If printing flexible packaging, labels or cartons isn't enough for the long-term growth of your business, the brave new world of printable electronics is beckoning. According to a just-released report from Glen Allen, VA-based NanoMarkets (www.nanomarkets.net), the market for printable electronics (PE) will grow from $354 million in revenues next year to $12.1 billion in 2011.

Highlights of the group's study:

Several positive developments bode well for the overall PE business. Fuji Film's acquisition of Dimatix and Weyerhaeuser's announced purchase of OrganicID demonstrate that larger companies are entering the business. Intel and Siemens have also invested in PE or developed partnerships with PE technology developers as the PE business is seen by more and more larger firms as their next $100-million-plus annual business opportunity.

Key product segments in the PE business include printable displays, which are expected to generate $3.8 billion in revenues in 2011; printable RFID, which are expected to surpass $2.5 billion; signage, which will create $1.25 billion; and printable photovoltaics, which will do better than $1 billion in sales in the same time period. With almost a dozen viable applications within the PE universe, there will be substantial revenues available to a variety of companies throughout the supply chain, says NanoMarkets.

Materials used in printable electronics will grow from a market of $76 million in 2007 to over $2.78 billion in 2011. The report notes a growing interest in developing inks using small-molecule OLED materials. If this proves practical, it will open up the entire OLED-display market to printing.

Meanwhile over the past year, the equipment used for printing electronics has been able to produce higher resolutions, allowing production of low-cost RFIDs, mobile displays and multifunctional sensors. In addition, the PE community no longer sees registration as an insurmountable obstacle to building complex circuitry using printing.