Scottish start-up winner
MED was founded by Ian Underwood from the University of Edinburgh and Jeff Wright of Napier University in July 1999. The company was a spin off from the joint work of the two universities and is based at the Scottish Microelectronics Centre. In September 2000, MicroEmissive Displays received first round funding of more than GBP1.5mn and began to develop research into consumer products.The company has developed intellectual property (IP) around light emitting polymer microdisplays as well as the manufacturing capability for such products. This IP is further omplemented by the license granted by another success story derived from collaborative research, Cambridge Display Technology (CDT).Presenting the award at the Semiconductor 2004 conference in Edinburgh was European Semiconductor editor David Ridsdale. Talking about the award and its winner this year, he said: "It's a pleasure to present the European Semiconductor Start-up Award to MED and an important acknowledgement that this company is taking advantage of new technology emerging from the microelectronics world. Every company that has previously won the start-up award have gone on to bigger success and I'm sure MED will continue this trend."The European Semiconductor Start-up Award is given to the European start-up company that has demonstrated not just technical but commercial success. Companies must not be more than five years from foundation. Siltronic kindly supplies the trophy.
