Powering the Internet of Everything. Using Printed Electronics to Create a Truly Connected World (Printed Electronics USA 2014)

Imagine a not-too-distant future in which thin, flexible smart labels are affordable enough to help keep food fresh in transit, preserve vaccine efficacy on its way to the point of care, and even monitor your vital signs away from the doctor's office. In this world, a package of fresh food can tell your smart phone via NFC whether it's been mishandled in transit to the store.

A vision on this scale requires ultra-high volumes of low-cost sensors, but we can't rely on traditional semiconductor manufacturing methods to make this a reality. There simply aren't enough semiconductor wafer factories in the world to produce trillions of systems in a cost effective manner.

The emerging field of printed electronics holds the keys to unlocking the potential of ubiquitous smart labels. By combining traditional graphics printing techniques, continuous-flow manufacturing processes, and a variety of specially-formulated inks, it is possible to bring electronics to large-scale, cost-sensitive applications where such intelligence was previously impractical or unaffordable

Ms. Jennifer Ernst leads global sales and business development activities for Thin Film Electronics ASA. She joined Thinfilm in 2011, having worked in printed electronics for more than a decade. She is a member of the FlexTech Governing Board, the USA national consortium on printed and flexible electron¬ics. Prior to joining Thinfilm in 2011, she was Director, Business De¬velopment at PARC, a Xerox company, where she built international partnerships to commercialize work from the Electronic Materials and Devices Lab. She holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BA from San Francisco State University.

Thinfilm is a leader in the development of printed electronics. The first to commercialize printed, rewritable memory, the Company is creating printed systems that include memory, logic, sensing, display, and wireless communication, all at a low cost unmatched by any other electronic technology. Thinfilm's roadmap integrates technology from a strong and growing ecosystem of partners to enable the Internet of Everything by bringing intelligence to disposable goods.