Firms are missing a trick with printed electronics
Research and consultancy firms in the area of printed electronics say that simple packaging applications remain an untapped resource. At the same time, investment is being channelled into more complex technologies.
Raghu Das, chief executive of consultancy IDTechEx, points to non-packaging examples of simple printed electronics such as the Duracell battery tester. Avery Dennison has been printing this display for some eight years, he says, and now produces "a billion a year"
"There's a lack of people in packaging who understand the technology," he says. "Its limitations lie in the creativity of designers rather than in cost or availability."
While chemicals have been used for shelf-life and temperature indicators, says Das, printable electronics can be advantageously applied to marketing messages. 'E-labels' could carry 'scrolling' text, images and sound.
Unilever and Masterfoods have set up teams to look at applications from supply-chain and shelf-edge labelling to on-pack promotions, he reported. They have also joined the IDTechEx multi-client study on e-labels, the company recently told a Campden-BRI conference on active and intelligent packaging. Meanwhile, research organisations such as Finland's VTT have been investing in upscale production of printed - including organic - electronics. In fact, professor Harri Kopola prefers the term "printed intelligence". Over the next three years, under Finland's collaborative PrintoCent project, more than euro 10M will be invested in a pilot production facility.
Kopola is interested in areas such as the interface between printed media and electronic media. But VTT's emphasis is on creating economies of scale first. "Once the technology is at a low enough cost to use, then the product concepts will follow," he says.
