USDC expands ANNUAL Flexible Electronics & Displays Conference—slated for February 2 to 5, 2009

The U.S. Display Consortium (USDC), a public/private partnership chartered with developing the flat panel display (FPD) and flexible electronics industry infrastructure, today announced a significant expansion to its 8th annual Flexible Electronics and Displays Conference, which returns February 2-5, 2009. In addition to the three-day market and technical tracks, the conference now features a business investment summit and a variety of short courses.

The business investment summit, which will be held Monday, February 2, 2009, will address issues of relevance to industry innovators, manufacturers and investors in the flexible and printed electronics market. The all-day event will feature visionary and pragmatic talks from invited speakers, market research firms, investment banks and venture capital firms. Business plan presentations by public and private companies will round out the summit. “Connecting potential customers with product developers and the financial community is the theme for this inaugural business summit,” noted Dr. Kevin Cammack, USDC’s director of technical marketing and development, and organizer of the event. “The agenda is geared to stimulate discussion on near-term applications; challenges in getting products to market; and, the dynamics of constructing a profitable business model,” he added.

Multiple short courses are being planned prior to the conference opening in response to enthusiastic demand from previous short course offerings. The courses will reflect the variety of technologies being developed in flexible, printed electronics and will offer an excellent opportunity for collaboration between industry and academia. Six half-day courses, running concurrently, will be held on Monday, February 2, 2009.

The 2009 Flex Conference will include three distinct tracks – a Fundamental Research Track with peer-reviewed abstracts and a full technical paper requirement (published by IEEE); a Business, Markets, Applied and Developmental Research Track with committee-reviewed abstracts; and a Student Research Poster Track with peer-reviewed abstracts, along with a competition for best poster. Conference sessions will focus on the emerging field of flexible, printed and organic electronics manufacturing, including printing processes and technologies, photovoltaics, solid-state lighting, OLEDs, RFID, sensors and flexible display applications and markets. A Call for Papers will be issued in early July 2008.

USDC