CAMPBELL, Calif., May 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Society for Information Display (SID) today announced that its upcoming Display Week conference and exhibition, May 20-25, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, will feature a special event celebrating 50 years since the invention of the liquid crystal display (LCD). LCDs are currently a US$100-plus billion industry, ubiquitous in everyday products such as TVs, smartphones and computer monitors, and being designed into indoor signage and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) systems – to name a few. On Tuesday afternoon, May 22, SID will host an exclusive event titled Pioneering the Trail to Today: 50 Years of LCD Innovations, featuring brief talks from industry leaders illuminating the past, present and exciting future of LCD technology.

In May 1968, RCA announced the discovery of an entirely new type of electronic display. A major departure from cathode ray tubes (CRTs), the new technology – which employed dynamic scattering of liquid crystal molecules – was lightweight, very thin, and consumed little electrical power. The announcement stirred global excitement and precipitated the launch of now-commonplace digital watches and pocket calculators—and triggered scientific work in multiple countries to synthesize liquid-crystal materials for use in display applications.

"With five decades of LCD innovation and product development behind us, the technology is embedded in our collective consciousness," said Sri Peruvemba, chair of marketing for SID. "While much has been made of the increasing faceoff between LCD and OLED [organic light-emitting diode] technology in the TV market, LCD's position remains strong in myriad major applications. Papers being presented at Display Week will look at LCDs for AR/VR, wearables, industrial, medical and automotive. We look forward to celebrating the evolution of the technology at this year's special event."

Attendees at the LCD 50^th Anniversary event will hear these industry experts address the following topics: 

• Martin Schadt, MS High-Tech Consulting: "From Dynamic Scattering to Field-Effect Liquid Crystal Displays"
• Fang-Chen Luo, co-inventor of the active-matrix LCD: "Development of TFT [Thin-Film Transistor] LCDs"
• Koji Suzuki, Toshiba Corp.: "Development of a-Si [amorphous silicon] TFT-LCD and Low Temperature p-Si [polysilicon] TFT-LCD"
• Kenji Okamoto, Sharp Corp.: "Technical Innovation of Wide-Viewing-Angle LCD"
• InJae Chung, LG Display: "The Opening of a New Era of Large-Size LCDs with State-of-the-Art Technologies"
• Jun Souk, Samsung Display: "The First 40-in. LCD TV Prototype in 2001; The Initiation of the Large-Size LCD-TV Race"
• Mark Verrall, Merck KGaA: "The (R)evolution of Liquid Crystals"
• Terry Scheffer, LCD consultant and co-inventor of super-twisted-nematic (STN) liquid crystals: "The STN Story"
• William Doane, Kent Displays, and co-inventor polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal systems (PDLCs): "PDLCs: Development and Display Applications"

Sponsors for the special LCD event include AU Optronics, BOE Technology Group, Corning, DIC Corp., EMD Performance Materials (a division of Merck KGaA), Hecheng Display (HCCH), Japan Display Inc., LG Display, Sharp and Ulvac.

More information on the 50^th Anniversary LCD event, LCD sessions and papers, and companies exhibiting at Display Week can be found at www.displayweek.org.

About Display Week 2018
The 55^th Display Week, presented by the Society for Information Display (SID), will take place May 20-25 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Display Week is the world's leading event focused on emerging electronic display technologies – their advancement, integration into products, and commercialization. Display Week attracts attendees from the entire ecosystem of R&D, engineering, design, manufacturing, supply chain, marketing, sales and financial, as well as commercial and consumer end-user markets. It delivers unparalleled learning opportunities, market-moving trends, sourcing, roadmaps-to-market, and connections for career and business growth. To attend Display Week, or to join SID go to www.DisplayWeek.org. For information on exhibiting and event sponsorship: Americas & Europe, contact Jim Buckley by email at jbuckley@pcm411.com, or call (203) 502-8283; Asia, contact Sue Chung by email at schung@sid.org, or call (408) 389-9596.

About SID
The Society for Information Display (SID) is the only professional organization focused on the display industry. In fact, by exclusively focusing on the advancement of electronic display technology, SID provides a unique platform for industry collaboration, communication and training in all related technologies while showcasing the industry's best new products. The organization's members are professionals in the technical and business disciplines that relate to display research, design, manufacturing, applications, marketing and sales. To promote industry and academic technology development, while also educating consumers on the importance of displays, SID hosts more than 10 conferences a year, including Display Week, which brings industry and academia all under one roof to showcase technology that will shape the future. SID's global headquarters are located at 1475 S. Bascom Ave., Ste. 114, Campbell, CA 95008.  For more information, visit www.sid.org.

SOURCE Society for Information Display