LOPEC 2016 to bring technology and business together

According to the organisers, LOPEC is unique in providing a platform for every aspect of printed electronics, from the theory and practice to the business and application possibilities. The organising team, Messe München and the OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association), are already predicting that LOPEC 2016 will be a big success following the 2015 event. LOPEC 2015 featured more than 2,300 visitors from 42 countries in the ICM – Internationales Congress Center München. The conference included 199 papers presented by experts from no less than 28 countries. More than half of the visitors at LOPEC 2015 came from outside Germany. The top five countries were the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, France and Korea.

Wolfgang Mildner, General Chair of LOPEC comments, "Thin, flexible and lightweight –these are the requirements that electronic devices and applications have to meet these days. Printed electronics help to accomplish these demands.” The exhibition will showcase all aspects of printed electronics, from research, materials and production techniques to finished products. Many of the industry's most important manufacturers have already registered for LOPEC 2016 including Bosch-Rexroth, CDT, Coatema, Fujifilm Dimatix, GSI, Heraeus, Kroenert, Merck, NovaCentrix, PoyIC, Schott, Thieme, Thin Film Electronics and VTT. "We expect to see more products based on printed electronics than ever before at the 2016 event. These will include new items for the automotive industry, smart packaging and “wearables”– a topic that is sure to be with us well into the future," Mildner adds.

LOPEC will also allow visitors to experience the live manufacturing process behind actual applications. Real examples of printed electronics will be produced on the Demo Line, a production line for printing electronic elements. More than a dozen companies along the value chain are collaborating in the production line to create this unique project where printed electronics is manufactured outside a factory, in a trade fair environment.

The conference will feature presentations from a large number of international speakers, covering topics that include technology developments, production issues and many specific applications as well as business and regional strategies. The first keynote speakers have been selected: Dr. Werner Thomas from Audi will present a paper called "OLED technology in automotive lighting". He will explain the latest challenges and future prospects that relate to the use of OLEDs in the automotive industry. Prof. Henning Sirringhaus from Cambridge University will focus on thin-film transistors in his presentation "Low-temperature organic and oxide transistors enabling flexible electronics". Prof. Sirringhaus will discuss a range of aspects including performance as well as component physics and the market introduction process. Steven Nietvelt from Carta Mundi will explore the potential of printed electronics in the gaming industry. In his presentation, titled "For 5,000 years we've been playing (board) games together, what’s next?", he will explain how the industry developed and how printed electronics connects the digital and physical worlds and which hybrid forms are possible for the gaming industry.