Whereas East Asia has far more giant corporations developing and launching printed electronic and electric devices than the rest of the world put together, there is a much more balanced situation across the world when it comes to development and production of the materials as shown below.
Examples of giant corporations, intending to make materials for printed and potentially printed electronics
Source: IDTechEx
Globally, transistors are the most popular topic that is purely electronic and photovoltaics the most popular topic that is purely electric. Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) are interesting because their potential lies in both electronic displays and lighting, which is electric. This is shown below. There are many more organisations developing OLED displays than OLED lighting but those developing the materials are the same companies for both.
Dominant printed electronics topics compared between electronic and electric applications
Source: IDTechEx
North America, East Asia and Europe - different priorities
However, as IDTechEx completed research for its trilogy of reports on printed and potentially printed electronics in, respectively, East Asia, Europe and North America, it became clear that the priorities are very different across these three regions.
Overall, Europe has the broadest academic and research base - 46% of the remarkable 433 programs in 267 organisations in Europe, based in 19 countries that have been profiled in the European report. We believe that there are about 550 organisations in Europe that are active in the field but the situation is changing rapidly. Overall, we have scoped over 670 of the 1500 organisations active globally.
Number of organisations studied that are active in printed electronics in Europe by country and percent share
Source: IDTechEx
These figures will now increase as IDTechEx constantly updates its trilogy of reports Organic and Printed Electronics in North America, Organic & Printed Electronics in East Asia and Organic & Printed Electronics in Europe. They are available at a discount if purchased together. IDTechEx advises organisations of all sizes on partnerships, licenses, acquisitions, investment and fund raising in this subject and we carry out market research and technological forecasting. For North America contact Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx, at the new headquarters in Boston USA on r.das@idtechex.com. For Europe and other regions, contact Dr Peter Harrop on p.harrop@idtechex.com.
