"Studies on displays are not just limited to those done on the desk," said Jang Jin, professor of display studies and director of Advanced Display Research Center at Kyung Hee University. Emphasizing the importance of the link between industry and academia, Prof. Jang has been revered as a legend in the Korean display industry, because he set up the world's first Department of Information Display at Kyunghee University. He has contributed to the industry's development by leading the cultivation of new talents since 1984. And this year he was appointed the president of the Korean Information Display Society (KIDS) for next year.
In the global display market, Korean products take up almost 55 percent of the whole market share, which is a remarkable achievement. "There is no such thing as benchmarking in this industry, as Korean displays are number one in the world. Instead of following anyone else, display industries can continue to grow by fostering specialists as well as encouraging academic activities. For that reason, KIDS holds events such as the International Meeting on Information Display (IMID), as a platform for the industry development," Prof. Jang explained. He added, "Apart from developing human resources, academia has been providing the display industries with the latest information through seminars and conferences and promoting the exchange with global industries by inviting experts from all around the world."
Display industries were born in the U.S, the developer of the original technology, based on which Japan later succeeded in commercial distribution. Although Korea began to develop the flat panel display (FPD) in 1995, the country has soared to become the world's top display supplier, recording annual sales of 60 trillion won within 16 years. The steep technological development, however, was not without its side effects, according to Prof. Jang. "Korea has relatively insufficient original technologies and eminent experts. So we will need to focus more on technological research and development activities."
Creating a global platform
Although Korea has reached the global level in terms of market share, technological development, and human resources, the academic activities on display are led by Japan in Asia, and the US globally. Prof. Jang believes that Korea can now take the lead in the academic world as well with exhibitions and the like based on its outstanding experiences and competency. Collaboration activities like exhibitions between the industry and academia serve as a crucial and indispensible factor in the display industry.
So far Korean display industry has been a leader in the overseas markets. Prof. Jang attended more than 50 display-related conferences in Japan to promote more active academic exchanges between the two countries. His enthusiasm also included Taiwan and China as he was invited for international events like Asia Display which was recently held in Nanjing, China. Prof. Jang plans to extend such opportunities to more global conferences. Like R&D in the U.S and Europe, he hopes to create a platform to bolster the interaction between developers and corporations.
"Now the world has become one community," Prof. Jang says. "That is why it is important for Korea to take the role to bring the whole world together. Leading international companies like Apple are using Korean display and there is no question about Korea's position in the world display markets. I believe the country has enough technological competence. Especially when it comes to educational infrastructure, Korea is second to none." He continues, "And Korea is the only country with an undergraduate department dedicated to studying display, which is why the country's pace in technological development for display is far more rapid than others. Now Korea is even helping R&D projects in other countries. Although the U.S. and Europe are still more advanced in fundamental areas, Korea is definitely distinguished in commercializing the technologies."
Development of the next-generation technologies - Korea's top priority
Kyung Hee University, in association with Samsung and LG, is developing a next-generation technology, and the university is also in a close relationship with Japanese, American, and European companies. While the first developer of the next generation, generally speaking, decides the winner in the market, Prof. Jang believes that it is big-size AMOLED televisions that is at the heart of the game. Despite the widespread use, AMOLED is still limited to small devices such as smartphones. At least a 40-inch AMOLED display must be commercialized if it were to be used for TVs, and in fact the industry is focusing on this technology at the moment. Secondly, the major developers including Apple are paying keen interest to flexible displays. The general view of the industry is that it will take a while until this extremely difficult technology comes to fruition, but also that, once commercially available, flexible displays will change the current of the global markets. The third keyword is 3D development. What we currently refer to as 3D is actually more like 2.2 or 2.3 as it is a slightly improved version of 2D. Companies are pouring efforts into studying the technologies required to bring this number closer to 3.0 in order to render 3D in reality.
Prof. Jang Jin has devoted his life to the display field, having started to study and work on LCD from 1984 when he was asked by Samsung SDI to do research on displays. Arguably the best 'display expert' in Korea and in the world, he has certainly made huge contributions to 60 trillion won of annual sales of the Korean display industry. He believes that sophisticated and high quality education is the most important factor for continuous growth of the industries. There should be the governmental system to support educating excellent engineers, he concludes. It is good for the moment; however, discovering new talents is indeed a vital task for the future.
