IDTechEx

The Apple Watch is a sign that flexible displays are finally coming

The Apple Watch was officially announced earlier this month, with the promise that it will come with a flexible display. However, there is some confusion about what the term means and what the benefits are for consumers. Dr Guillaume Chansin, co-author of the IDTechEx report "OLED Display Forecasts 2014-2024: the rise of plastic and flexible displays" gives his view on flexible displays.

OLED lighting market- latest updates and market forecasts

Interest in OLED lighting is picking up again. This year LG Chem announced that it was cutting costs from 600 $/klm to $200/klm in an attempt to carve out a market for its OLED lighting panels in the face of stern competition from inorganic LED lighting.

Webinar: Structural Electronics 2015-2025

IDTechEx are hosting a free webinar on Tuesday 30 September.

Structural electronics: a potential $60bn market by 2025

Electronics embedded within the structure of bridges, walkways, EVs, aircraft and more, have the potential to be a $60 billion market by 2025.

Structural electronics: a potential $60bn market by 2025

Electronics embedded within the structure of bridges, walkways, EVs, aircraft and more, have the potential to be a $60 billion market by 2025.

Electric Vehicle News from Hybrid & EV Forum Munich Day One 17 Sept.

The event Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Forum consisted a conference with about 70 delegates and a small display area for a few organisations. It was very pan European with delegates from the UK to the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Russia and Romania but also further afield such as Japan, South Korea and the USA - professors, industrialists and developers. Here we give some details of the presentations that particularly caught our attention.

Highlights from Hybrid & EV Forum Munich 2014

The event Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Forum consisted a conference with about 70 delegates and a small display area for a few organisations. Here we give some details of the presentations that particularly caught our attention.

Wearable Technology: Lessons of History

Many new wearable technologies will appear in luxury designer products and fashion following the modest beginning with non-electronic technology such as artificial diamonds and Swarovsky selling base metal linking glass that is coated with interference layers. High margins await.

Encapsulation of flexible electronics: alternatives to multilayers

IDTechEx has been following closely the space for flexible encapsulation and current trends show case that films or in-line deposition based on multi layers (alternating layers of organic and inorganic materials, also known as dyads) is the preferred technology. Alternatives have also been in development too though, so we will briefly analyze some of the main candidates that could potentially displace multilayer approaches: flexible glass, single layer approaches and atomic layer deposition are the technologies examined in this article.

Webinar: Flexible Displays and Flexible Sensors

IDTechEx are hosting a free webinar on Thursday 25 September discussing flexible displays and flexible sensors.

LG Display - OLED encapsulation

LG Display is investing heavily in flexible OLED technology and is researching several different approaches to encapsulation. This profiles focuses on the hybrid approach it is taking to encapsulating its flexible devices using in-line deposition alongside the use of a barrier film.

Smartkem

Smartkem is a UK company set up in 2009. Smartkem has developed p-type organic semiconductors consisting of a mixture of small molecules and polymers. Their champion materials offer a mobility of 10 cm2/Vs. Key differentiators are the ability to improve solution processability without sacrificing performance, and processability in air.

ITO replacements: time to take-off or fizzle out

Over the past five years there have been a large number of companies developing Transparent Conductive Film (TCF) alternatives for Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). Including material providers and film providers, research and events firm IDTechEx has profiled almost 100 organizations working across more than 12 types of transparent conductive film technologies.

Smart Wristwatches: Something Missing

Almost no one wants to wear more than one wrist-mounted device. In fact there has been some trend towards young people abandoning wristwatches because all those functions exist in their carried mobile phone. The trend in mobile phones has been to larger ones. The idea of that functionality being on your wrist goes completely against the trend.

Dai Nippon Printing

Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) was founded in 1876 and is one of the largest printing companies in the world. They have started diversifying from traditional printing. This profile focuses on the low power paper-like display. The display is aimed for large sizes and is ideally segmented rather than full active matrix. It is reflective, meaning that it can be viewed most easily in bright light conditions, and has a viewing angle of 180 degrees.

Toppan Forms

Toppan Forms' background is in business forms and data print service fields. Since then the company has also developed a strong software solutions/business process offering, in addition to some electronics manufacture including smart cards and NC reader modules, and associated systems and software. The company covers a wide variety of information-based businesses, such as integration of printed matter and electronic documents, information media like RFID and IC, and development of products compatible with printed electronics technologies, including conductive ink.

London Graphene Ltd

London Graphene Limited (LGL) was established in 2013. It is a company that develops super-capacitor applications and graphene might be used in the actual supercapacitors. The first target application is in the mobile phone sector where the power requirements are low, while in the longer term they wish to also target power tools and EV.

Dr Peter Harrop to speak alongside Baroness Kramer at EV Summit

Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman of IDTechEx, will be speaking at the inaugural EV Summit at the University of Surrey, Guildford, on the 16th September; alongside the Baroness Kramer, Minister of State for Transport.

What's in store? The future of batteries to be revealed

A current major topic of conversation within the advanced battery and electric vehicle industry is the future of battery technology and chemistries in the context of energy density, safety and cost.

Timesnano

Timesnano is a carbon nanotubes (CNT) manufacturer and the exclusive CNT provider in Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It belongs to Chengdu Organic Chemicals Co. Ltd., Chinese Academy of Sciences (COCC). The company has a production capability of 1 tpa for single-walled carbon nanotubes and 200 tpa for multi-walled CNT. Main success has so far been in the Li ion battery industry.