by Paul Drzaic
President, Society for Information Display
In a few short months, it will be time once again for
the annual SID Symposium, Seminar & Exhibition, this year to be held in the
always-popular venue of Seattle, Washington, during the week of May 23–28.
As the display industry (and the rest of the world, for that matter) shakes off
the economic crash of 2009, Display Week will prove that some very impressive innovation
has been going on over the past year in electronic displays. It is clear to me
that this is going to be a very special gathering.
After a year in which travel and conference participation
was restricted, there is a lot of pent-up energy on the part of display technologists
looking forward to revealing their latest advances to the world. While we expect
to see contributions across all areas, this year we are planning a special focus
on several emerging display technologies. The aim is to provide attendees with
an intensive view of a select number of topics that will be driving future growth
for the industry. These special-focus areas include advanced technologies for television,
green technologies, electronic paper, touch interfaces, and solid-state lighting.
The importance of these topics is well-known to anyone participating in the electronic-display industry. SID is pleased to enable the ensuing collaboration and idea generation
that will continue to drive progress in these fields.
Another topic of interest is the way in which organic
light-emitting diode (OLED) displays are encroaching into areas traditionally dominated
by liquid-crystal displays. Dr. S. S. Kim of Samsung Mobile Display will provide
a keynote address at Display Week that describes a future with OLED displays becoming
the display system of choice in several key application areas. OLED displays will
also be well-represented in the technology and business programs for the week.
SID is taking advantage of its location in Seattle to
tie into two areas where local companies are driving groundbreaking applications.
Steve Bathiche, Director of Research at Microsoft, will describe in a keynote address
some exciting advances in interactive displays, with applications in entertainment,
commerce, and communications that rely on a combination of sensors and displays.
If you know any teenagers, you can whet their appetite for developments in future
gaming systems by mentioning this talk to them.
Boeing Vice President and Chief Engineer Mike Sinnett
will address avionic-based displays in a third keynote talk. Displays appear in
aviation in areas ranging from cockpit controls to entertainment systems. Aircraft
present a unique set of challenges for implementing displays, with increasing integration
into the avionic infrastructure.
Solid-state lighting will also be a major theme of the
upcoming SID meeting. There will be extensive coverage in the technical and business
conferences and some special extra coverage as well. At the SID Awards Luncheon,
Terry Schmidt, Chief Scientist at Christie Digital Systems, will provide a behind-the-scenes
look at the projection technology used in the last summer Olympic games, in Beijing.
Who can forget the spectacular use of lighting and displays in the games architecture
and in the opening ceremony? You can learn how it was all done in Seattle.
This year, submissions to the technical program were
so numerous, and of high quality, that we're near the bursting point. Nearly 500
papers were accepted from the 680 abstracts submitted, based on the review of industry experts to ensure that SID papers meet our high-quality standards. In the program, we will have three days of papers on 3-D technology, as well as featured sessions on touch technologies, solid-state lighting, and green manufacturing – over 20 sessionsin all, plus posters, just on these hot topics.
Keep an eye on the SID 2010 Web site, http://www.sid2010.org.
There, you can learn about the mix of seminars and business conferences, the
SID exhibition, our special event, and the symposium as the details become finalized.
We have several additional surprises in store, so stay tuned! •
