Tiny TV screen firm to appoint administrator

MICROEMISSIVE Displays, the Edinburgh-based firm credited with developing the world's smallest television screen, is to fall into administration.

The company is one in a long list of firms to be hit hard by the economic crisis after it failed to secure funding to support its pioneering business.

Led by chief executive Bill Miller, the firm said that it had been hit by the "severe slowdown" in the demand for consumer electronics and had been unable to borrow enough money to survive.

MED, which has around 50 staff between its operations in Scotland and Dresden, is currently continuing to trade. It has not yet made any job cuts following the announcement that it will appoint an administrator.

Technology entrepreneur and investor Ian Ritchie said: "I think it is very likely that a lot more technology companies will fold, like in the dot com bust in 2001, when a lot of good companies were wiped out."