August 23, 2005 – Canon Inc. said yesterday it will build a R&D center for a new flat panel display technology called SED, or surface-conduction electron-emitter display, in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, with an investment of 20.8 billion yen, according to JiJi Press.

The R&D center, to be located in Hiratsuka, will have a workforce of 150 engineers and comprise two four-story buildings, Canon said. It will start operating in July 2006.
Canon and Toshiba Corp. , its partner in the SED business, claim that the SED provides an image quality matching that of cathode-ray tube displays, which are considered the best in terms of image quality. At the same time, the new display consumes less power than existing FPDs such as LCDsand plasma displays.

Canon tied up with Toshiba in 1999 to commercialize the new display technology. The two firms have set up a joint company to make and sell SED panels in October 2004