In 2014 Konica Minolta started constructing its groundbreaking R2R flexible OLED lighting fab. The project saw many delays and entered production later than planned, and KM started producing panels at low volume at around 2020. The company recently started to ramp up production, and today we hear of one of its first customers and partners, Sentry Enterprises.
Sentry, a fintech company, launched the Radiance card illumination platform, which enables credit card (and other payment card) issuers to offer a unique experience by using an OLED lighting panel embedded in the card. The OLED panel is produced by Konica Minolta. The card works without a battery, and the OLED panel is powered by the NFC receiver upon a transaction (a technology that was demonstrated by KM back in 2020).
The Radiance card supports both Visa and Mastercard, and the company is now looking for card issuer partners to launch their own branded cards. The company says that the OLED display will increase brand loyalty and transactions.
This is a very nice application for a low-power OLED device, and seems to be a very good integration. It will be interesting to see if it finds success in the market - at an era when many consumers opt to pay using their mobile phone or smartwatch.
The OLED lighting industry and market is at an interesting crossroads. While most traditional lighting and display makers have abandoned the market years ago, innovative companies such as Konica Minolta, OLEDWorks, Inuru, Kaneka, and others are making progress into new applications aiming to leverage some unique benefits of OLED lighting panels. Our OLED Toolbox covers the OLED Lighting market and analyses the latest trends and application areas.
