Govt Grant to Miniaturise Touch Screen Technology

The Independent
23 April 2003

By Michael Foreman


Auckland-based start-up NextWindow has been awarded a $560,000 Technology New Zealand grant to miniaturise its touch screen technology.

Touch screens are finger-operated computer displays which are increasingly used in public access applications like information displays and automatic ticketing.

NextWindow chief executive Al Monro said touch screens accounted for around 5% of the display market, worth around $US24 billion a year world-wide, but this proportion was expected to rise as the price of liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma screens fell.

Unlike most touch screens which rely on surface-mounted sensors, NextWindow's screens use corner-mounted lenses to determine the position of a finger as it presses against the screen.

Monro said the optical method brought several advantages, including the ability to work through glass, such as shop windows, and was more suited to larger displays.

"With surface mount technology every time you double the width of the screen you quadruple the area, which dramatically increases the cost of components. For us it's just a matter of moving the lenses further apart," Monro said.

NextWindow has made around 80 sales, through resellers in the United States and Britain and also directly to display manufacturers in Asia.

The miniaturisation project, which will reduce the size of lenses from 12mm to less than 4mm and integrate the functions of several electronic components onto a single chip, will make easier to fit the technology into existing displays.

Monro says the eventual sale of the company to an overseas manufacturer is not planned but is a possibility.

NextWindow is 45% owned by venture capital company Icap Equity Partners. The balance of the company is owned by the original angel investors.