Fujitsu has demonstrated its new electronic paper. It's a thin, bendable "sheet" that can display color images, and the current image is displayed even when the power is turned off.
The first company that is able to deliver an affordable product is likely to make billions, as this kind of product will allow numerous uses. Fujitsu's electronic paper has a major advantage because of its storage capability--it can be loaded with an image and then turned off. Electronic displays have not found wider use because of the power consumption problems.
One likely application would be shelf price tags in grocery stores. It is a major cost to keep these updated. With electronic paper that requires no power, grocery stores would rush to buy these. Larger versions will see wide use to replace paper ads and billboards on buses and subways, as just one example.
And of course, we'll all have a lightweight, wireless version that can pull Web pages off our desktop computer so we can read the morning news at the breakfast table.
Digital paper is a transforming technology. As I've said in the past, we are at the very beginning of the technology revolution. So far, many of our every day processes have been reformed but not transformed. There are tremendous business and economic development opportunities that will emerge in the next ten to twenty years as transforming technologies like digital electronic paper become commonplace. Does your local economic develop strategy have a futures componenent, where you are looking at future trends and weighing local assets for opportunities?