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114 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2021 Change has always been a hallmark of elec- tronics technology. e driver of change has been that the industry is continuously being pressed to develop newer and better products with more functions and at lower cost. ere is likely a tendency to think that change is the result of consumer demand, but as Steve Jobs observed many years ago, the consumer doesn't necessarily always know what they want until they see it and can sense or expe- rience the value. e truth is more likely that the pressure for change comes as much, if not more, from the product developer than from the customer. Change is oen sparked as the result of some dissatisfaction with the status quo that the product designer/developer sees as an opportunity to improve the product. ere is an almost biological aspect to the growth and evolution of electronic products. ere is also, of course, a rational force driving the develop- ment and introduction of every new electronic product, but at a certain point, electronic products seem to take on a life of their own. us, in product development and growth (i.e., change), there is a Darwinian-like qual- ity to the process. Electronic products that adapt quickest and most readily to the winds of change thrive; those that don't are pushed back to wither and die. Adaptation is obviously a key to survival and synergistic (or symbiotic, if you wish) linking of adaptive technologies Flexible Circuits—A Catalyst for Technological Evolution Flexible Thinking by Joe Fjelstad, VERDANT ELECTRONICS