Innovation

From phones, laptops, advertisements, and TV’s, displays surround us. While many people realize the importance of them, many don’t question why we have the one’s we have. Halion Displays is challenging the current display market by making the best looking reflective display. This results in lower power consumption, increased outdoor visibility, and having a display that looks like print. Similar to how objects get their colour, reflective displays take the light around us and absorb certain colours while reflecting them on the screen. Halion Displays’ innovation incorporates the problem of sunlight and having limited outdoor visibility on your screen, into the solution with their reflective display.

Both Ryan Marchewka, and Matt Lavrisa, the founders of Halion Displays, established their innovation by looking at two things. The first by seeing where the future of display technology is going in relation to what is currently being developed. The second by looking at current problems with emissive displays. With their innovation, they are changing society and the future of technology expressed in their vision of creating “a world where every surface around you is a display”.

Inspiration

The inspiration for this new type of display comes from the co-founders wanting to solve two frustrations. One, screens are hardly visible outside on a sunny day, and two, the device had to be charged at least once a day. They had a start to their inspiration through one of Matt’s engineering projects at the University of Waterloo. He created a colour changing material, but it wasn’t manufacturable at scale. With this idea of colour changing material, they invented a new material that is manufacturable at scale. Ryan and Matt discovered if they can create this reflective display, they would have an opportunity to be successful in a small but competitive industry. Thus, began their research on how to differentiate their product.

Video capability, colour quality, and manufacturing and scalability are three ways to differentiate displays. Halion Displays is aiming to have strong video capability and colour quality “knowing prices will have to be slightly higher than competitors, but similar to what LCDs and OLED displays cost today”. They are aiming at companies who will invest in their innovation knowing the higher prices but understanding the increase in quality.

Overall impact

Halion Displays’ innovation is the core product of the business and it’s what they sell and get investments for. The forecasted impact on society is the ability to integrate information into your environment. This will change how society functions because these displays can be used daily in homes, transportation, and retail, to name a few. The environment will be positively impacted because there will be less battery usage and more solar power integration. This will allow for a sustainable alternative to an emissive screen. “Emissive displays use a backlight to emit light through a screen and show images. This constantly consumes battery life and causes eye strain due to a brightness mismatch between environment and your screen. Reflective displays take the light around you and absorb some of the colours and reflect others, making an image on a screen…meaning they only use power when changing an image…eliminating eye strain.”

The short-term effect of this innovation on the business are the costs, including research and development, and employment. The long-term effects are future thoughts about what Halion Displays can do with this innovation, such as, integrating their innovation into upcoming smart cities, which are already being developed in Hong Kong and Toronto is working on integrating it. The long-term effects of this innovation complement how society is changing and becoming dependent on technology while striving to be sustainable.

Business benefit

This innovation is the foundation of Halion Displays. It has the potential to expand in many aspects of societal functions. With this display, they have many opportunities to be creative and change how technology will shape the future.

Social and environmental benefit

This reflective display uses less power than a regular emissive display. This means, batteries will be charged less and will last longer, resulting in less battery waste. Halion Displays is also looking to use water-based solutions in their manufacturing process opposed to using harsh chemicals. Avoiding the harsh chemicals is socially responsible and is environmentally friendly.

Interview

Ryan Marchewka, CEO