There are just two weeks to go until IDTechEx host Printed Electronic Europe 2015, at Berlin's Estrel Conference Center on 28 & 29 April. The event includes several co-located conferences on the topics of graphene, 3D printing, wearable technology, electric vehicles, IoT and energy harvesting and storage. These topics are either complimentary topics to printed electronics or represent end user markets for printed electronics.
One of these co-located events covers Wearable Technology. This event provides the perfect platform to meet other players, to assess the emerging technology options entering the landscape and to conduct extensive business development and networking.
James Hayward one of the Technology Analyst with IDTechEx research, has been active in planning the speaking programme for the Wearable Technology event. As part of his work, James travels around the world speaking at varied conferences and meeting people and companies working in the wearable technology space. Here we learn about all of the problems that the industry faces, and do our best to pair them with cohesive solutions. Therefore, when we construct a speaker programme for our event, we aim to provide the most comprehensive and insightful content from the best speakers on the topic.
The largest players including Qualcomm, Ericsson, Flextronics, Intel, Decathlon and Sharp set the scene. They will talk about innovation, outlining the achievements that they have made, and details of the targets they are working towards.
Industry experts provide us with priceless insight. Given the current state of the wearable technology industry, this is particularly important. A handful of products have helped to drive the hype around the subject, but wearable technology was a versatile, billion dollar industry long before that. With experts from fashion, electronics, retail, textile and healthcare industries speaking throughout the event, we cover the subject with a breadth which truly reflects where the money can be, and is being made. -Here, I am particularly looking forward to hearing Matthew Drinkwater from London's Fashion Innovation Agency.
Component manufacturers present key disruptive technologies that will now enter the marketplace. This is where our technical background is particularly prevalent; all of the main wearable electronics components are covered, including specific tracks on sensors, displays, e-textiles, energy harvesting and wireless communication. Co-location is the key here. World-leading events on Printed Electronics and Energy Harvesting are in the same venue at the same time. This setup is designed to aid the problem solving process by mixing many communities under one roof.
Finally, wearable device manufacturers provide clear case studies around their solutions. These include some well-known players, but also the most exciting emerging startups that we have seen -there is a fantastic commercial opportunity here, as many are actively searching for business partners to refine their solutions and enable scale up. I also include many integrators in this category, who provide the key link in the value chain, connecting the component manufacturers through to end users.
The programme is extremely comprehensive, and will provide the most thorough update possible as to the current state of the industry and where it is going. If you are coming for a general update, I recommend attending as many talks as possible, making the most of the breaks to network and explore the tradeshow. If you are coming with specific goals or questions, the details on the website provide details on the many parallel tracks and busy tradeshow, where you will be able to find the right contacts. If the solutions and contacts do not become apparent to you from there, then you can contact myself or one of the team directly and we will do our best to help.