Flexible Stretchable Device/Component Market in Japan: Key Research Findings 2016
Research Outline
- Research period: From April to July, 2016
- Research targets: Makers of conductive pastes, conductive fibers, circuit boards, functional materials/wear, etc.
- Research methodologies: Face-to-face interviews by the expert researchers, surveys via telephone, and literature research
What are Flexible Stretchable Devices?
Flexible stretchable devices in this research indicate some sort of wearable devices in the forms of clothing, tape/patches, wrist-bands, breast bands and etc. They differ from the conventional wearable devices in that they achieve elasticity and flexibility by using fiber, resin, rubber or elastomers in the basic materials.
Summary of Research Findings
- Vigorous Development Seen for Flexible Stretchable Devices, or Stretchy Wearable Devices
In today’s world, where IoT has been attracting attention for its availability to connect various things to the internet, one of the new trends is to commercialize various types of wearable devices. Progress of their evolvement into various shapes is categorized into such types as wrist-watches, wrist bands, eye-glasses, and others. They are still evolving, making themselves smaller, lighter in weight, and more flexible (bendable), in order to respond to various demands.
In recent years, flexible stretchable devices, i.e., the wearable devices with flexibility or elasticity in their basic materials have been vigorously developed. In 2014, a sports wear that can measure one’s cardiac rate by just wearing it went into market. For electrodes of such clothing, functional materials highly impregnated with conductive polymers in the openings of nanofibers are used. As more progress is seen for flexible stretchable devices, such components of the devices like electrodes, wiring materials, and conductive materials are also enhanced to be used in such devices.
- Domestic Flexible Stretchable Devices/Components Market Expected to Achieve 59.594 Billion Yen by 2025
Unlike conventional wearable devices, those flexible stretchable devices are able to acquire accurate bio information any time, regardless of whether during heavy physical activities or while sleeping, without interrupting comfort of the wearer. Not only the sports industry, where such devices have begun being put into practical use, but also the construction and transportation industries are likely to be proactively in demand for those devices, backed by the needs from some enterprises that have recognized the importance of managing and ensuring safety of their employees, and by the general needs to reduce the burden of medical expenses. Furthermore, the demands of the devices are likely to expand in the sectors of medical, long-term care, healthcare, and entertainment. Therefore, the domestic flexible stretchable device market is expected to attain 21.1 billion yen by 2020, and 59.594 billion yen by 2025, based on the shipment value of manufacturers.
- Figure 1: Positioning of Flexible Stretchable Devices
- Figure 2: Forecast of Size of Domestic Flexible Stretchable Device Market
- Figure 3: Forecast of 2025 Domestic Flexible Stretchable Device Market Share by Sector
