SID Display Week Set For May 17-21, All Virtual For 2nd Year

March 12, 2021 by Dave Haynes

The Society for Information Display (SID) has opened registration for its annual Display Week trade show and conference, which will again be all virtual, running May 17-21.

The event is an annual gathering of terrifyingly bright engineers and researchers in the information display sector, talking about ideas and advances in area like LED, OLED, Light Field Displays, e-paper and other display types.

“SID will once again virtually host the most influential display companies that will unveil cutting-edge developments,” says Dr. Takatoshi (Taka) Tsujimura, president of SID. “Visual display technology has become more important than ever in the era of COVID-19. With the help of highly motivated volunteers and partners, we created a virtual platform that continues the Display Week tradition of bringing together the brightest minds in the business and showcasing the newest technology in the world.”

Display Week 2021 will feature both live and recorded sessions. Highlights include:

International Technical Symposium (May 17-21): Through more than 500 technical presentations, including posters and papers, presenters will share the newest thinking about these special topics: augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality; high-dynamic-range LCDs; machine learning for displays; and printed displays. New for 2021 are IoT displays. 

Business Conference (May 17-18): Presented by DSCC, the Display Week 2021 Business Conference will take a supply chain approach to addressing the market outlook for displays, smartphones and TVs, including forecasts on supply, demand, pricing, 5G, OLED, 8K, foldable, dual displays, mini-LEDs quantum dots, new phosphors, micro-LEDs and TADF.

World-class Exhibitors (May 17-21): Premier global information display companies and researchers will unveil cutting-edge developments in display technologies, including advancements in AR/VR, micro-LED, OLED, micro-displays, e-paper, digital signage, new materials and software-enabled displays.

Innovation Zone (I-Zone) (May 17-21): A premier showcase for small companies, startups, universities, government labs and independent research labs, the I-Zone exhibition includes not-yet-commercialized prototypes, proofs of concept, and new products that haven’t even hit the market yet.

Educational Opportunities: Short courses and specialized seminars, presented by recognized experts in the field, provide deep learning opportunities on a wide range of topics, including AR/VR, OLED, micro-LEDs, quantum dots, mini-LEDs, flexible AMOLED and stretchable displays.

I went to this show in person in 2019, and virtually last year. It can be VERY technical, especially for people like me who artfully navigated my way through high school taking humanities courses and dodging anything now referred to as STEM. I sat in on some sessions that immediately had me thinking, “I have zero idea what they’re going on about.”

The good thing about virtual is you can click through to a session and back right on out, as opposed to skulking out of a presentation theater.

The rough thing is that display technology can’t be effectively demo’d online. You need to see it in close quarters, lean in and squint, and shift from side to side to get a full sense of the tech and advances.

The show was one of the early trade shows to try the virtual exhibit thing last year. Like all this stuff, some things work better than others, but nothing replaces in person.

Next year, it will be (please!) back to normal.