Program

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Business Conference

Commercializing Display Technology - Opportunities in a Down Market

SID and DisplaySearch are pleased to announce they will collaborate on this year's Business Conference, which will be held during the 47th annual SID International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, dubbed Display Week 2009, in San Antonio, Texas. Kicking off the display industry's premier weeklong gathering (May 31-June 5), this year's Business Conference will be held on Monday, June 1 and will feature presentations from top executives of leading companies throughout the display supply chain.

Bringing new display technologies to market has always been a process measured in decades, not years. In recent years, the consolidation of the market by TFT LCD has raised the barrier to entry for fundamentally new display technologies, while opening up the possibility of improvements in materials, components, and manufacturing processes. At the same time, complementary technologies, such as touch screens, and new forms of displays can take advantage of display market growth.

With 2009 shaping up to be a challenging year for display producers, is it a good time for new technologies to make their move? What are the needs and the promising technologies? What are strategies for success? The SID 2009 Business Conference will focus on the challenges and opportunities of commercializing display technologies, bringing a market perspective to the innovations on display in San Antonio.

Preliminary Agenda

7:45AM-8:45AM
Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:45AM-9:00AM
Welcome by Paul Semenza, DisplaySearch

9:00AM-9:50AM
Keynotes: Display Commercialization in Practice
The Keynote session at the SID Business Conference will provide insight into display commercialization from the perspective of the entrepreneur and that of the investor.

Win/Win Strategic Investing in Displays: What I’ve Learned
The technologies of displays and developing successful businesses around them is part brilliance, art, sweat, perseverance, and know-how. Intel’s interaction with the eco-system for the display industry, combined with Intel Capital’s vantage point having invested in numerous display companies over the past 17 years, offers a unique perspective across the handheld, netbook, laptop, desktop and consumer segments. Thomas Holder, Investment Director for Intel Capital, will highlight some the key learnings of attempting to drive innovation as a strategic partner and strategic investor for one of the world’s most respected technology company. Please join Thomas for observations, examples, and a discussion of what it takes to succeed in the exciting and tumultuous business of displays. Making the case: The Display Industry’s Chance to Evolve in the Downturn
Amid widespread worry about the future of capitalism, and the local pain in the zero profit margin (or less) display industry, what is next? In this talk Mary Lou discuss her view from down in the trenches on the opportunities brought on by this chaos for a new way forward. She will discuss in detail what it’s like to live and work in the large scale LCD fabs of the world, funding, and suggest some new paths for innovation that can bring more strength to the ailing LCD industry. Mary Lou was named one of the hundred most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in May 2008 for her work in creating Pixel Qi, and her work in creating One Laptop per Child, where she was the chief technology officer and first employee. Mary Lou invented the laptop's sunlight-readable display technology and co-invented its ultra-low-power management system, architected the XO laptop, and transformed it into mass production.

9:50AM-10:15AM
Display Market Overview: Growth After the Market Resets?
2009 is shaping up to be the year that the display market shifts from years of high growth rates, driven by flat panel investment and CRT replacement, to a more mature stage. What is the outlook for the industry, and how does it differ by technology and application? What are the areas of opportunity for new display technologies going forward?

  • Paul Semenza, Senior Vice President Analyst Services, DisplaySearch

10:15AM-10:35AM
Coffee Break

10:35AM-11:35AM
Crossing the Chasm: Perspectives on Commercialization
The display business has been an active area for technology startups, but many have found building a successful business around display technology to be a challenge. What can be learned from the record of companies bringing new technologies to market?

Why Competing Against TFT LCD Is So Difficult
Country and company aspirations have propelled the TFT LCD industry towards greater display area capacity. This has driven the display area price down towards marginal cost. As a result, producers have not generated economic profit on their investments. Companies investing in alternative technologies have found little opportunity for profit. TFT LCD producers can use depreciated assets to serve most market segments and drive prices to levels that may not justify entry by companies developing alternative technologies. In addition, theoretical performance advantages of alternative technologies may not justify as much price premium or generate as much excitement as TFT LCD did when it challenged CRT. Flexible display technologies may create a novel value proposition, however. If so, we may see a new round of investment in TFT backplane capacity that supports growth of alternatives to LCD.

Display Startups - An Elusive Success Story
Over the last two decades, dozens of display technology companies have been started in North America and Europe. Despite having great technology in many cases, few of these companies have found success within the display industry. This presentation explores why so few startup companies have been successful and for the few that have, highlights the key factors that may have led to their success.

DLP: The (Rocky) Road to Microdisplay & Beyond
DLP shipped its first production chipset in 1996, but even then technology development had been progressing for 10+ years. This talk will cover the unique convergence of events (successes as well as fumbles) that led to DLP’s emergence from the lab to the market, from a blip on the radar to a dominant player in projection, and the ability to cover the spectrum from the largest high end digital cinema screens to the smallest picoprojector. Areas examined with include fundamental technology development, systems expertise, roadmaps for cost & performance and platform extensibility.

  • Tom Winter, Product Engineering Manager, Texas Instruments

11:35AM-12:20PM
Intellectual Property: Patents, Licensing, Paths to Market
Given the concentration of display manufacturing in Asia, one of the business models pursued by western companies is to derive value from their intellectual property. What are some of the key aspects of patents, licensing and other IP tools in commercializing display technologies?

