Students, faculty and industry experts gathered Wednesday at the Kiva to discuss the new advancements in flexible display device technology during the first of two days of the Symposium on Flexible Liquid Crystal Devices.

“If there were a theme for this conference today it would be: just do it,” symposium chair John West said. “Because these are the companies that are going out and actually putting products in the marketplace today.”

Michael McCreary, keynote speaker and vice president of research and development of E-Ink Corp., talked about the potential of flexible electronics, such as fully functional digital newspapers and magazines.

Albert Green, CEO of Kent Displays, most famously known for the Boogie Board, told of their groundbreaking and innovative advancements in the eWriter industry.

Kent Displays partners with Kent State University to develop ideas and produce flexible devices in the city of Kent. It has been successful in reaching the technology market through partnerships with Brookstone and is working to put out more advanced Boogie Boards, which are digital note-taking devices that use liquid crystal technology.

Additional speakers are scheduled to talk more on biosensors and the medical industry of liquid crystals during Thursday’s session in the Kiva.

Following the speakers, a tour of the Liquid Crystal Institute will take place at 3:30 pm Thursday.

Live streaming of the symposium will continue throughout the day and the footage will be archived and posted onto the LCI website.

Contact Brittney Trojanowski at [email protected].