Barco and Unilumin’s partnership discussed in detail Features 26/11/2019 Hurrairah bin Sohail discusses the recently announced partnership between Barco and Unilumin with Unilumin’s Mingfeng Lin and Barco’s Bram Dieryckx to ascertain what the impact of this move will be. Barco and Unilumin announced a strategic partnership which sees both parties come together with a supply agreement and a joint development venture. As part of this collaboration, Barco also confirmed its intent to acquire a minority stake [5%] in Unilumin through a share transfer. Partnerships are in vogue as AV manufacturers seek to expand their reach and develop relationships that are mutually beneficial. Bram Dieryckx, vice president, LED and image processing, Barco, explained: “Over the past couple of years, LED has started to find its way as a high-end visualisation solution in some of Barco’s core market segments. Barco’s DNA is anchored in pioneering high-quality visualisation solutions. In today’s market, HiRes LED videowalls are the way forward into the future– being the only option for a true seamless, single canvas shallow videowall with superior brightness. The LED solutions show the strongest growth, covering all applications, so indeed it goes without saying that LED is the obvious long-term strategic choice for Barco to play a significant role in. “Unilumin’s first-class product performance and large-scale manufacturing ability, combined with Barco’s accumulated knowledge of LED and image processing solutions and the market in general is opening doors for a growing LED platform for Barco in the future.” Dieryckx added: “Barco has engaged in a wide-ranging partnership with Unilumin to secure cost-competitive supply of high-quality LED display components, that allows broader penetration in its core markets with differentiated Barco LED visualisation hardware and software solutions.” Mingfeng Lin, CEO of Unilumin, talks about the basis of the partnership: “The cooperation between the two parties is based on mutual benefit and reciprocity, mutual support and mutual improvement. For both parties, this is a good opportunity to accelerate their own development, expedite the occupation of the market, increase market share and brand influence.” He continues: “Barco is a global technology-based company that specialises in digital projection and imaging technology, focusing on three core markets: entertainment, enterprise and healthcare. The first two align with Unilumin’s LED display business focus covering cinemas, enterprises, conference rooms, professional control rooms application etc.” Dieryckx agreed: “LED is becoming a very important display technology in our core target markets and Barco wants to capture an important part of this business potential. We are able to combine a deep understanding of the markets that we are active in with deep know-how of LED technology. The partnership with Unilumin is giving us that access while allowing for innovation that serves our customers.” Barco’s strength in the cinema sector is one that can prove beneficial for Unilumin. With the partnership, Lin believes Unilumin has gained a strategic advantage: “In the cinema market, Barco currently accounts for more than 50% of the total volume. This partnership can help us develop cinema LED display solutions that comply with DCI certification standards and be fully prepared in both technology and marketing for the explosion of the cinema market. Unilumin and Barco will combine each other’s competencies and cooperate in the joint development of LED display solutions.”” Lin also believes the ‘joint development venture’ both parties have agreed to undertake will have a wide-ranging impact. He details: “By leveraging Barco’s leading technical advantages in image and video processing and overall LED solutions, Unilumin aims to find its way to broaden its business in the markets of control rooms, AR and VR, medical care, film and other professional LED display applications. “Our cooperation with Barco will lead to new products and technology innovation that pushes the development of control rooms, AR and VR, medical care and the cinema market.” Dieryckx believes that the partnership will tap into a well of opportunity. He clarified: “Over the past couple of years, LED has started to find its way as high-end visualisation solution in some of Barco’s core market segments. The evolution unveils a sizeable untapped potential adding distinct addressable market opportunities in markets such as Control Rooms, Pro-AV and other vertical market segments. The international collaboration with a key manufacturer like Unilumin offers Barco the capability to address this rapidly developing opportunity with cost-effective offerings and state-of-the-art technology. According to Lin, the partnership will benefit both parties immediately and will also pay dividends in the future. He explains: “In the short run, the most intuitive change for the company is definitely an increase in the global market share of Unilumin. In the long run, this transaction is also a very important step in our global strategy. “Through this transaction, Unilumin will further optimise the company’s shareholding structure, complete global business layout, accelerate the company’s vertical integration in the LED display industry and horizontal expansion in terms of industry scale, further enhance our core competitiveness and promote our long-term, stable development.” The partnership will also make sure Unilumin is ready to address technology shifts and trends in the market. Ling said: “With the upcoming 5G and Internet of Things technology becoming popular, LED displays will be applied in a wider range of fields. At this turning point in the era, the cooperation between Unilumin and Barco will create more value for customers and bring a better visual experience to consumers.” Dieryckx: “Unilumin and Barco aim to use both companies and will combine their competences and work together in the development of innovative technologies and new products. While Unilumin has the capability and the know-how to produce large volumes of quality LED products, Barco’s LED image processing platform guarantees unprecedented results in every situation.” Despite working closely, both Unilumin and Barco will continue to bring products to market through their own distribution partners. Dieryckx closes: “The focus of this partnership is more on the development and manufacturing of products, not so much on creating a close cooperation on the commercial side. “We are in the same market, but we each focus on other segments. Barco wants to leverage its strong position in certain market segments while Unilumin has focus on others. Whenever we see opportunities to cooperate commercially in a win-win situation, we will of course pursue this, but it is not a focus of this cooperation. Barco will sell Barco branded and certified LED products with Barco Infinipix LED processing. We are not selling Unilumin branded products as part of our standard portfolio.”