OPTICAL DISC WORLD - SHOW TIME

Blue Laser Diode inventor Shuji Nakamura will receive Global Innovation Leader Award and deliver keynote address

ODS! magazine in a pathbreaking leadership role has awarded the creator of the future of optical disc media Shuji Nakamura, the ‘Optical Media Global Innovation Leader 2006’ Award to be presented at the Disc-Tech Expo, New Delhi on April 6 at the Taj Palace Hotel Convention Centre at the high profile industry gathering of exhibitors’ and delegates at the Disc-Tech Exhibitors reception cocktails and dinner at the Raja Bagh lawns which is sponsored by Hindustan Platinum.
   At the time of going to press, the Blu Ray Disc Ass-ociation was invited to be the Official Host Sponsor of Mr.

tuted by ODS! magazine. I’m confident that this is a beginning in the right direction and the awards instituted by ODS! will thus contribute and serve the industry tremendously. We welcome the major companies to come forward and honour Mr. Nakamura at the Awards ceremony in New Delhi with a sponsorship of the awards."
Profile of Shuji Nakamura
   When you cue up your first high-definition DVD, stop to thank Shuji Nakamura, who helped develop the bright blue LEDs that power it. Nakamura came from Japanese industry’s  equivalent  of left  field to deliver  a  technology

Nakamura who will travel around the world from UCSB to receive the award personally at this important and historic award ceremony.
   "ODS! featured a cover story on Shuji Nakamura in 2002. We are extremely pr-

that had stumped researchers in some of its best electronics labs.
   Back in 1993, many researchers thought it would be impossible to deliver a blue LED of adequate brightness before   the  end  of  the  century.  That’s

ivileged to honour this inventor with the award as Optical Media Global Innovation Leader, in that, it is the first recognition of the optical media industry of the inventor and his contribution to the new super-hyped format delivering high-definition movies and games promising growth and investment in manufacturing optical media which is what our industry is all about," says Anil Chopra, Convenor of the Optical Media Global Industry Awards (OMGIA) which is recognised and acknowledged by the global optical media industry today.
   "The  award to Mr. Nakamura  has been  received with a

when Nakamura grabbed the attention of big-company researchers by demonstrating a blue LED that was 100 times brighter than the most advanced prototypes of the time. And while other researchers were arguing at academic meetings over techniques for oscillating blue lasers, Nakamura would show up and make presentations using a pointer based on a bright blue laser he’d developed in his lab.
   Nakamura’s advance was based on gallium nitride, a ma-terial rarely used by researchers at that time. His success drove a shift to the  material  from the traditional  selenide.

fantastic response to the optical media industry. When ODS! announced the award and informed the industry, our feeling that the industry would definitely welcome this decision to honour the inv-entor of the blue laser diode was proved right. As also our expectation that alm-ost the entire optical media manuf-acturing industry would be delighted to learn of Mr. Shuji Nakamura whom until we announced the award was hardly known within the optical disc industry despite the dependence of allthe compa-

    A further shock to Japan’s tech elite, who were accustomed to seeing the giants make the breakthroughs, was that Nakamura hailed from provincial, mi-dsize Nichia Corp. Thanks to his work, Nichia’s sales grew more than tenfold.
   Nakamura left Nichia in December 1999, after 20 years of service, and sued the company, saying he had not been fairly compensated for his invention. His victory in court exposed a broad practice of undercompensating engineers for key contributions and pressured Japan’s elec-

nies on their future business on the crea-tion of the blu-ray," says Chopra, Editor of  ODS! magazine. "It  is truly  amazing

tronics giants to establish rules for evaluating employees’ innovations.
   As a professor at the University of Cal-

that even after the repeated experience of forgetting the inventors in the past, it is happening even today that industry leaders and leading companies do not accept good management practices in honouring the inventors. ODS! is glad and proud and privileged in firstly having the vision in instituting the OMGIA and now in the awards performing their envisioned role in firming the interest of develop-ment of the optical media industry. We are indebted to Mr.

ifornia, Santa Barbara, Nakamura conti-nues to study gallium nitride crystal structures. This fall, he discovered structures that he believes could dramatically outperform LEDs.
   Meanwhile, he says his UCSB experience has convinced him that "the harsh university entrance exam system used in Japan and other Asian countries is not a good tool for attracting creative students and developing their instincts."

Courtesy EE Times

OPTICAL DISC SYSTEMS

Back to Content Back to Magazine Cover