Touch International CTO to Speak at Display Week 2014

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Interactive Seminar Discussing Issues, Insights, and Interactions with Touch HMI

Austin, TX – May 21, 2014 – Joining representatives from Apple, Qualcomm, LYTRO, and several research universities, touch screen manufacturer, Touch International, announced today that Chief Technology Officer, Gary L. Barrett, will be speaking at Display Week 2014. He will be teaming up with well-known touch expert and Senior Touch Technologist at Intel, Geoff Walker, to discuss issues, insights, and interactions on touch human machine interfaces. The global conference will be held in San Diego, California on June 2-5.

The two industry veterans will be presenting analysis and insights in an interactive session that explores the state-of-the-art in projected capacitive touch. “We welcome everyone to come and share their startling visions for the future of touch,” said Barrett.

Topics may include:

  • Touch International, CTO, Gary BarretThe touch user-experience (UX) – what can be done to make touch “just work”?
  • Touch performance – what factors determine touch performance today?
  • The effect of ITO-replacement materials – are they actually having an effect on the market? Where?
  • Pressure-sensing vs. hover in p-cap – Apple’s new pressure-sensing patent app; what can you do with hover?
  • Stylus – active vs. passive; will ANY stylus ever become mainstream or are fingers good enough?
  • Touchscreen coatings – when will AR and AF become mainstream?
  • Touchscreen protection – will plastic take over from glass?
  • Touch middleware – what is it, and why is it important? For which OS?
  • Commercial touch applications – what vertical markets are going to be most affected by p-cap?
  • The future of large-format touch – is the market going to shrink (e.g., digital signage & smartphones = less touch)?
  • Flexible touchscreens on flexible displays – why aren’t there any yet?
  • The co-existence of multiple forms of HMI – are they all going to be complementary?
  • The future of embedded touch – will it ever be the dominant form of touch?
  • What’s after p-cap – what are the unmet needs that can never be met?

The presenters won’t always agree on all these topics, but their insights and interaction will be interesting, educational, and thought provoking. “The really fun part of this Monday Seminar is going to be the unscripted debate between two touch experts on some of the listed topics. This is something that is best seen live, so be sure not to miss it!” said Walker.

The discussion will be the first of 16 seminars on Monday covering topics including Oxide TFTs and OLEDs, High-Performance LCDs, Quantum-Dot Technology, Nano-Technology, Advanced Display Applications and more. For more information and an overview of Monday’s seminar agenda, visit http://displayweek.org/2014/Program/MondaySeminars.aspx.

About Gary L. Barrett
Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Touch International. Founded the company in 2002. He holds five key patents related to resistive and capacitive touch technologies and has served as a touch development consultant to companies around the world. Barrett founded three other touch development companies, which he later sold; AMP (now Elo TouchSystems) acquired his first company, Gunze the second, and 3M Touch Systems (formerly MicroTouch) acquired his third.

About Geoff Walker
Geoff Walker is currently the Senior Touch Technologist at Intel, where he helps formulate and drive cross-Intel strategy on touch-related technology and product development. Previously Geoff served as Marketing Evangelist & Touch-Industry Guru at NextWindow, Global Director of Product Management and Business Development at Elo Touch Solutions, Owner and Principal Consultant at Walker Mobile, Director of Engineering Program Management at Handspring, and Product Architect & Vice President of Marketing at Fujitsu Personal Systems. Geoff holds BS-Electrical Engineering and BS-English degrees from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, and is a member of SID, IEEE and ACM.

About Display Week
Display Week is the premier worldwide event showcasing advances in electronic display technology. Electronic displays by themselves make up a 100 billion dollar industry, and more importantly serve as the manner in which a majority of consumer electronics differentiate themselves. The Display Week Exhibition provides a venue where display technology and product providers can meet with the engineers, designers, and business development decision makers driving the integration of new display technology into products.

About Touch International
Touch International, headquartered in Austin, Texas, was founded in 2002 by Michael Woolstrum and long-time veteran, Gary Barrett, the company’s CTO. TI has become a world leader in touchscreen, EMI filter, and enhanced display technology. The company, who’s Engineering and Design facility and Corporate Office is located in Austin, Texas, operates 3 manufacturing facilities in Asia.