Bayer start-up to produce electrolumiscent films

BayerMaterialScience AG has established a start-up firm near its global headquarters in Germany for the production of electrolumiscent films, the firm announced June 19, the first day of the National Plastics Exhibition(NPE) 2006 in Chicago, Ill.
The firm has invested about US$29 million into the new company, dubbed Lyttron GmbH, which will be a wholly owned subisidiary of Bayer MaterialScience.
Engineers at Lyttron will be looking at applications for electrolumiscent films that light up when an electric current is applied to them, the firm said. Previously, this has only been possible for flat surfaces, but the technology used at Lyttron now lets the films to be molded into any shape, opening up endless design possibilities.
Lyttron is a child of Bayer MaterialScience’s Greenhouse Initiative, Ian Paterson, one of the firm’s management board members, said. Paterson is responsible for innovation and marketing at Bayer MaterialScience.
“The Bayer MaterialScience Greenhouse Initiatve was created to rapidly transform ideas into marketable products that were not previously part of our core business,” he noted. “Now for the first time, a promising Bayer MaterialScience Greenhouse initiative has given rise to a separate start-up company.