NanoMarkets' research into the potential of building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) also suggests that BIPV deployed as a marketing strategy might be a partial solution for panel makers to the problems listed above. As such, the three problems listed above might also be thought of as drivers for the BIPV market which, we believe, could reach as high as $6.1 billion by 2016.

Over the past two decades, more accurate, convenient and earlier diagnoses have become a key strategy to reduce medical costs. This trend toward improved diagnostic technology will only grow in importance in the future as the first Baby Boomers turn seventy (in 2011) and as millions of people in less-developed nations begin to utilize more Western healthcare technology as their countries grow richer. In addition, healthcare experts have come to believe that diagnoses are most effectively delivered if they are made as close to the patient as possible. A quick read of a patient's condition at his or her bedside is preferred over a test sent to a lab that may take critical hours or days to interpret.

Touch-screen displays, a target for the ITO-alternatives business for a few years now, were singled out as a special opportunity for ITO alternatives because of their particular vulnerability to ITO's tendency to crack. Polymers and nanomaterials, which are much more flexible than ITO, have been presented as ITO alternatives that do not crack. And while most ITO alternatives currently are not as transparent or as conductive as ITO, this fact may be outweighed by the non-cracking capability of these alternatives for certain applications.

While the market for electrostatic discharge (ESD) coatings, materials, and devices is growing with the proliferation of electronic devices and components, an even more exciting development is the introduction of new, high-tech materials into the ESD marketplace. In addition to the "old guard" of antistatic materials--metals, ITO and other metal oxides, carbon black- and carbon fiber-filled composites, and organic materials such as amines, amides, and esters--we can now add more advanced materials like nanoparticles of metals and metal oxides, carbon nanotubes and graphene, and conductive polymers like PEDOT:PSS. These newer materials introduce new capabilities for improved performance, reduced material usage, and greater ease of ESD protection that will bring new life into a mature industry. These are the new face of ESD materials and will account for a rapidly growing share of this market.

The products that today account for most of the silver paste and inks consumed are not exactly the "hot" items of the electronics and electrical industry. Traditional capacitor and printed circuit board (PCB) markets grow at the same rate as the economy. Membrane switches are not as ubiquitous as they once were; we think they may see serious competition from touch screens in the future. Plasma displays continue to sell, but the PDP era will eventually pass and take with it the substantial silver paste orders, which certain major suppliers have counted on for a decade.

The report notes that while government agencies are providing the funding for Smart Grids, it is also government agency involvement in standards setting and interoperability is likely to slow the markets' development leading to calls for deregulation and open competition within the next few years.  

The report notes that while government agencies are providing the funding for Smart Grids, it is also government agency involvement in standards setting and interoperability is likely to slow the markets' development leading to calls for deregulation and open competition within the next few years.  

Thin-film silicon (TF Si) photovoltaics has been around for a long time, but went through boom times during a period when there wasn't enough crystalline silicon to satisfy demand by the PV industry; TF Si uses about one-hundredth the amount of silicon used by crystalline silicon PV. The most mature of the TFPV technologies, TF Si currently accounts for about 43 percent of the TFPV market.

Among the many problems that the display industry has experienced with ITO, the most serious is surely cost. The display industry has done well in the past decade as flat-panel displays (FPDs) have all but replaced CRTs and have penetrated markets in which displays were never found before. This growth has occurred in large part because of declining displays prices. For growth to continue in the display industry, a downward price curve for displays will still be needed.

It's the beginning of a new year, and like any other we like to look back on the year past and look forward to see what's cooking for the year ahead. For OLED lighting, this is of especial importance: the industry saw its first commercial products, albeit extremely expensive ones, in 2009, which begs the question, will 2010 be the year for "affordable" OLED lighting-ones you and I could possibly purchase?