Liquid crystal technology company Merck inaugurated the New Business R&D and Application Lab in Taiwan on 18 April, its first lab featuring diversified fields of technologies such as OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode), LED (Light Emitting Diode), 3D display, and flexible displays in Asia, according to a news report by Taiwan's Economic Daily News. Eying on Taiwanese panel makers' capabilities in notebook PCs, Smartphones, LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) TVs, and touch control panels, Merk's Lab will provide tailor-made materials to a wide range of applications, including communications, medicine, and architecture. By providing timely technology services, the Lab is anticipated to shorten Taiwanese panel makers' product time to market by 1 to 1.5 years. Innolux and AUO are reportedly to cooperate with Merk on mass producing large-area OLED panels, according to the same report.