CALGARY, Sept. 25 /CNW/ - The Westaim Corporation today announced China's Ministry of Information Industry has identified iFire Technology's thick dielectric electroluminescent (TDEL) flat panel display technology as a key area in consumer electronics technologies for research and product development support by the Chinese government in its 11th Five Year Plan and 2020 Medium and Long Term Planning Outline. China's Ministry of Information Industry's 11th Five Year Plan and 2020 Medium and Long Term Planning Outline serves as a blueprint for the development of China's information industry to serve the national objective and guide industry development. The Outline shows that China will put emphasis on 15 key areas to support, including high definition television manufacturing, for the next five to 15 years. TDEL was highlighted, along with other TV technologies including liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma and rear projection, as being important to China's manufacturing strategy. "The recognition of TDEL as an important consumer electronics technology by the Chinese government is an endorsement by one of the most significant consumer electronics manufacturing regions of the world," said Barry M. Heck, President & CEO, The Westaim Corporation. "We have spent a great deal of time focusing on China and our inclusion with established flat panel technologies such as plasma and LCD in the Ministry's outline demonstrates China's interest in TDEL for the consumer flat panel television industry." Westaim and iFire are in discussion with a number of companies around the world, including companies from China and other parts of Asia, for potential technology development and commercialization arrangements. iFire expects to commercialize its technology in partnership with industry leaders and plans to initially target the mid 30- to mid 40-inch screen size consumer television market segment. "China has the world's fastest growing economy and is emerging as a powerhouse in consumer electronics manufacturing," said Nick Khoury, President of iFire Technology. "China is already well established as the world's leading manufacturer of CRT televisions and is rapidly gaining recognition as a global manufacturing centre for flat panel television technologies. Chinese manufacturers are keenly interested in cost-effective alternative flat panel technologies from both a capital and module perspective, and we remain encouraged with our potential manufacturing partnership discussions." iFire Technology is currently engaged in pilot operations as part of the first phase of commercialization. Through the pilot facility, iFire intends to complete the baseline processes for the manufacture of its displays and focus on continual improvements to both performance and manufacturing efficiency. The pilot plant will provide information and experience to allow iFire to work with partners to construct and operate the first volume production facility. The pilot facility is intended to simulate manufacturing in a commercial environment in order to generate repeatability data and engineering samples of high-definition 34-inch flat panel display modules based on its proprietary TDEL technology. iFire Technology Corp. has developed a flat panel television display with low-cost and high performance potential called thick dielectric electroluminescent technology (TDEL). With superior video performance characteristics and a cost advantage over other flat panel display technologies, iFire's proprietary TDEL technology has the potential to become an affordable, high performance alternative for the consumer flat panel television market. iFire plans to initially target the mid 30- to mid 40-inch screen size segment of the flat panel television market in partnership with major consumer electronics companies. In addition to iFire Technology, The Westaim Corporation's technology investments include NUCRYST Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: NCSTV; TSX: NCS), which develops, manufactures and commercializes medical products that fight infection and inflammation using its patented atomically disordered nanocrystalline silver technology. Westaim's common shares are listed on NASDAQ under the symbol WEDX and on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol WED. This news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and neither Westaim nor iFire can give assurance that these expectations are correct. Various factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in such statements, including but not limited to statements involving the emphasis that China will place on certain technologies or Chinese interest in certain technologies including TDEL, the endorsement of TDEL by the Chinese government, potential or expected iFire commercialization and partnering activities and strategies, iFire's initial target market for its displays, the completion of baseline manufacturing processes for iFire displays and the focus of pilot production, the information and experience anticipated from the iFire pilot plant and intentions related to the use of that plant, statements related to planning for iFire's first volume production facility, the performance and cost characteristics of iFire's displays, iFire's progress toward engineering samples of its flat panel displays, and the potential for iFire's technology. Westaim and iFire disclaim any intention or obligation to revise forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. %SEDAR: 00002793E