How to Grow a Business without Making Anything
IP licensing can be an effective business strategy for taking new display technology into capital intensive sectors with a relatively small investment. Joel Pollack was CEO of Clairvoyante, a venture-backed startup in the display space which employed an IP licensing model. Clairvoyante was acquired by Samsung last year. This session will draw on the Clairvoyante experience to highlight the risks and benefits of a licensing approach to a technology startup.

  • Joel Pollack, Senior Vice President of Strategic Sales and Marketing, Nouvoyance, Inc.

Maximizing the Value of Your Company by the Strategic Use of Intellectual Property
Securing rights to intellectual property is essential to not only the product development lifecycle of a display company, but is also essential to maintaining and expanding that company’s market share. With proper planning, a company can employ several options to obtain the rights necessary to protect its important technology differentiators. Such planning not only enhances the company’s prospects for success, but could potentially accelerate its growth. This presentation will explain the varying types of intellectual property rights, and how those rights can be used to maximize the value of your company.

  • Rel Ambrozy, Partner, Intellectual Property Practice Group, McKenna Long & Aldridge

12:20PM-12:30PM
Lunch Welcome by Dr. Peter Bocko, Chief Technology Officer for Corning East Asia

12:30PM-1:30PM
Lunch: Sponsored by Corning

1:30PM-1:50PM
Emerging Display Technologies that will Lead the Future Display Industry
Beyond LCD, there is the room and the need for emerging display technologies.
OLEDs have penetrated into the mobile phone, TV and recently the mini-notebook PCs industries. OLED lighting is evolving and will take off around 2011.

Touch screen technologies are a part of our everyday life due to their ease of use. There are over a dozen touch screen technologies, but not all technologies are growing.

e-Paper displays have become popular due to their low power (or zero power) consumption. Some e-Paper displays are also thin, rugged, and flexible. e-Paper applications include e-books, e-newspapers, mobile phones, USB drives, shelf labels, cards with display, wearable displays, signage/advertisement products.

This presentation will include technology analysis and market forecast of OLED displays, OLED lighting, touch screens and e-Paper displays. It will also provide business strategy recommendations for these technologies as well as flexible displays, 3D displays, and pocket projectors.

Emerging Display Technology Roundtables

1:50PM-2:35PM
Competing with TFT LCD: OLED, MEMS and Other Alternatives
Representatives from OLED and MEMS-based display developers will discuss the challenges and opportunities of "innovating around" TFT-LCD, by developing display technologies with the promise of some combination of lower manufacturing cost and higher performance. Panelists include participants from the following companies:

2:35PM-3:30PM
Enhancing TFT LCD: Touch and Other Features
A key aspect to display-related commercialization is building on the "platform" of existing display technologies, focusing on adding value and functionality to the display. Representatives of touch screen and other companies will discuss the issues involved in participating in the display value chain. Panelists include participants from the following companies:

  • In Jae Chung, Chief Technology Officer, LG Displays
  • Rick Seger, President, N-trig Ltd.
  • Bert Keely, Program Manager Architect, Windows Pen and Touch, Microsoft
  • Liam Quinn, Director of Communication Technology Strategy in the office of the CTO, Dell
  • Paul Tompkins, Director, Commercial Technology, Corning
  • Steven Abramovich, Elo TouchSystems

3:30PM-3:50PM
Coffee Break

3:50PM-4:35PM
Creating New Applications: Pico Projectors, Bistable and other Low Power Displays
One possible entry path for display commercialization is to develop technologies that enable applications or products that were heretofore not possible. Examples include pico-projectors, which enable large images to be produced from a handheld device, and low power display technologies, which enable the development of electronic readers. Panelists include participants from the following companies:

  • Nick Colaneri, Director, Flexible Display Center, Arizona State University
  • Al Davis, Senior Director, New Business Development, Kent Displays
  • Russell Hannigan, Director, Product Management, Consumer Projection Displays, Microvision
  • Anthony Slack, Vice President Business Development, Liquavista
  • Michael McCreary, VP of Research and Advanced Development, E Ink

4:35PM-4:55PM
TV Market Update - Reinvigorating a Mature Market
TV’s are the largest market for display technologies and the market is mostly comprised of relatively new, but already mature, flat panel technologies. But does the market have to wait another 50 years for a new TV display technology to replace LCD and Plasma as they replaced CRT and Rear Projection? Several exciting new technologies show promise, including OLED, and even advancements within these technologies, such as 3D, offer exciting new prospects for generating renewed consumer enthusiasm.

Recent improvements have focused on improving picture quality or form factor, like higher resolution and faster frame rates. But are there other considerations that must be taken into account when developing next generation TV technology? As our world becomes ever more interconnected, usability and access to multiple sources of content will be a major theme of future TV technology development, as will improved eco-friendliness. This session touch on some of the most important aspects of these trends during.

Paul Gagnon will provide a review of the TV market size and opportunity, including segmentation and growth prospects. Given the focus of the session on commercialization of new technologies, he’ll also review what’s most important to consumers and retailers when determining what direction to pursue technology advancement in the TV space.

  • Paul Gagnon, Director of North America TV Market Research, DisplaySearch

4:55PM-5:30PM
TV Roundtable - Chasing the Biggest Market
This session will discuss the challenges for technologies entering the TV market that, after a window of opportunity around the transition from analog CRT, is showing signs of consolidation. Can new technologies gain a foothold in this market? Panelists include participants from the following organizations:

5:30PM
Closing Remarks

5:30PM-7:30PM
Networking Cocktail Reception

For more information about the Business Conference or sponsorship opportunities please contact
Laura Castellano - 408-226-1101 - laura_castellano@displaysearch.com.