Society for Information Display News March/April 2016 Issue 2

How to Stand Out for SID’s Best in Show Awards

The deadline for participating in Display Week 2016’s Best in Show awards is fast approaching – nominations for these exhibitor-only awards are due no later than May 1.  Each year, three to five Best in Show winners are chosen by an independent panel of display experts who review the products, prototypes, and processes nominated for the awards on the show floor.  Winners are selected for their ability to excite display experts and members of the general public and press.

A Best in Show win can really open doors for a company, as it did for Cima NanoTech, 2013 winner in the small Exhibit Category for its self-assembling silver nanoparticle mesh technology.  That exhibit, and winning the award, says Cima NanoTech founder Jon Brodd, got the attention of a current major partner – Foxconn.  On the display show floor, Cima NanoTech showed its technology in as many formats as possible, including EMI shielding, transparent heating, thermo-formed 3D devices, and a 21.5-in. projected-capacitive touch panel on which visitors could play Fruit Ninja,  “We tried to demonstrate the breadth of Cima NanoTech’s SANTE nanoparticle technology as a platform that enables a range of the products,” says Brodd.  “We showed the people who really knew p-cap [projected-capacitive touch technology] that we understood what was needed.”


Last year’s exhibit by Nanosys, a Best in Show winner for its quantum-dot TVs, is another example of effective booth presentation.  Nanosys showed three 65-in. UHD TVs side by side, identical except for the method used to create the white light in the backlight.  The materials used were conventional white LEDs.  One set used the LEDs only, another included Nanosys’s QDEF quantum-dot technology and another, Nanosys’ cadmium-free QDEF quantum-dot technology.  With the sets side by side, viewers could make a clear determination of the differences – not much further explanation needed.  As Information Display reporter Ken Werner wrote: “These demos made it very clear that cadmium quantum dots deliver a much greater color gamut than indium-phosphide dots [or conventional white LEDs.]”

Best in Show is open to all exhibitors on the show floor during Display Week 2016, and prizes will be awarded regardless of exhibit size.  Self-nominations are encouraged!  For details and to download a nomination form, visit http://www.sid.org/About/Awards/BestinShowAwards.aspx.

 

Korea Comes On Strong
at Display Week
Last year, we wrote about how Chinese display companies created major impact in the exhibit hall at Display Week.  Companies such as BOE and Central China Display Laboratories had very large, very beautiful displays to show.  We don’t see any signs of China pulling back, but this year looks to be an exciting one from the display powerhouses out of Korea – LG Display and Samsung.  We don’t know yet what either company will be showing, but we hope to see more of LG’s flexible OLED technology (see this issues’s CES review for pictures and descriptions of the company’s 18-in. rollable OLED).  And with Samsung returning to the show after a year’s hiatus, we can only suspect that it has something big to show.  Will it be OLED or quantum-dot-enhanced LCD based, or both?  We’ll just have to hit the show floor and see.

 

Displays, Electronics Evolve for Connected Car

The average American spends 20 hours a week commuting in their car, and automakers are doing what they can to ensure that these hours are seamlessly connected to the commuter’s work and personal life.  How this incentive plays out, and how it involves display makers, was the subject of a recent Bay Area SID Chapter presentation, “The Evolution of Displays and Electronics for the Connected Car,” by Rashmi Rao, Director of Advanced Engineering for Harman International.

Among the highlights from her presentation:

• J. D. Power and Associates reports that automakers are investing billions into technologies that more than 40% of consumers are not using.

• The connected car is forecasted to be the most disruptive force in the technology industry since the smart phone.

• The connected car is slated to be a $270 billion industry by 2020.

This connectivity, Rao explained, will dramatically change our relationship with our vehicles.  As these relationships evolve, it’s vital that automakers focus on relevant technologies that provide intuitive, contextual information.  Autonomous driving, smart displays, and  active and passive safety are all subjects of aggressive and ongoing R&D.  Rao points out that display makers already have many answers to carmaker’s current challenges.

You can read more about specific display-related solutions in Rao’s feature article, written with Stefan Marti, on “Advances to In-Car Human–Machine Interface Systems,” in our next issue.  This issue will focus on vehicle displays and will also include articles from Daimler and Continental.  •

Harman International’s Rashmi Rao (left) recently presented a talk on the connected car to members of the Bay Area Chapter.
 Shown at right is Bay Area Director Sri Peruvemba.