Flexible displays

Cambridge-based Liquavista is to take part in a three-year £12m cooperative research programme to develop next generation flexible electronic displays that support full colour and video.

Liquavista's electrowetting technology will be used to create screens capable of displaying bright, colourful images, showing video content with very low power consumption, as well as being thin, flexible and light.

The project is part-funded by the government-funded Technology Strategy Board.

Mark Gostick, chief executive officer at Liquavista, said: 'Colour and video capability will broaden the application of electronic paper displays to all types of content and device. Together with our partners Plastic Logic and with the help of the Technology Strategy Board, we are aiming to realise the full potential of electronic paper displays.'

Liquavista’s mobile displays use its patented electrowetting technology to switch light extremely efficiently. It is claimed to be the only display technology apart from LCD that can be used in transmissive, transflective or reflective modes, which means it has very broad markets.

As a result of the successful launch of the project, Liquavista is augmenting its team of skilled scientific and engineering staff by building a presence in the Cambridge area.

Liquavista was founded in 2006 as a spin-out from the Philips Research Labs in Eindhoven. The company is backed by New Venture Partners, GIMV and Amadeus Capital and has offices in the UK, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong.