Masterclasses

Energy harvesting is the use of technologies to generate electricity from the environment, which can be used to power electronics and electrics. Different technologies can be employed depending on the energy source. For movement, mechanical harvesters can be used (which can work from electrostatic, piezoelectric and electromagnetic movement), light, thermal, EM transmission or Human. Some versions are now even printed. This masterclass covers all the technologies involved, how they work, and appraisal of their strengths and weaknesses, relative costs and developments paths. The leading developers are given as are market needs and IDTechEx forecasts.

This Masterclass introduces the science and the markets for Active RFID and where they are going over the next ten years.

• What are the different types of Active tag system, their cost structure and advantages and disadvantages over passive?
• What is the difference between traditional Active RFID, RFID enabled cellphones, Smart Active Labels/ Battery Assisted Passive tags, Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) and Ubiquitous Sensor Networks (USN) and where are they headed?
• What are leading suppliers and users doing?
• Who is landing the biggest orders and from whom?
• What are the lessons of success and failure?
• Which are the hot countries and applicational sectors for Active RFID?
• How will the technology advance for very different market needs in different industries?
• How do these options translate into split of market now and in future?
• What is the dream for USN - from predicting and controlling disaster recovery to micro-climate in industrial greenhouses - and who is working on which aspect?
• What are the problems to tackle and which industries are early adopters?
• What are the forecasts - are hundreds of billions of sensing tags in prospect - for what?

This masterclass is designed to give an overall picture of photovoltaic technologies, from basic principles all the way to current advances. It also covers the wider world of printed and thin film electronics, enabling cheaper photovoltaics. The session will cover:

1. Photovoltaics: Basic principles and operation. Heterojunctions
2. After an overview of underlying principles, further details will be given on specific technologies:
   • Organic and hybrid organic/inorganic photovoltaics
   • Dye-sensitised solar cells
   • Thin film technologies (e.g. amorphous silicon, CdTe, CIGS)
   • III-V/ II-VI multijunctions
3. Advances/ Cutting Edge Applications
4. Market Analysis
5. Lessons to be learnt from early successes and failures
   • The value chain
   • Market forecasts
6. The need for printed electronics
   • Key markets that need printed electronics - reasons why and their technology requirements
   • Creating new markets versus competing with conventional electronics in existing ones
7. Assessment of technologies, companies, strategies and progress so far, including
   • Thin film transistor circuits (organic, inorganic semiconductors, thin film silicon)
   • Displays (OLEDs, electrophoretic, electroluminescent, electrochromatic and others)

This masterclass assesses the options for energy storage, looking at the range of batteries, their relative strengths, weaknesses, costs and roadmaps. Thin film, flexible batteries to secondary batteries are covered. Battery technology has not kept up with the development of energy harvesters, and the challenges and needs are explained. The masterclass looks at other options such as super and ultra capacitors and super-cabatteries. Details of players are given as is global progress and market forecasts.