The cooperative project, called FlexiDis, is partially funded under the European Union's 6th Framework Program as part of the IST (Information Society Technologies) priority. The project hopes to leverage the infrastructure and manpower of existing companies to move flexible display technology forward.

"Within this project consortium, we are able to bring together some of the best research minds and industrial partners in Europe, and we are confident that we can successfully accelerate the introduction of flexible displays into the market," said Elias Haskell, coordinator of the Flexi is project.

The Flexi is group plans to develop a flexible and low-power electronic paper (e-paper) display that enables mobile access to newspapers, e-mails and maps, and could eventually be rolled up to fit inside a tubular container. The group's second goal to develop what it terms as a 'video-photograph' - a paper-thin robust flexible display enabling users to view full-color video as well as still images.

Both types will be pixel-based active-matrix displays with a backplane incorporating thin-film transistors. The bendable e-paper display will initially use electrophoresis materials laminated onto plastic substrates incorporating organic thin-film transistors; the video-photograph will be based on organic light-emitting-diode (OLED) materials deposited on metal or plastic foils and driven with inorganic thin-film transistors.

The FlexiDis project will run for three years. Participants include the University of Cambridge, University of Stuttgart, ASML, Nokia Research Center, Philips Center for Industrial Technology, Thomson, and STMicroelectronics.

FlexiDis is the latest effort to bring flexible displays into commercial use.

Last month, MCNC Research & Development Institute (MCNC-RDI), a North Carolina-based nonprofit research organization, said it would partner with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T) to develop flexible displays for U.S. Army mobile electronics applications under a $1.5 million contract.

In August, a research group from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Hitachi Ltd. and the Optoelectronic Industry and Technology Development Association said they developed a method to print organic thin-film transistors on flexible substrates, paving the way for plastic or paper displays with resolution comparable to glass-based liquid crystal displays (LCDs).