A new report from NanoMarkets, a provider of market and technology research and industry analysis services for the thin film, organic and printable electronics businesses has released a report that says the market for for displays, signage, lighting, RFID tags, sensors, solar panels, batteries and other products manufactured using printing technology will reach $30.1 billion by 2015. The study found:

* Printed electronics products are now in full-scale production. E-paper displays and RFID antennas are being routinely printed and such products are expected to generate $5.6 and $12.6 billion in revenues respectively by 2015. E-paper, in particular, has emerged as something of a killer application for printed electronics, demonstrating that printing technology can produce complex electronics products that can generate real revenue. NanoMarkets analysts also expect that as improved manufacturing equipment and materials become available further product opportunities will emerge.

* Printing also seems certain to have a major role in the manufacturing of next-generation photovoltaics with novel CIGS and nanoparticle inks being used to create low-cost, high efficiency solar panels on flexible substrates. Projected sales for printed solar panels will reach $2.5 billion by 2015. Printed electronics will also make a contribution to energy savings through printed OLED lighting, an emerging cost effective approach to solid state illumination. This type of lighting is expected to reach $1.7 billion in sales by 2015.

* Printing is no longer viewed as a wholesale fabrication technology. Instead, It is increasingly seen as an essential tool for manufacturing the new generation of flexible and large area electronics products. As products move from the lab to the fab, manufacturers are combining fabrication technologies, printing certain layers while using more conventional, sputtering, deposition and even optical lithography approaches on other layers.

While this emerging market has a lot of potential for growth, an article in Small Times notes that challenges still remain:
Smart credit cards with embedded displays, e-packaging with printed RFID chips, and mobile devices with rollable, e-paper screens are among the growing number of flexible electronics-enabled gizmos that have reached or about to reach the commercialization stage. A sector once dominated by artists' renderings has evolved significantly over the past several years, as more production has come online, delivering both critical materials and real products. Despite the gains, many significant manufacturing and infrastructure challenges remain for flexible, printed, and organic electronics (FPOE) to become a multibillion-dollar market.