Together with its long-standing partner E Ink (Hsinchu / Taiwan; www.eink.com), Plastic Logic Germany (Dresden / Germany; www.plasticlogic.com) wants to push forward the development of polymer-based, flexible electrophoretic displays (EPDs). Both companies recently signed a corresponding agreement for an extension of their collaboration, especially regarding mobile applications. “The global market for flexible screens will grow to USD 15.5 bn by 2022,” believes Johnson Lee, president of E Ink, which belongs to the largest Taiwanese paper manufacturer YFY.

Through the cooperation with Plastic Logic, E Ink also maintains a connection to its previous subsidiary Chi Mei Optoelectronics, now known as ChiMei Innolux under the roof of the world’s largest consumer electronics supplier Foxconn.

Plastic Logic, which was founded in 2008 as a spin-off from the University of Cambridge, now operates in a 3,800 m² space for ISO class 5 and class 6 cleanroom production in Dresden, where it manufactures carrier plates in the sheet-to-sheet process (see Plasteurope.com of 29.09.2008). In future, there will be pilot production of smart electronics for large surfaces. The company’s plans for e-book readers were abandoned though.

Since 2011, the company is majority-owned by the Russian technology agency Rusnano (Moscow; www.rusnano.com), which wants to invest several hundred million US dollars to build a flexible screens plant in Zelenograd / Russia. The Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology is near that location. Originally, it was scheduled to start operation in 2014, however, the opening date can at present only be guessed at.