On November 25th, MicroEmissive Displays (MED), the world’s only manufacturer of polymer OLED (P-OLED) microdisplays, went into administration, the UK equivalent of bankruptcy proceedings. All employees of MED plc and MED Ltd were dismissed on November 28th. J. Stephen and D. Hill of BDO Stoy Hayward LLP (Glasgow) have been appointed joint administrators.

Ken Werner
Senior Analyst and Editor

MED GmbH, the P-OLED Dresden-based manufacturing company first announced in 2006 with great fanfare, may still be solvent.

MED (a University of Edinburgh spin-off) was, for a time, one of the few success stories for polymer OLED displays. The vast majority of OLED displays made commercially today, and nearly all industry development efforts, use small-molecule OLEDs based on the materials discovered by Kodak scientists years ago. More than ever, that trend is likely to continue.

MED GmbH seemed to implement an unusually smooth manufacturing ramp-up, and within the last few weeks Vuzix (Rochester, New York) had announced its AV320XL headset based on MED panels. The headsets were being sold through the specialty retailer Brookstone in the U.S. The same product was launched in Europe in mid-November, and received excellent on-line reviews. But MED ran out of cash, and investors had run out of patience.

There was an unusual amount of talent, intelligence, and passion at MED, and anyone who saw MED’s panels could not fail to be impressed. But there was always a question of whether enough income could be generated by only making microdisplays for products like headsets and viewfinders, which are necessarily inexpensive.

No one was answering the phones at MED this week, and a call to Vuzix could not be answered in time for Display Daily’s deadline today.