China will Host the 5th International Conference on Flexible and Printed Electronics in 2014

The 4^th International Conference on Flexible and Printed Electronics (ICFPE) was held on 11-13 September in Jeju Island, Korea. Professor Zheng Cui, Director of Printable Electronics Research Center (PERC), Suzhou Institute of Nanotech, attended the conference, together with other three researchers from the Institute.

ICFPE was initiated by Korea, Japan and Taiwan in 2009. Originally the conference was proposed to shift among the founding countries (region). So the first conference was held in Korea in 2009, then in Taiwan in 2010 and in Japan in 2012. This year the conference came back to Korea. However, when the last conference was held in Tokyo in 2012, Professor Zheng Cui attended the organizing committee meeting, proposed to have the 5^th conference held in China in 2014. The proposal was accepted by the committee members. On 11 September at the ICFPE conference banquet, Professors Zheng Cui formally announced the news, calling upon participation of the ICFPE 2014 next year on 27-29 October in Beijing, China.

To move the ICFPE to China indicates that the development of printed electronics in China has caught the world attention. The international community is beginning to recognize the import role which China can play in flexible and printed electronics, given the fact that the world largest manufacturing bases in consumer electronics, flat panel display, solar cell, printing and printed circuit board industries are in China, and the sheer size of market for these products in China cannot be ignored. To have the ICFPE held in China next year is also an excellent opportunity for the Chinese researchers and entrepreneurs to demonstrate their work and products to the world.

China has 20 papers presented at the conference. The Suzhou Institute of Nanotech also organized one of the special sessions featuring research work from China. As the host organization for next year ICFPE, Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication sent a group of delegates to the conference to get the first hand experience of running the conference. Suzhou Institute of Nanotech will also play a major role in the organization of ICFPE in 2014.