1. OE-A Roadmap for Organic and Printed Electronics

The roadmap for organic and printed electronics is a key activity of the OE-A, the industrial organisation for the young organic, printed and large area electronics industry. Organic electronics is a platform technology that enables multiple applications, which vary widely in their specifications. Since the technology is still in its early stage—and is in the transition from lab-scale and prototype activities to production—it is important to develop a common opinion about what kind of products, processes and materials will be available and when. This chapter is based on the third version of the OE-A Roadmap for organic and printed electronics, developed as a joint activity by key teams of experts in 9 applications and 3 technology areas, informed by further discussions with other OE-A members during association meetings. The resulting roadmap is a synthesis of these results representing common perspectives of the different OE-A forums. Through comparison of expected product needs in the application areas with the expected technology development paths, potential roadblocks or “red brick walls” such as resolution, registration and complementary circuitry are identified.