Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reported that Canandaigua in New York was the first OLED pilot manufacturing site in USA.
The pilot line occupied 140,000-square-foot area. The Universal Display Corporation (UDC) who had been given $4 million by DOE was a member of the OLED pilot project. Also, UDC, MBT, New York’s Smart System Technology & Commercialization Center (STC) were partners on the project, which leverages an $11.5 million investment from MBT, state government incentives available through the STC, and municipal tax credits.
OLEDs could provide a diffuse-area light source for LEDs, and supply more practical for general ambient lighting. The pilot facility would display the scalability of UDC’s phosphorescent OLED technology and materials for the manufacture of white OLED lighting panels ,which was the first of its kind in the U.S, and it would be designed, built and operated by Moser Baer and utilize key manufacturing processes to produce more than 1,000 panels per day.
A leader of DOE noted this new DOE initiative had been designed to establish and maintain U.S. leadership in solid-state lighting manufacturing. The Recovery Act funding would help development of OLED lighting industry in the U.S.
The project aimed that how DOE partnerships drive innovative technologies into the market, foster new industries, and create high-tech jobs. It is said that the pilot line would create more than 50 high tech jobs in Canandaigua by 2012.