer electronics and in the automotive and medical fields that would not be possible using conventional approaches. Many examples will be on display at LOPEC 2024 in Munich, so don’t miss it.
The OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association)
The OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association) was founded in December 2004 and is the leading international industry association for flexible, organic and printed electronics. The OE-A represents the entire value chain of this emerging industry. Members include world-class global companies and institutions, ranging from R&D institutes, mechanical engineering companies and material suppliers to producers and end-users. Well over 200 companies from Europe, Asia, North America and Africa are working together to promote the establishment of a competitive production infrastructure for organic and printed electronics. The vision of the OE-A is to build a bridge between the scientific, technological and application communities. The OE-A is a working group within the VDMA (German Engineering Federation). More than 3,600 member companies from the engineering industry make VDMA the largest industry association in Europe.
The OE-A at LOPEC 2024:
ICM Foyer, stand FO33
Interview: Bettina Maurer, OPE journal
Caption: Dr. Klaus Hecker: "Overall, we are talking about a very dynamic market that constantly produces new applications."
The interview was first published in OPE journal, issue 46.