Last Christmas, there was huge demand, from Japan to the UK, for the neurowear clip-on of floppy ears driven by brain waves to reflect your mood. They would have been played with for one day and then put away forever. Such novelty peaks can be expected with many forms of wearable technology as it enters its manic phase with hugely overpriced acquisitions. Facebook is buying Oculus VR, a tiny Californian company specialising in virtual reality hea...

The latest report from IDTechEx, "Conductive Ink Markets 2014-2024: Forecasts, Technologies, Players" predicts that the conductive ink and paste market will experience a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.5% over the next 10 years. Generating $1.6bn (USD) in 2014, this market is segmented, consisting of many emerging and mature markets. Growth will be unevenly spread with several target markets experiencing rapid growth while others decline.

An IDTechEx report, "Wearable Technology 2014-2024: Technologies, Markets, Forecasts", has found that the fragmented industry of wearable electronics will have no clear leaders in what will be a $70 billion plus business in 2024 with 12,000 developers and manufacturers.

The latest report from IDTechEx, "Functional Materials for Future Electronics: Metals, Inorganic & Organic Compounds, Graphene, CNT", looks at the new electronics and electrics from the point of view of suppliers of fine chemicals and associated high added value processes.

In the last century, silicon semiconductor-based power electronics - which control or convert electrical energy into usable power - transformed the computing, communication, electric vehicle and energy industries and gave consumers and businesses more powerful laptops, cell phones and motors. Over the coming decade, that era will begin to come to an end. The full picture, from inverters to battery management systems, is given in the IDT...

According to a recent market research report from IDTechEx, the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery business is growing rapidly to many tens of billions of dollars yearly, thanks to continuing investment in the industry. Their use is widening well beyond e-readers, tablets, laptops and mobile phones with vehicles being particularly important for the future; mainly hybrid electric and pure electric vehicles by land, water and air.

According to information from the IDTechEx Research report 'E-Textiles: Electronic Textiles 2014-2024', 24% of e-textile development projects develop better conductive fibres and another 24% concern photovoltaic fibres. 16% of projects focus on supercapacitors on fibres, with several projects seeking multi-functionality on one fibre, such as supercapacitor layers to store the harvested energy from piezoelectric vibration harvesting or photovoltai...

According to research in the '3D Printing 2014-2025: Technologies, Markets, Players' report, IDTechEx have forecast that the market for 3D printing equipment, materials and software will grow from about $1.5bn (USD) this year to $4bn (USD) in 2025. While the automotive industry will remain the largest client sector, growth will be led by the sectors transitioning towards the use of 3D printing for final product applications, including medical/den...

Led by IDTechEx, a consortium of partners will launch the world's first flexible timer based on printed electronics at the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Europe event in Berlin, April 1-2. The device consists of an electronic logic circuit implemented with thin film metal oxide transistors, powered by a printed battery, and integrated onto a paper substrate. It has four timing sequences and is designed for multi-functional use across four diff...

Printed Electronics Europe, hosted by IDTechEx, is now less than two weeks away. European organisations have been particularly innovative in identifying new applications for printed sensors. And in the race for the commercialisation of new emerging sensor technologies, it seems that many leaders are based in Europe.

Delegates from 42 countries will converge at Printed Electronics Europe 2014, Europe's leading event on the topic, which brings together end users with suppliers. The event, held on 1-2 April 2014 in Berlin, Germany, features end users across multiple verticals presenting and attending to meet with the eco-system of leading suppliers.

IDTechEx has announced a new report, 'Smart Packaging Comes To Market: Brand Enhancement with Electronics 2014-2024'. For this research, the company conducted extensive interviews with end-users in order to understand the challenges and opportunities they see for smart packaging. The companies interviewed were predominately consumer goods organisations totalling sales of more than $1 trillion (USD) a year. By Raghu Das, CEO, IDTechEx.

The Internet of Things is dead. It should be the Internet of Everything. No, wait - what does that really mean? Regardless of the hype, the Internet of Things (or whatever you may prefer to call it) will provide significant value to business and consumers, provided suppliers can address real problems.

Wearable technology mainly concerns devices and apparel/textiles. Devices are discrete electronic and electrical hardware sold on its own for bodywear. It may be utilised by being attached to apparel or by constituting worn accessories such as electronic watches and earphones.  Glasses, jewellery, headgear, belts, armwear, wristwear, legwear, footwear and even skin patches are involved and the device business is already large.

A broad term referring to applications as diverse as internet connected vehicles to consumer electronics such as smart phones, the Internet of Things (IoT) adds connectivity. In order to provide the identification of objects, sensing, control and automation, the edge of the IoT network consists of simpler sensors and wireless devices. Potentially the highest volume of all devices and at the lowest price points, adding power to the simplest, passi...

Already a large and well-established business, transparent conductive sheets (on glass or other substrates) are used in a variety of applications. The non-display sector alone (including touch) is set to generate $1.4 billion in 2014 at the sheet level. This is a fast growing sector with a 6% CAGR between 2014 and 2024.

IDTechEx have forecasted that the total global gross value market for hybrid and pure electric vehicles will reach $334 Billion (USD) within the decade. Nearly always purchased based on the total cost of ownership rather than up-front price, IDTechEx expects this to consist primarily of large or very heavy duty military, industrial and commercial vehicles split evenly between on-road and off-road types. The multi-billion dollar marine sector is e...

Leading players developing and commercializing the third-generation of photovoltaic technologies (including organic photovoltaics and dye-sensitised solar cells) will be brought together at the Printed Electronics and Energy Harvesting & Storage USA 2013 events. Conference participators include Total, Armor, SolarPrint, Dyesol, CSIRO, EMD Chemical, NREL, Applied Materials and New Energy Technologies.

By Dr Norman Bardsley & Dr Khasha Ghaffarzadeh OLED technology is improving rapidly and now gives the best performance in displays for mobile phones. The technology has also reached the level at which substantial penetration of the lighting market might be possible, provided stringent cost targets can be met. Light fixtures such as those shown below have created excitement amongst lighting designers and luminaire manufacturers. Indeed, the i...

The transparent conductive film (TCF) and glass (TCG) market is booming and fast becoming transformed.  This market is forecast to grow to $6.3 billion market in 2024. New applications and market trends are changing the requirement landscape, and in many instances stretching it beyond what the incumbent solution can readily achieve.