News Flash

Microdisplay Conference Will Offer Insight into Rapidly Emerging Opportunities

SID's Microdisplay 2002 Conference will be held this year at the Westin Hotel, in Westminster, Colorado on September 18-20. It will provide an opportunity for manufactures and technologists involved with microdisplay-based components and finished products to gather and get a better understanding of the current state of the industry - and the opportunities.

The microdisplay industry is poised at a very interesting threshold. The last year has seen turmoil among many component suppliers as the near-to-eye sector experienced some consolidation and projection system growth slowed. But things could get very exciting in the next couple of years as microdisplay-based rear-projection TV sets attempt to unseat CRT-based systems, new front projectors for home entertainment are set to roll at very low price points, and competition heats up from plasma and TFT-LCD producers.

On hand at the conference to address the future of the industry will be analysts from several firms. Kimberly Allen, from iSuppli/Stanford Resources, will discuss her view of the industry while Chuck McLaughlin, of McLaughlin Consulting Group, will present the results of a new forecast report describing unit and revenue growth in both the near-to-eye and projection segments over the next five years. Chris Chinnock, from Insight Media, will provide a summary presentation of some of the highlights of the last year, documenting the rapid pace of change and innovation that is underway.

Clearly, the microdisplay industry has endured its share of triumphs and failures over the years. In a keynote address, Texas Instrument's Dr. Larry Hornbeck, will for the first time describe the steps and missteps that TI experienced along to the road to the successful commercialization of its DLP microdisplay technology. Other companies involved in the microdisplay industry will clearly benefits from the knowledge revealed in this presentation. An evening panel on September 19 will echo this "lessons learned" theme by assembling a group of key executives from various parts of the industry supply chain to give their views on ways to succeed and fail when commercializing a new display technology.

Other elements of the conference will focus on keys areas of industry need and innovation. For example, polarization recapture and novel color management schemes have received a lot of attention recently, and several papers will provide new results in this arena. Presenters will also describe the use on single-panel LCOS projection systems and LED illumination, which is starting to garner research interest.

In the near-to-eye sector, papers will describe new systems as well as some human factors effects, which have been little studied, but are critical to success in this segment.

In manufacturing, test and measurement issues remain a priority for the full commercialization of LCOS microdisplays. Other papers will focus on reliability and packaging issues.

A small exhibition area will be included to facilitate interaction and a workshop environment.

Complete information on registration and hotels, and a preliminary agenda can be found on the SID website at http://www.sid.org/conf/microdisplay2002/microdisplay2002.html. - Chris Chinnock

Palisades Convention Management, Danielle Rocco, (800) 350-0111, drocco@pcm411.com

-- ### --