January 1999

Displaying a Winning Glow

Continued from page 2

By Michael Kenward

Almost Fatal

cambridge display technology may have hit on a winning market strategy, but it wasn't always so. From the beginning, few questioned its scientific credentials. Its founders, after all, are credited with the key discovery that made LEPs possible. But like numerous other startups spun off from university research labs, CDT in its early days displayed an almost textbook case of how not to succeed, wandering away from its strengths and biting off more than it could ever chew. The company formed in 1992, adopting an almost fatal business strategy-aiming to become both a manufacturer and marketer of materials and displays.

Today, after an about-face, the company has returned to a specialized niche that seems to suit it better: technology development. It will leave the production of LEPs to its materials manufacturing partners, while its electronics partners incorporate the materials into devices.