LOPEC 2024: Printed electronics drives sustainable products and solutions

LOPEC 2024 once again closed with a record number of exhibitors: 176 companies from 28 countries and more than 2,400 visitors from 48 countries came to the ICM at Messe München from March 5 to 7. The leading trade fair and most important conference in the industry provided information about innovations and trends for the whole range of flexible, organic and printed electronics. More and more end user industries – from automotive and renewable energies to healthcare – are using it as a key technology to make their products more environmentally friendly and sustainable.

“LOPEC has grown once again and is therefore the reflection of a dynamic industry. With a record number of exhibitors, aisles full of international experts and top-class presentations in the conference and supporting program, it impressively demonstrated that printed electronics is playing a leading role in more and more industries as an important key technology”, says Dr. Martin Lechner, Executive Director at Messe München. The variety of showcased products in which printed electronics is already being used ranged from muscle sensors for exoskeletons and wearables for health monitoring to battery management systems and intelligent paper applications. LOPEC Exhibition Director Armin Wittmann says: “We are proud, through LOPEC, to be supporting a technology that has a major impact on making our daily lives more environmentally friendly and sustainable. We look forward to being able to use the innovations presented at the trade fair in the future in everyday life.”

Stable growth for a dynamic industry

“LOPEC 2024 was a great success and has further strengthened its position as the most important marketplace for the industry,” says Dr. Klaus Hecker, Managing Director of the OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association). “The visitors got the full picture of the flexible and printed electronics industry. They could see how broad the markets are in which printed electronics products are used. This broad product portfolio makes the industry resilient and the outlook very promising. The results of our recent OE-A Business Climate Survey predict revenue growth of 13 percent by 2024 and 17 percent by 2025.”

Conference brings together industry and science

At the LOPEC Conference, experts from leading industry players and renowned research institutes from 23 countries reported in around 180 presentations about the current status of the technology, its importance for sustainable production, and its potential for future developments. Representatives from companies such as Airbus, Altana, BMW, Covestro, Dai Nippon Printing, Fraunhofer, Heraeus, and Panasonic shared their expertise in various conference formats. “The LOPEC Conference has once again shown how important it is for international knowledge sharing in the industry and what makes it so special—its claim to shed light on the scientific and economic perspective and thus provide impetus to further develop the printed and flexible electronics market,” explains Wolfgang Mildner, General Chair of LOPEC.

Industry leaders and newcomers

The mood among the exhibitors was excellent. “We are looking back to a great exhibition with a busy booth where we could show to the international visitors printed electronics applications for e-mobility. It’s great to see that plenty of applications shown at LOPEC are driven by sustainability,” says Dr. Alain Schumacher, CTO at IEE and Vice Chair of the OE-A Board. Michael Stromann, Head of Business Development at tesa, agrees: “This year is our first time exhibiting at LOPEC and our experience has been totally positive. LOPEC is a good platform for us to engage in dialogue with partners and manufacturers and to promote collaboration for more sustainable solutions in printed electronics." Karine Benbelaid, Global Head of Medical Segment at Covestro, also appreciates LOPEC as a platform to scout for new application fields of printed electronics, to collaborate efficiently and to expand the network along the value chain. Numerous other key players in the industry took part as exhibitors as well, including Agfa, Coatema, Eastman Kodak, E Ink, Elantas, Fujifilm Dimatix, Henkel, Heraeus and Panasonic. With twelve start-ups, there were more newcomers exhibiting at the trade fair than ever before.

LOPEC in figures

176 exhibitors traveled from 28 countries and regions, with around 60 percent of them from abroad. The top five exhibiting countries besides Germany were the USA, France, Sweden and Spain. There were more than 2,400 visitors from 48 countries and regions. The share of international visitors totaled around 55 percent. The top five visitor countries besides Germany were Austria, France, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Finland.

The next LOPEC takes place in Munich from February 25-27, 2025 (exhibition: February 26 and 27).