Roger Grace, President of Roger Grace Associates, the leading marketing consultancy specializing in Sensors and MEMS has announced the call for abstracts for the all-day June 25, 2019 Sensors Expo pre-conference symposium. Abstract deadline is March 1, 2019. The session will address Printed/Flexible Stretchable (P/F/S) and Functional Fabric (FF) Sensors from a commercialization perspective to support Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable applications. Mr. Grace will be joined by other world recognized leaders in the P/F/S and FF sensors and electronics area representing organizations from the US, Europe and Asia who will present information on current research and development activities, application opportunities and manufacturing methods and challenges for P/S/T and FF sensors and P/S/T and FF Sensor-based systems issues. The expo and technical conference will take place at the McEnery San Jose California Convention Center from June 26-27, 2019.
Mr. Grace stated, “This all-day symposium is a key and integral part of my “evangelization” of P/F/S and FF sensors. It was developed to help inform and educate the technical, technical management, and business community of the major significance of P/S/T and FF sensor-based technologies and their enabled far- reaching opportunities in IoT and wearable applications from both a current and future perspective. Attendees will be provided with presentations from representatives of leading international organizations representing the entire ecosystem of P/S/T and FF sensors and associated electronics, from research and development to manufacturing, who are in the forefront of bringing new and unique P/S/T and FF technologies to the market. We are expecting that several speakers from leading international research and development organizations and universities will address their efforts on device development and integration issues and future application opportunities. Presentations will address the current and future opportunities for P/F/S and FF sensors and the necessary requirements for them to become commercially viable. Also, to be addressed will be other functional elements of these IoT and wearable systems e.g. batteries, memory/logic as well as packaging and interconnects. Barriers to the successful commercialization and strategies resulting in monetization of P/S/T and FF sensors strategies from perspectives including integration, infrastructure and manufacturing will be addressed. The symposium will also address the requisite infrastructure of materials, manufacturing and test systems. We expect the attendee to emerge from the session with a good knowledge of where we have come from, where we are, where we’re going, and what they need to do to help create a more commercially viable P/S/T and FF sensor industry as well as where they can participate in exploiting current and future major application opportunities for P/S/T sensors.” He concluded, “This Sensors 2019 pre-conference symposium has, to the best of my knowledge, the most highly concentrated and expansive effort to date to exclusively address the topic of P/F/S and FF sensors”.
Mr. Cal Groton, Group Director at Questex, the organizer of the event said, “We decided early on in the creation of the pre-conference program to address IoT and wearables because of its current and future importance in the sensors space. Our decision to bring Roger Grace aboard to develop and chair an all-day pre-conference symposium was an easy one for us based on Roger’s well- deserved reputation in the industry as a sensors marketing consultant “guru “in addition to his long and successful track record of developing over 25 successful technical conference sessions, many here at Sensors Expo. We are truly gratified that Roger’s selection of speakers for his all-day session on printed/flexible/stretchable sensors demonstrates the intent of our exciting conference…that being informing and educating the engineering community as to the power and capability of sensor technology to solve application opportunities. We are looking forward to very successful technical sessions, technical exhibit and especially Roger’s star-studded array of speakers in our pre-conference program”.
ABOUT PRINTED/FLEXIBLE/STRETCHABLE AND FUNCTIONAL FABRIC SENSORS
The availability of sensors that can take the shape and work reliably in their imposed complex and demanding working environment has existed for quite some time. Interlink Electronics and Tekscan introduced their flexible sensor product lines in the mid-80’s. With the recent popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT), “wearables” (including clothing) and more importantly…disposables…create the need for low-cost single or multiple sensors per system that are small, lightweight and low- power consuming that also can conform to the shape of and survive the environment in which they must operate and are becoming essential. This is especially relevant in the creation of measurement systems which typically rely upon several sensors and their accompanying microcontroller/embedded sensor fusion algorithms that make them “smart” and enable them to address a myriad of IoT applications including environmental/pollution monitoring including air, water, soil and food; fitness; health /e-health monitoring; agriculture and other applications supporting the “four pillars” of Abundance…the solution….printed/flexible/stretchable sensors and associated electronics and packaging. Recent estimates report the total market for printed/flexible sensors to be $8 billion of the $340 billion flexible electronics market by 2025. With expected unit average sales prices (ASPs) of approximately $0.01 by 2025, this translates into an annual 800-billion-unit volume market…and certainly qualifies as a significant constituent of the trillion sensors initiative.
The US DOD has recently awarded major contracts to organizations to move these two important technologies forward. Headed by MIT, the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) Program received $75 million in funding matched with $242 from many participating organizations in late April, 2016. In August 2015, the FlexTech Alliance received $75 million from DOD with matching grants of $96 million from organizations to create and manage a flexible hybrid electronics facility in San Jose California.
ABOUT ROGER GRACE ASSOCIATES
Roger Grace Associates, founded in 1982, is located in Naples, Florida and provides comprehensive strategic marketing consulting and marketing communications services to domestic and overseas high-technology-based clients…from startups to Fortune 500’s in addition to government agencies. The firm specializes in conducting market research leading to the creation, development and execution of positioning, branding and actionable market strategies for its clients in the successful commercialization of technology for the sensors, MEMS, Nano, semiconductor and semiconductor equipment markets. For more information please visit www.rgrace.com.
ABOUT SENSORS EXPO
Sensors Expo & Conference is North America’s premier event focused exclusively on sensors, connectivity and systems and is widely known as the world’s largest and most important gathering of engineers involved in sensor systems. The conference program is dedicated to exploring the most up-to-date innovations in sensor technology in tracks including chemical & gas sensing, energy harvesting & power, IoT & wireless, , MEMS, optical sensing, process manufacturing, sensor applications, sensors data & advanced analytics, sensors in an AI universe, and smart cities. Sensors Expo & Conference identifies cutting-edge trends, explores them in an information-packed conference program and reflects those trends throughout the exhibit floor with new product announcements, application presentations, technology focused tours and a showcase of 300+ of products and solutions.
In its 34thyear, Sensors Expo returns to a Silicon Valley venue after three successful showings in 2016, 2017 and 2018. To take place at the McEnery Convention Center in downtown San Jose from June 25-27, 2019, its expected attendance of over 7,000 will provide the opportunity for attendees to visit more than 300 exhibitors, attend all-day precon sessions and 65 technical sessions including 10 new and updated tracks. For more information, please visit www.sensorsexpo.com.