Fusion IP plc (AIM: FIP), the university IP commercialisation company that turns world class research into business, is pleased to announce that Seren Photonics Ltd (“Seren”), its LED technology company, has won a grant from the Technology Strategy Board, the UK’s national innovation agency, for R&D valued at £230k (“TSB Grant”). The TSB Grant will be used to fund a project based on advanced nano-technology to further increase the amount of light created at the heart of a high brightness LED.
Seren’s revolutionary new processing technique, developed by Prof Tao Wang from the University of Sheffield, greatly increases the efficiency at which an HB (“high brightness”) LED converts an applied voltage into light and significantly reduces heat generation under normal running conditions. Successful demonstrations of the patent pending technology have resulted in a significant increase in the light output compared to untreated devices, which means that either much brighter lamps can be manufactured or that the power consumption of state-of-the-art lamps can be reduced. The TSB Grant will be used to develop a second additive nano-particle technology that will further increase the LED’s efficiency. The nano-particle technology, which has been demonstrated in a laboratory environment, will be developed into a process compatible with modern manufacturing techniques before being offered under license to Seren’s future manufacturing partners.
Seren’s technology is targeted at the large and fast growing white light HB LED markets, such as back lighting for laptops and TVs, signs and displays, as well as domestic and architectural lighting. This market is currently worth an estimated $15bn and is set to grow to $20bn by 2014. HB LEDs are set to replace incandescent bulbs as governments around the world bring in legislation banning the manufacture and sale of incandescent lamps and concerns increase about the poor light quality and environmental contamination fears from compact fluorescents. The rate of adoption will accelerate as the brightness of HB LEDs increases and the cost of manufacture reduces.
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