Dear Readers, Can you believe it's already November? As we approach the end of 2024, it’s incredible how quickly this year has flown by. We have all been busy with the day-to-day pace, while also pushing innovation and being resourceful in resolving challenges. Our printed electronics community is no exception. Even with our best efforts, the latest OE A Business Climate Survey shows growth for 2024 has been slower than we’d hoped, reflecting the broader uncertainty in the industry. Yet, despite obstacles and slow-downs, we’ve still made strides forward. The outlook for 2025 is much more promising, with projected revenue growth of 19%. We also find encouragement in the positive trends in employment and R&D investment, showing that our industry is setting itself up for continued innovation and further growth.

Another key to further growth supported by the printed electronic community is continuing to build relationships. This was especially clear at our recent OE-A Meeting and 20th anniversary celebration hosted by tesa near Hamburg, Germany. It was an amazing event where leaders, innovators and partners came together. Commemorating the 20th year for the OE-A also highlighted how far we’ve all come, and how far we still want to go. It was clear that diversity and perspective play key roles in our past and future successes. Our recent OE-A web seminar extended this theme by recognising the global nature of our industry. We saw that understanding cultural nuances improves the ways we communicate and work together. The result can lead to collaborating more effectively, avoiding misunderstandings, and making the most of our strengths. In a field as interconnected as printed electronics, being aware of these distinctions can have a huge impact (by the way, if you missed the seminar; you can catch the presentation and recording in the member area at my.OE-A shortly).

Don't call this year over too soon though, as we still have the massive electronica fair, where OE-A and LOPEC will be hosting the Printed Electronics Forum on 13-14 November. OE-A will be organising two sessions that will cover printed electronics applications and technologies, as well as the latest trends for the automotive sector. Be sure to drop by hall B6 - it's shaping up to be exciting few days!

With that, we can look forward to a bright 2025 and beyond.

Stan Farnsworth

Dr Klaus Hecker

PS: Our first stop in 2025 is CES in Las Vegas on 8-12 January! You can find our Printed Electronics Pavilion at the Venetian Expo, Level 2, Hall A, Global Pavilions Area at Booth #50718.