Design Led name in lights

The company, set up by ex-Micro-Emissive Displays’ Dr James Gourlay, aims to target the global market for illuminated products ranging from dashboards in cars and computer keyboards to large scale signs.

Initially, Gourlay plans to focus on animated bar displays for major drinks brands, offering UK-based global brands an inexpensive method of catching the customer’s eye at the point of sale.

Gourlay said: "We are working with a large UK player on a prototype animated bar display for one of its key global brands.

"Ideally we hope to secure at least one major deal with a drinks brand creating revenues of £3m by 2006."

Over the next two years, Gourlay wants to expand into larger global markets with a generic illuminated canvas component for point of sale products, aiming to generate sales in the region of £10m by 2007.

He explained: "The custom designs for niche customers are really just to give us a foot in the door and generate early revenue and customer references for our new technology. We have big plans to do much larger scale products.

"We want to move from being a custom producer for one client to a supplier of a more generic component to sign and display designers around the world.

"With our illuminated canvas component we want to enable the designer to paint with light," he said.

The LED sign market is growing at a rate of 30% annually and will be worth about £1bn worldwide by 2007.

Design Led Products employs a unique light guide technology which enables LED’s to be used to form bright, colourful, animated, illuminated patterns on thin, flexible and transparent films.

It was one of five technology companies presenting its case for funding to equity providers from across Scotland at the recent Connect Scotland Springboard event in Dundee.

Gourlay is hoping to raise £100,000 from investors and is already in talks with a number of angel investors.

The companies, drawn from sectors including optoelectronics, electronics and medical sectors, were attempting to secure on average funding of £500,000 to fast-track their business ideas.

Stephen Morris, director of Connect Scotland, said: "The calibre of technology being presented by these early stage companies has attracted a large audience, including a dozen funders and angels keen to help commercialise these bright ideas.

"There have been a number of successful deals done since Glasgow Springboard in March taking the seed-funding raised at Springboard to date to over £9m.

"There is currently an appetite among early-stage investors to do business and we are confident the total of funding raised by Connect companies will be boosted this year."

For further information go to: www.designledproducts.com