Wearable Technology

Stretchable Electronics is a term that conceals great diversity. Indeed, it is an umbrella term that refers to a whole host of emerging electronic materials, components and devices that exhibit some degree of mechanical stretchability.

I have just recently returned from the Graphene 2017 conference in Barcelona where I gave an invited talk. There is tremendous scientific progress, both on CVD and platelet type graphene, and across many graphene applications. Interestingly, the participants however repeatedly suggested that the industry has now passed the peak of hype and is well into the disillusionment period.

The IDTechEx Show! in Berlin, Germany on 10-11 May is Europe's most important event for those involved in technology scouting and product innovation, bringing together emerging technologies with global brands.

Haptics are key technologies found as an essential feature enhancing the user experience in many very familiar products today. Whether as notification provision in a vibrating smartphone, tension building in a video game controller, or input confirmation in an industrial scanner, haptics technologies have now reached billions of electronics devices.

People with diabetes have traditionally self-monitored their glucose levels using disposable biosensors and invasive sampling techniques. While this industry has been one of the success stories of the printed electronics industry, worth around $6 billion today, profitability is falling as government reimbursement models are changing and strain is put on both consumers and manufacturers.

The electronic industry is in the midst of a major paradigm shift: novel form factors are emerging, ranging from the introduction of limited stretchability, through to ultra-elastic and conformable electronics. This transfiguration has been in the making for more than a decade now, but it is only now that it is beginning to make a substantial commercial impact.

Over the past 20 years, e-textiles have progressed from an academic curiosity to an important technology platform generating revenue for companies globally. In particular, the industry saw strong growth for several years up to 2015, with successful launches of many new products from a series of players.

This new report by IDTechEx provides the most comprehensive and authoritative view of the conductive inks and paste market, giving detailed ten-year market forecasts segmented by application and material type.

Whilst the latest electronic components continue to push the boundaries of performance, there are many that now see Moore's Law reaching its ultimate limits. Electronic devices continue to achieve increasing levels of ubiquity, but for this to continue, electronics need new form factors in order to integrate seamlessly into our surroundings.

In this article, we will briefly outline the progress in multiple emerging sectors whilst also identifying the latest trendy nascent application areas.