Kodak OLED team form independent lighting company

Dan Rogers - 10 Feb 2010

The OLED developers at Kodak are forming an independent company to continue its work in solid-state lighting.

The company, called TechnoCorp Energy, will comprise ex-Kodak employees who are leaving the company following Kodak's sale of its OLED business to LG in late 2009.

Mary Jane Hellyar, who retired as president of the film, photofinishing and entertainment group at Kodak in 2009, said on behalf of TechnoCorp: 'We're well into the process of pulling together a number of elements of the business.'

LG bought Kodak's OLED business in a $100 million (€73 million) deal on 4 December 2009, ending Kodak's long-term interests in OLED technology for displays and lighting.

However, the South Korean electronics firm did not absorb the team at Kodak as part of the deal. As a result, TechnoCorp Energy could continue R&D into solid-state lighting as an independent venture, and has already been given seed funding to begin business in April this year. The company will be headquartered in Rochester, New York, where Kodak is also based.

OLED displays

One possible consequence of Kodak's deal with LG is that the latter will license the relevant OLED lighting technology back to the Kodak team at TechnoCorp, rather than develop it in-house.

While LG is active in OLED development, the majority of its interest has been in displays. And though some of Kodak's IP is relevant in this area, it is unclear how LG will use the lighting IP Kodak developed in the last years of its OLED business.

The Korea IT Times reported last year that LG Electronics, LG Display and LG Chem will establish an OLED company to manage royalties in displays and lighting, partly as a result of its purchase of Kodak's IP.

However, OLED Association MD Barry Young believes the company is unlikely to take R&D for OLED lighting much further, particularly as it has not absorbed Kodak's OLED R&D team.

He comments: '[The Kodak OLED business] is not going to be very significant, although there's obviously IP they could use. If they don't have the people though, how would they use it?'

With LG's actions indicating that its focus is on the displays market - it is preparing production facilities for its Gen. 5.5 (32-inch) displays for 2011 - TechnoCorp Energy could take the technology further and devise new OLEDs for the lighting market.