E Ink Corporation Announces Receipt of DARPA Funding Grant; DARPA Funding to Help Develop Specialty Applications for Electronic Ink

Business Wire, Oct 27, 1998

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 27, 1998--E Ink Corporation, a leading developer of revolutionary electronic displays based on "electronic ink" that can be printed onto paper and other flexible surfaces, today announced that it has received $373,000 in research and development funds from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The research funding will help support the rapid development of E Ink's electronic ink and specialty display applications.

"We regard the DARPA grant as extremely prestigious for our company and a real vote of confidence in the potential for electronic ink technology," said Jim Iuliano, president and CEO of E Ink. "DARPA has an outstanding history of identifying and helping nurture high-return technologies for the future. We are currently in the final research and development stages of our electronic ink and we are already working on some commercial-sector products. The interest and funding from DARPA will not only help us with our commercialization efforts but will let us explore some novel display applications for our electronic ink--applications that will benefit both government and commercial markets and put displays in places never before possible."

"Our electronic ink can be applied to virtually any surface, allowing novel display applications that will help everyday objects such as appliances and consumer electronics communicate visually," concluded Iuliano.

About DARPA

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense (DoD). It manages and directs selected basic and applied research and development projects for DoD, and pursues research and technology where success may provide dramatic advances for both military roles and missions as well as for dual-use applications. DARPA-funded research has been instrumental in the development of technologies including the Internet, Multichip Modules (McM's) and the Global Positioning System.

About E Ink

E Ink Corporation, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., was founded in 1997 to commercialize unique electronic displays. Drawing on work conducted at MIT, the company has developed a proprietary "electronic ink" that provides significant advantages over traditional flat panel technologies. Electronic ink displays possess unique properties such as flexibility, color matching, ultra-thinness and larger sizes when compared to traditional displays. Using standard printing processes, the electronic ink can be coated onto virtually any surface, including paper and plastic. When exposed to an electronic signal, the electronic ink changes color to provide revolutionary display capabilities. E Ink's displays are significantly less expensive than other types of displays, draw minimal power to refresh, require no power to maintain and offer a contrast equivalent to the printed media.