[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/5994\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EConcrete screens, the next big thing in outdoor advertising? - Bo Jacobsen\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow can a display be made of concrete, how does it work?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In principle it works as if it were a lot of cables going through the concrete, but I can\u2019t tell you too much because we are just applying for a patent for this technology at the moment. However, in principle you have a very precisely aligned number of dots sitting in a very precise pattern, so whatever image you have on the back of the concrete screen appears on the surface.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESo you project an image and it in effect passes through the concrete?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Yes, the distance between the pixels, as we call them, is about 1.5 millimetres from centre to centre, so there\u2019s not much space for concrete. The pixels are very thin, if the light is not going through you cannot see them, it looks like normal concrete.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat resolution of image can you produce?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The viewing distance would be about 1.5 metres; from that distance you would be able to see texture, fine detail and so on. This is why we can actually put this up in a pedestrian zone where you cannot\u0026nbsp;erect LED screens today because they can be destroyed by people.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIt sounds like the possibilities are endless.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022img_legend\u0022 style=\u0022float: left;\u0022\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Dupont Lightstone Chief Executive Bo Jacobsen is also working on a transparent concrete wall.\u0022 height=\u0022252\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/Bo-Jacobsen_0.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Dupont Lightstone Chief Executive Bo Jacobsen is also working on a transparent concrete wall.\u0022 width=\u0022200\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EDupont Lightstone Chief Executive Bo Jacobsen is also working on a transparent concrete wall.\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003Cem\u003EDupont Lightstone Chief Executive Bo Jacobsen is also working on a transparent concrete wall.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The problem is there are so many ideas and you can go in\u0026nbsp;this or that direction, but we have decided to focus on one application, which is replacing the rolling poster stands that you have all over Brussels or France or Italy. They are changed every two weeks, so you have a lorry driver going to one of these stands, opening it, cleaning it and then putting new posters in. Instead of that, you could put up this concrete screen and operate it from an office because it works digitally.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWho would buy a concrete display screen?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We expect that the big outdoor advertising companies would be the ones with the main interest at first, they\u2019re looking for a medium like this \u2013 vandal-proof and sophisticated. We have a target in our budget that we should be no more than 30 % more expensive than conventional LED screens. One of the main points of the project is to reach this requirement.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow close are you to that goal?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We have adopted a way of manufacturing the light guides that is quite inexpensive. Theoretically it is a scalable way of producing them.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow common could these screens become?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We think they will be used in urban zones. If you take Hong Kong, for instance, if you walk around there you will see screens and advertisements all over the place. It\u2019s not very beautiful. I think that architects would love to integrate the screens into the buildings instead of having all these screens just placed on the surface. I think it could become very common.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There are many more applications, like the new BRIGHTWALL project that we are starting up right now using an insulated concrete wall where the light passes through from outside to inside.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDo you mean a transparent wall?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Yes, with the possibility of dimming the light to almost zero. If you put up a wall in a house in the south of Europe where the sun is very hot, of course you should be able to shut it out. And that is more or less the same light guide technology that we are using in DIGISTONE.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-lhrrrefszc-1vdxz5bsnp5-a-4mfuwx7iyqqsf2oby\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-LHRrReFSZC_-1VDXz5bSNP5-A_4mFuwx7iYqQsF2OBY\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]