A venture capital fund being set up in Korea will be used to finance plastic electronics development.
The Korea Advanced Materials Fund, worth over €25 million, will also finance R&D in clean technologies and green chemistry over a period of eight years.
Solvay, a Belgium-based chemicals partner, is the only European investor in the fund and is committing €13 million. The other partners - Korea Venture Investment and AJU IB Investment - will each inject €6.5 million into the fund, which will be managed by AJU IB Investment
Capital
In the past Solvay has made investments through venture capital funds like the Korea Advanced Materials Fund. The company also invests directly in young companies with high long-term growth potential. These include plastic electronics firms Plextronics and Polyera, in the US, as well as two start-ups in Europe in the fuel cell and hydrogen storage technology sectors.
The company's decision to invest in a Korean fund suggests confidence in the quality of technology and pace of development taking place there within emerging industries like plastic electronics.
Korea boasts a thriving vacuum-processable OLED display industry, thanks to early investments in the technology by Samsung and LG, and more recently began stepping up investment in its OLED lighting industry.
Solar
In other areas academic groups are working with organic as well as dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC) materials. A few years ago Timo, a Korean manufacturer, began collaborating with Australia's Dyesol, to develop manufacturing technology for DSSCs. E-paper display technology is also the focus of development work by Korean display firms.
Korea's high-tech industry is concentrated in the Gyeonggi province, which has made considerable efforts in recent years to attract inward investment from the US and Europe in IT, photonics, silicon semiconductor and younger industries such as plastic electronics.
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Documents and links
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Subscribe to +Plastic Electronics magazine
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Solvay
Belgian chemical supplier that has invested in printed electronics companies like Polyera
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Vision of the future: 3D OLED televisions
3D entertainment is creating a technology shift in the television industry. Is it an opportunity for brand owners to adopt OLEDs?
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DSC-IC 2010
The 4th International Conference on the Industrialisation of Dye Solar Cells brings together key players in the growing dye-sensitised solar cell industry
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