Recently, the information display industry is undergoing tremendous changes owing to innovations and advances in technologies as well as business environments.
Without exception, The International Meeting on Information Display (IMID 2007) also to kick off on August 27, 2007 in EXCO, Daegu, Korea, will be devoted to the research and developments on information display devices along with business issues of information display industries.
In connection with the latest issues in display device's technological standpoint, chairman of the Korean Information Display Society Whang Ki-woong who concurrently serves as Professor of Seoul National University, pinpoints: "In terms of resolution, display device's technology is moving to Full-HD side." He further points out: "As TV broadcasting is moving to DTV, such trend which goes to Full-HD notch, demands 2~4 times increased resolution than in the past."
The main aim of IMID 2007 to show such latest issues through participating company products is to provide a forum for discussing the latest researches and developments and to allow researchers and developers working on different aspects to get together and interacting with each other. This should eventually lead to effective advancements in research and development, business understanding of information display, Whang said.
Concerning another important issue on the upcoming IMID 2007, Whang mentions a full scale mass production of AM-OLED (Active-matrix) under the initiative of Samsung SDI at home. As this year is expected to be the first year to massproduce AM-OLED in earnest, visitors at the forthcoming IMID 2007 will be able to see related products in large numbers, he explained.
He further revealed: "On the upcoming August IMID 2007, products to astonish a raft of persons admiringly are being prepared in large numbers including products not announced ever anywhere in the world though the Secretariat can't open them to the public right now." Besides, the chairman added that PDP also is likely to present Full- HD products in large numbers, explaining that it is common knowledge that PDP is unfavorable in actualizing high-resolution, but Full-HD is possible in PDP too.
IMID showing dazzling growth pace
In comparison with the USA's Society of Information Display (SID) and Japan's International Display Workshop (IDW), Whang asserts: "In terms of quantity and scale, Korea's IMID is a little small than SID, but IMID's qualitative level is on a par with SID."
Notably, the chairman emphasizes that what is important is that IMID's growth rate, which grows both qualitatively and quantitatively, is dazzling in comparison to the other display-related exhibitions or conferences.
Whang furthermore said: "In terms of content, Korea's IMID has stricken root firmly as one of the two main information display-associated global academic conference as well as exhibition along with SID because in the case of IDW, its exhibition is little more than a name."
As IMID keeps growing, Whang pointed out that a problem to secure a good exhibition venue and announcement ground comes to the front, adding that in the case of last year too, the 2006 IMID couldn't accommodate companies all which are eager to participate because of EXCO's small scale.
In a certain degree, he explained: "Seoul's COEX or KINTEX are also inadequate for digesting international information display-related large-sized conference and exhibition.", explaining that he is personally expecting Incheon's Songdo since Songdo is adjacent 20 minutes away from Incheon International Airport and in the vicinity, a number of hotels will be built sooner or later to meet increasing visitor demand."
Professor Whang who stresses that it is important for a leading figure to deliver their keynote speech in inducing a raft of visitors and in deciding the success or failure of one academic conference or exhibition like
IMID, introduces that to date, two keynote speakers have been fixed for the 2007 IMID, that is, Walter W. Zywottek, General Partner and Member of the Executive Board of Merck, Germany and Lee Hee-Gook, President and Chief Technology Officer of LG Electronics, Inc., Korea. IMID 2007 will also include workshops and tutorials, and a business forum. The business forum will be co-organized with DisplaySearch and will provide accurate market analyses as well as dependable predictions for future trends of information display, according to Whang. In addition, IMID 2007 Exhibition in concert with EDIRAK will provide the best opportunity for exhibitors to reach a large and diverse audience of information displays.
Important keys of success
Last but not least, Whang notes: "As competition between countries becomes too fierce in display market, related companies tend to hide away their technology by company." For instance, he pointed out that Japanese companies tend to not attend IMID because of such inclination, adding that Japan's technology seclusion to restrain Korea is worried. From the standpoint of the entire global display industry, such technology seclusion isn't helpful for the company as well, Whang insists. Hence, he said that it is important to foster an atmosphere among which information display-related companies of each country can search for technology development through brisk technology exchange.
In particular, Whang solicited good papers from industrial company level to serve as an important key of success for the 2007 IMID. He on the other hand praised that the relative importance of Korean papers in overseas academic conferences as well as exhibitions like SID is continuously on the rise. Actually, the relative importance of Korean papers accounts for one-fourth of SID and in a certain field, Korean papers account for up to 70~80% in SID, according to Whang. This year's IMID 2007 conference is the 7th meeting and has been successfully bringing together researchers, engineers and business men involved in the information displays.
Contributions on recent advances in device technologies and related display electronics, manufacturing, materials and components, and applications of major displays including LCD, PDP, OLED, Slim CRT and FED, Flexible Displays and Epaper, 3D and large area displays are particularly welcomed, Whang concluded.
