According to IDTechEx research in the new report "Brand Enhancement by Electronics in Packaging 2012-2022" (www.IDTechEx.com/brand) the global demand for electronic smart packaging devices is currently at a tipping point and will grow rapidly from $0.03 billion in 2012 to $1.7 billion in 2022. The electronic packaging (e-packaging) market will remain primarily in consumer packaged goods CPG reaching 35 billion units that have electronic functionality in 2022.

 

E-packaging addresses the need for brands to reconnect with the customer or face oblivion from copying. That even applies to retailer own brands. It addresses the ageing population's consequent need for disposable medical testers and drug delivery devices. Electronic packaging addresses the fact that one third of us have difficulty reading ever smaller instructions.

 

Source: IDTechEx report "Brand Enhancement by Electronics in Packaging 2012-2022" www.IDTechEx.com/brand

 

Fulton Innovation's concept of Nestlé's Cheerios cereal box uses inorganic electroluminescent (EL) displays on the packaging, powered by inductive coupling. Bank card provider Inteligensa uses flexible displays for one-time password display cards to over-come online fraud, identity theft and unauthorized access costs. Solar cells power displays in interactive posters, from Toppan Forms and Dai Nippon Printing. AirCode touch technology from Printechnologics GmbH uses existing multi touch smart phone displays to "read" digital information printed in paper, cardboard or foils. Hence, it can be used for a broad variety of e-packaging, e.g. for marketing and consumer information applications like loyalty programs, brand protection, lotteries, and access to online content. MWV have commercialised cartons which light up and play sounds when touched. These e-packaging examples are only a glimpse of what is coming in the next decade.

So far, most e-packaging beyond RFID and EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) has taken the form of primary packaging that makes the product more useful and attractive in the eyes of the consumer, shown in the following figure The new report "Brand Enhancement by Electronics in Packaging 2012-2022" (www.IDTechEx.com/brand ) deals mainly with e-packaging involving more of the human senses, which will be more important to all in the value chain. The EAS/RFID route is almost always invisible to the consumer and the other (right side) route is usually immediately recognized and appreciated by the consumer. The main focus is on electronic and electrical aspects, sometimes simply referred to as electronic smart packaging.

 

 

Source: IDTechEx report "Brand Enhancement by Electronics in Packaging 2012-2022" www.IDTechEx.com/brand

The printed electronics components are available today to do these things, but providers tend to only want to sell a component (a battery, display, transistor etc), and not design a complete product. That leaves adopters having to manage the creation of working products on their own. The printed electronics industry needs creative designers to come up with completely new concepts that will amaze consumers. The technology is there, the creativity is not.

Most consumer packaged goods (CPG) leaders and their best brand facing support companies now have multi-disciplinary teams working in the area of electronic functionality integration. They see printed electronics modernizing everything: product, packaging, shelf edge, point of sale, posters and rewards using electronics on both paper and plastic film. Much of this is not entirely printed as yet but that is the route to cost reduction and greater functionality. For example, at the IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA event in Santa Clara, CA, Nov 30- Dec 1, Procter & Gamble, Mars, Reckitt Benckiser, MWV and many others will discuss their needs and experiences with printed electronics (www.IDTechEx.com/peUSA ).

The rapid growth will be driven by trials now being carried out by leading CPG companies and the rapid technical developments emanating for over 3000 organisations, half of them academic, that are currently working on printed and potentially printed electronics.

 

The six main factors driving the rapid growth of electronic smart packaging are:

 

There will also be growth from existing applications such as talking pizza boxes, winking logos on multipacks of biscuits and bottles of rum, compliance monitoring blisterpacks in drug trials, prompting plastic bottles of drugs that prompt the user, testers on batteries and reprogrammable decoration on mobile phones. However, IDTechEx's projected adoption only represents a few percent of CPG packages being fitted with these devices in 2022.

 

All of these trends, including detailed ten year forecasts, are covered in the IDTechEx report "Brand Enhancement by Electronics in Packaging 2012-2022" www.IDTechEx.com/brand . The report reveals many ways in which brands can create a sharp increase in market share, customer satisfaction and profitability. To gain very high volume, and therefore lowest costs, by selling across all industries, basic hardware platforms such as the very low cost talking label must be developed. These are discussed. There are over 250 pages and a large number of original figures and tables - over 150. These detail market forecasts, statistics for associated industries, pros and cons, technology choices and lessons of success and failure - a lucid, compact analysis for the busy executive. There is much for both non-technical and technical readers.

 

To learn more about e-packaging and the key enabling technologies attend the world's largest event on the topic in Santa Clara, USA, on Nov 30 - Dec 1, 2011. See www.IDTechEx.com/PEusa for details. It explores the applications with many end users presenting their needs and experiences and it covers all the technologies. Learn what Procter & Gamble, Mars, Reckitt Benckiser, MWV and many others are doing with printed electronics.