Realfiction announces its plan for completion of the ECHO integration license package
Realfiction Holding AB (“Realfiction” and/or “the Company”) announces a completion phase including a potential further optimization for production which is expected to result in even lower manufacturing costs and a slimmer form factor. The completion phase is planned to last 13-16 months in collaboration with a couple of leading European research institutes and facilities. By spring 2021, Realfiction will also actively seek a co-development agreement with a commercial display manufacturer to speed up time to market.
As part of the ongoing ECHO development, Realfiction has identified a potential further reduction in complexity compared to competing technologies of a central component of the ECHO technology, namely the backplane, thus potentially paving the way for even cheaper fabrication, a more rapid integration and thereby a shorter time to market, and a slimmer form factor for both the LCD and the OLED version. The Company is now entering the completion phase of ECHO with the aim to finalize an integration license package that will facilitate easy commercialization.
Realfiction has set the following goals for the 13-16 months ECHO completion phase:
- Step one of the completion phase is to conduct a feasibility study to pre-validate the optimized backplane by January 2021. The feasibility study is co-funded by a recent Innobooster grant from Innovation Fund Denmark.
- Step two is to finish the remaining subprojects needed to complete the ECHO integration license package no later than end Q1 2022. This will happen in collaboration with a couple of leading European research institutes and facilities. The ECHO integration license package is expected to include specification of components, illustrations and diagrams needed for a multi-user ECHO display to be manufactured.
- Meanwhile during spring 2021, the goal is to seek a parallel co-development agreement with a commercial display manufacturer for the backplane. Although this component will also be developed in Step two with European research institutes, a cooperation with one of the large manufacturers would speed up the process of bringing ECHO to commercialization.
- Throughout the entire completion phase, focus will be on continuously strengthening and safeguarding the company’s ECHO IP portfolio.
The ECHO integration license package shall enable mass production of full-sized, multi-user ECHO display products at a price point affordable for a broad audience of consumers, as the anticipated demand will enable scaling of the production volume. A version of the first ECHO 3D display could potentially reach the market in 2023.
Realfiction has a strong financial position and expects to have the liquidity necessary to sustain all its business operations, including the development of ECHO, well into 2021 due to the combined positive impact of our cost savings initiatives and the granting of installment deferrals in 2021 on the loan with Vækstfonden, thus saving liquidity for the continued development of ECHO. The Company expects to complete its process of securing the additional funding required for the full ECHO completion phase before the end of 2020.
“We are excited about our latest finding of a potential optimization of the fabrication approach, which is expected to result in even lower manufacturing costs and a slimmer form factor for future ECHO 3D displays. We have started the feasibility study to pre-validate this finding with our new development partner Aalborg University, Denmark, and we expect that more partners will come onboard early in the completion phase,” says Steen Iversen, Realfiction’s Director of Advanced Display Technology.
“With the ECHO completion phase defined and underway, Realfiction continues to progress at a satisfactory pace despite being in the middle of a global pandemic. In addition to sharing Steen’s excitement for the future of ECHO, I want to highlight that specific licensing opportunities for part of or all of our ECHO IP portfolio and knowhow and/or collaboration agreements involving the completion of future full-size displays, may well arise during the completion phase, with the most promising discussions with display manufacturers and consumer electronics companies now planned for the spring of 2021. We are grateful to already have the support of the OEM LCD display manufacturer and large Realfiction shareholder AmTRAN when entering these discussions, as their industry knowledge and contacts could facilitate a more efficient exploration of our licensing and collaboration opportunities,” says Realfiction’s CEO Clas Dyrholm.
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