DUBLIN, LONDON / AGILITYPR.NEWS / August 24, 2023 / A recent report suggested that the market for printed electronics could reach $67.7 billion by 2030. Given that the same report valued the industry at $7.42 billion in 2022, this indicates that printed electronics could be about to enter a significant growth phase.

Why is this? 

The answer lies in the simple fact that printed electronics have come a long way since they were cast as a potential replacement for traditional metal wiring in the early 2000s.

Back then, the fervour that surrounded printed electronics rested on a vision that saw their mass production in factories, where highly precise inkjet printers layered conductive inks onto rolls of film to create circuit boards that would contain sophisticated components.

Unfortunately, the limited capabilities of that generation of printed electronics didn’t deliver on the expectations that had become ingrained in the minds of investors.

Today, the early prototypes that were first imaged 20 years ago are beginning to take shape. Could they go mainstream by 2030? Maybe so, particularly if these five key drivers accelerate demand. 

1. The Environmental Impact of E-Waste

The United Nations estimates that 74 million metric tonnes of electronic waste will be generated by 2030, making e-waste the world’s fastest-growing domestic waste stream.

This means that many of the devices, chargers, and small household electronic appliances that we use every day will conclude their limited lifecycles heaped in sprawling landfill sites.

This isn’t sustainable from an environmental and financial perspective. Particularly given that we literally dump $62.5 billion worth of gold, silver, copper, platinum, and other high-value materials embedded into electronic devices annually. 

E-waste recovery has become something of a growth industry in recent years, with many waste management companies seeing opportunities to generate new circular business models. Europe leads the way in this regard, where nearly 40% of all e-waste is recycled.

What of the remaining 60%? How do we reach a meaningful threshold where circularity and sustainability become ubiquitous across the entire electronics value chain?

Developing new supply chains built around printed electronics could help us close the circle.

2. Green Printed Electronics Are Already Being Developed

In response to environmental concerns, researchers and manufacturers are already turning their attention to developing functional green-printed electronics. The Horizon Europe funded REFORM project is one such initiative.

Led by an all-female team, the project is attempting to build a green smart logistics tag, a green embedded wireless sensor, and a micro supercapacitor by harnessing organic conductive inks and biodegradable or recyclable materials.

If REFORM is successful, the team will have built metal-free, low-cost and scalable solutions that will meet the demands of multiple industries and sectors, while also addressing our collective environmental drive for sustainability.

More significantly, by successfully developing these environmentally benign electronic building blocks, REFORM has the potential to accelerate the development of a new green functional electronics supply chain that will have eco-design principles embedded into every juncture.

3. Regulatory Change

In July, the European Parliament agreed to its negotiating mandate on the proposed Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR).

Forecast for adoption in 2025 or 2026, ESPR regulations will compel product designers to adopt eco-design principles. In short, the regulations will oblige manufacturers to consider the entire lifecycle of a product. 

This means that product designers have to start thinking about the repairability of devices, along with their post-operable recyclability, particularly as the regulations pay specific attention to metallurgic components.

As such, we should expect to see increasing commercial adoption of rapidly replaceable printed electronics in personal devices.

More pertinently, we should also expect to see printed electronic tags, mounted with smart sensors, embedded into vehicles, building infrastructure, smart packaging and appliances, so that engineers can monitor the condition of internal components.

A combination of ESPR regulations and consumer demand will compel product designers to adopt environmentally sustainable technologies and processes, elevating demand for printed electronics. 

4. The Internet of Things

As printed electronics are both flexible and thin, they can easily be embedded into devices and appliances to monitor and communicate the condition of individual components to the cloud, using Bluetooth Low Energy transmission. 

This will be a game-changer for engineers who will be in a position to engage in preemptive maintenance across any number of industries and value chains.

DiCiM, another Horizon Europe funded project, is seeking to develop integrated digital solutions that will leverage the Internet of Things to support decision-making across multiple value chains so that organisations can undertake lifecycle information management.

More recent developments around the employment of chipless antennae create greater opportunities for printed electronics to be deployed in preventive medicine, where smart patches transmit key data to healthcare professionals.

In 2020, Philips and BioIntelliSense announced that they had partnered to develop a biosticker that transmits data to care teams who can manage chronic conditions like diabetes, cancer and congestive heart failure remotely. 

It is anticipated that flexible, stretchable and conformal printed skin patches that provide real-time data to clinicians will be used to help manage conditions like diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases in future.

5. Consumer Trends

The launch of the Samsung Galaxy Z earlier this summer has reignited our collective desire to own a flip phone. Rival brands have responded to this trend, providing consumers with multiple options and price points.

The folding screens that rekindled our love affair with flip phones was made possible by flexible printed electronics.

This trend looks set to continue, with curved screens being incorporated into interior car design, wall-mounted displays and even on household appliances where touch screen technology looks set to replace rigid dials and buttons.

Rolling screens, where flexible screens are printed on plastic using an inkjet process, also look set to become a design trend in the coming years.

The most exciting possibilities in this space will see the incorporation of haptic feedback in displays and devices, making it possible for consumers to feel virtual buttons and switches, which will make for a very retro trend at some point in the future.

Dr Maria Smolander is a Research Team Leader at VTT.

Dr Smolander will be speaking at the launch of Crowdhelix’s new Printed Electronics Helix on Thursday, 21 September. Register to attend this virtual event.

Other speakers include Dr Duncan Platt, Group Manager responsible for Electronic Design and Integration at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Dr Jiantong Li, Associate Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Isabella Treser from the Organic and Printed Electronics Association.

Crowdhelix’s Printed Electronics Helix has been specifically designed to act as an open innovation platform that will foster collaboration among global experts who seek to develop solutions that contribute to the creation of climate-neutral electronics.