Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Plastic Logic, the Cambridge company developing a revolutionary new technology for printing electronic devices, is gearing up for product launch and a share of a multi-billion dollar windfall. And it is following a world-class commercialisation model.

Just as Cambridge chip superstar ARM cashed in by having its microprocessors in the iPod which didn't hit the market until well after the first MP3 players were launched - so Plastic Logic is content purring in the slipstream of fellow electronic reader pioneers.

A senior source revealed to Business Weekly: "The Amazon Kindle, Sony LIBRIe and IRex iLiad are opening up the market for us.

"They are all glass-based and we will be the first plastic-based eReader, giving a much better experience because the display is larger and a lot lighter, so it can be held in one hand.

"It will also be cheaper. Do not forget there were lots of MP3 players before the iPod came out."

CEO Richard Archuleta added: "The first application of the company's core plastic electronics technology in revolutionary flexible displays has very exciting market potential. Plastic Logic has made amazing progress and has the backing of a first class investor base."

Plastic Logic hasn't revised is opinion that it will be the first to ap ply the new technology to a fully commercial application - flexible active-matrix displays.

The company was originally spun out of Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory in 2000. The fundamental innovations created in the Cavendish and further developed and industrialised by Plastic Logic will enable new product concepts in a range of applications including flexible displays and sensors.

Plastic electronics technology has the potential to transform the economics of key segments of the electronics industry by printing electronics on thin and flexible plastic substrates using a process scaleable for large area, high volume and low cost.

Independent experts from IDTechEx forecast plastic electronics will be a $30 billion industry by 2015, and could reach as much as $250 billion by 2025.

The company's first target market is flexible active-matrix displays for electronic readers. In January 2007 Plastic Logic raised $100m of equity finance to create the first fully commercial plastic electronics production facility which will start to produce display modules soon this year.

The Plastic Logic approach solves the critical issues in manufacturing high resolution transistor arrays on flexible plastic substrates by using a low temperature process without mask alignment. The process, which is much simpler than conventional amorphous silicon processes, uses an eclectic mix of standard production equipment from display manufacturing and other industries.

Plastic Logic is partnering as appropriate to bring compelling and iconic consumer products to market enabled by our flexible displays. This requires a highly integrated approach to module and end product design and we are therefore building a world-class product design team.

Plastic Logic is a privately held company that has attracted investment from an impressive group of top tier financial and strategic investors.

It has a fast-growing team of more than 90 people at its headquarters and prototype manufacturing facility located in Cambridge, UK and Dresden, Germany.

Its current phase of investment and rapid growth is generating a number of exciting career opportunities and the company is recruiting in Cambridge and Germany at a hyper rate.

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