Plastic Logic wins award for e-Reader; Brady sings up Toyota
Plastic Logic Ltd's breakthrough plastic electronics display technology- the core of its forthcoming new eReader product- has earned the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Award for Technical Development Device. The award is in recognition of the most significant development of a device or component in the printed electronics industry over the past 24 months.
Plastic Logic has made advances in plastic electronics that are enabling the worlds' thinnest, lightest, largest and most robust plastic displays. The display is the key component in Plastic Logic's first commercial product: An electronic reader that provides a portable digital reading experience that is better than paper. The product will be released in 2Q 2009.
Plastic Logic's fundamental technology applies electronics on thin, flexible plastic substrates, using a process that is simpler than conventional glass silicon processes, and yields benefits of high-volume, quality, and low-cost products. The technology has long-term implications across products in a range of industries, but during the past two years, the company has focused its R & D on pioneering a groundbreaking large-format active matrix display.
CEO Richard Archuleta said: "We are very honoured by this esteemed industry recognition.
"Plastic Logic essentially has taken a University of Cambridge research project in plastic electronics with great promise and, over the course of the last two years, proven its process and scale, made the successful transfer from R&D proof of concept to commercial product manufacturing in our new Dresden, Germany factory. The factory is the world's first commercial scale plastic electronics manufacturing facility and is a technical achievement in its own right."
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Autonomy Corporation plc, specialists in infrastructure software for the enterprise, said that Australian-based firm, Firmware Technologies Inc., has entered into an OEM agreement with the company. Firmware has licensed Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer technology to provide comprehensive support for all documents, including images, videos, and CAD/CAM3 through a simple user interface.
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Photonstar Lighting of South Hampton, UK, and the University of Cambridge secured £1m for a collaborative R&D program called, "LED Lighting in the 21st Century" from the UK's Technology Strategy Board. The R&D program began in September 2008 after the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council gave a £219,473 grant for the program headed by Professor C.J. Humphreys of the University.
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Plextek, the Cambridge-based electronics and communications design consultancy said its Ultra Narrow Band radio telemetry technology is being used in AMPY Pay-Smart metering solutions from Landis+Gyr. Based on the AMPY meter's performance in initial trials, Landis+Gyr has recently won a $52m contract from Arizona utility 'Salt River Project' - the third largest public power utility in the US - for the provision of a further 300,000 units.
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Horizon Discovery said it won the Best Business Proposition Medical Futures Innovation Award (MFIA). Also Horizon was winner of the MFIA's Best Drug Discovery Technology Award in the Cancer Innovation Awards.
The judges were impressed by Horizon's gene-engineering platform known as GENESIS.
GENESIS enables normal human cells to be converted into cancer cells by the introduction of genetic mutations that either: cause the onset of cancer in some patients or can result in up to 90% of cancers becoming resistant to currently available drugs. The availability of these cell models (which accurately reflect how cancer manifests itself in real patients) enables researchers to develop a range of tests and new medicines that will enable doctors to tailor treatment and follow-up care based on the needs of individual cancer patients.
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Cybit Holdings plc, provider of telematics products and services for the management and control of land and sea based assets, has won a three-year contract by Enterprise plc, the nationwide provider of asset maintenance and refurbishment services for utilities, public and private sector companies.
Cybit's telematics will be supplied to the Power Services Division of Enterprise and will be responsible for tracking all vehicles within its LCV fleet. These vehicles are used to maintain overhead power lines and pylons across the country for leading utility providers including the UK National Grid and EDF Energy.
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Brady plc said it had recently signed a new licence contract with Toyota Tsusho Metals Ltd, wholly owned by Toyota Tsusho Corporation Group of Japan, and a category II London Metal Exchange member.
The Japanese company has selected Brady to supply its risk management and hedging solution to support its commercial, trading and risk management operations.
