in the right place at the right time," says Harris, explaining how their 1989 development of soluble polyimides, when converted to film, enabled large liquid crystal displays (LCDs...) to be viewed from all angles for the first time. "It was a big event. This technology helped enable the production of large-screen LCDs." Films previously used on large LCDs... no stretching, making it ideal for the emerging large LCD screens and enabling them to be viewed from an angle as well as straight on. The National Science Foundation provided $6 million...

LocalPolymerCompany_Contract_20080920.pdf Local polymer company wins big contract Business awarded $250,000 to develop LCD technology By Paula Schleis Beacon Journal business writer...., but composed of private companies and other enterprises devoted to developing new LCD technology. The contract provides FlexTech with right of first refusal of whatever APS... in the optical polymer field. They developed the ''compensation film'' that increased the viewing angle of LCD televisions, which once required users to look head-on to see the image...

often able to secure matching funds from state and government agencies. Some examples of products that have been developed under JDAs are shown below. Compensation films for LCDs...

: While at the University of Akron, Frank Harris and Stephen Cheng invented a film that today is found in LCD televisions across the globe. That film, which allows TVs to be viewed... already is working on some polymers that could be mass produced by other manufacturers: The company is developing second and third generations of the film that allows LCD TVs...