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| cintelliq highlights funding gap in organic electronics market at OEC-07 | |
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Investment, supply chain maturity and application pull required as organic electronics market head toward production phase
Significant investment is required to move the organic electronics market from R&D through to production during the next three years according to Craig Cruickshank, CEO, cintelliq. He also said that the industry needed to focus on developing a mature supply chain and accelerate its shift from technology to application focus. Cruickshank was speaking at OEC-07, the fifth annual Organic Electronics Conference and Exhibition, Frankfurt, Germany. Cruickshank said that the organic semiconductor industry has shown remarkable technical and commercial progress over the last five years and was poised to shift from an R&D phase to commercialisation. But he warned that the number of companies likely to make the transition from R&D to start-up, and then from pilot line to production, is not currently significant. "The industry is facing a critical funding gap. There is a significant opportunity for volume end user products within the next three to five years, but this will fail to materialise unless the funding gap between proof of concept and commercial production across all areas of the supply chain is addressed through significant funding," said Cruickshank. To date, the majority of external funding in the organic electronics market in Europe and the US has come from government sources rather than private equity. Cruickshank said that this balance needed to shift in order to meet investment for production capacity during the next three years. According to cintelliq more than $1.3 billion of government and venture capital investment was committed to the organic semiconductor industry between January 2000 and August 2007. Speaking at OEC-06 last year cintelliq estimated that an additional $800 million was required to move the industry through this phase. Cruickshank said that he believed that this investment level was still appropriate. Cruickshank cited merger and acquisition activity, the development of strong strategic alliances and the increasing maturity of the supply chain as evidence that the industry was entering a new phase of development. "The supply chain - bringing together materials, processes, device architecture and products is emerging - and the chemical industry which has a critical role to play has secured its position as an integral part of the industry," said Cruickshank. "During the last 12 months Sumitomo Chemical Company has acquired CDT, H.C.Starck sold to Advent International and the Carlyle Group, and Weyehauser acquired OrganicID," he said. Cruickshank said that the market for organic electronics is starting to segment into six key application areas; including RFID, backplanes, photovoltaic, lighting, sensors and memory. "But the market is still predominantly technology led. The industry has a key role to play in explaining to manufacturers the potential of organic electronics," added Cruickshank. |
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| copyright © cintelliq ltd 2007 | |