Merck (Darmstadt, Germany), a leading science and technology company, has announced partnership agreements with Optitune Oy (Oulu, Finland), and Solip Tech Co., Ltd. (Daejeon, South Korea), to bring the first products under the new umbrella brand liviFlex to the display market. liviFlex offers a novel range of display materials that addresses challenges in the manufacture of flexible, foldable and rollable OLED displays, which are known as free-form displays. With its Performance Materials business sector, Merck is a leading player in the electronic materials market and materials for OLED displays are one of the defined investment focus areas for future growth.

Back in the pre-digital world of the 1970’s before emails, Facebook or Instagram, RK PrintCoat Instruments was spotted for a news article in the Times by the founders of Matsuo Sangyo, Japan. Interested in the piece on RK’s K Hand Coater equipment, Matsuo Sangyo made contact by handwritten letter. That basic initial contact has formed a valuable relationship between the two companies, and this year sees 50 years of collaboration promoting RK PrintCoat Instruments in Japan. Founded in the early 1960’s RK Print now has over 60 years’ experience in the surface coating industry. Designed and manufactured in the UK, RK equipment has one common theme, the production of repeatable samples; to be used for the purposes of research and development, as well as quality control.