Realfiction is awarded a 5 MDKK grant from Innovation Fund Denmark
Realfiction Holding AB (“Realfiction”) announces that Innovation Fund Denmark has awarded an Innobooster grant of up to 5 MDKK (6.8 MSEK) in future cash payments to Realfiction Lab ApS (a 100% owned Danish subsidiary of Realfiction). The grant will co-fund the company’s development of an OLED TFT display panel together with our collaboration partners, as well as associated holographic conversion and playback software, all of which are part of Realfiction’s patent pending ECHO technology.
The Innobooster grant
The grant of up to 5 MDKK in future cash payments is non-dilutive and will cover approximately 33% of the cost expected to be incurred in connection with the development of the ECHO TFT backplane modules, training of a convolutional neural network and the development of software for streaming compatible conversion and playback to a holographic TV. The remaining 66% of the development cost is covered by Realfiction in the form of man-hours and consultancy services from its collaboration partners.
Innovation Fund Denmark explains the reasoning for the grant as follows: Realfiction has “a competent, experienced and deeply specialized team that outlines a very innovative solution. The investment holds a great potential – namely the opportunity to get Denmark on the world map again as those who deliver the best high-end picture experience in the audiovisual industry with many new jobs as a result.”
The ECHO technology development
During summer and fall, Realfiction has continued to work on completing the integration license package for its patent pending ECHO technology together with its collaboration partners. In early October 2021, two Taiwan-based display engineers were added to Realfiction’s development team. This addition to the team brings on very hard-to-acquire industry and technical expertise within the field of commercial production of consumer TV’s.
Realfiction has previously announced its invention of the software “HoloWize” (patent pending) which is planned to ensure that ECHO holographic displays have access to a flow of exciting holographic content from day one. The HoloWize software has the potential to become an industry standard for the conversion of 3D films into holographic films. The grant will assist Realfiction in completing the development of the software together with the TFT backplane modules.
The path to commercialization
The integration license package is planned to be completed by the end of March 2022, and commercial dialogues with large display manufacturers will be further intensified during Q4, 2021, while Realfiction approaches manufacturing readiness of the ECHO technology. Realfiction continues to believe that a first ECHO display product could potentially reach the market in 2023.
“We are delighted that Innovation Fund Denmark shows increased confidence in our ECHO technology and ambition by awarding us the largest possible Innobooster grant of up to 5 MDKK. The timing of the award fits perfectly with our development plan, as the grant will add the capital needed to develop both hardware and software related to ECHO in parallel. It will thus speed up the completion of the whole ECHO ecosystem”, says Clas Dyrholm, CEO of Realfiction, and continues: “We have recently progressed with the country patent filing phase in selected jurisdictions, expanded our development team with two experts in Taiwan, and we are in dialogue with potential license partners. With all this progress achieved, and a positive outlook for the completion of ECHO, we remain confident that we are on the road towards realizing the ultimate vision of creating the Holy Grail of 3D.”
