By Maggie Hartford A HI-TECH group developing the new generation of thinner, brighter flat screens for mobile phones and electronic organisers has raised £8m to expand.

Opsys, of Begbroke Science Park, has developed new light-emitting materials and designs, offering manufacturers of portable electronic equipment lower production costs, purer colour and a longer battery life.

Opsys' two-year plans include:

A new manufacturing and research facility near Silicon Valley, California, with initial production scheduled for late 2002

Expansion of its research at Begbroke, near Woodstock

Key technology licensed from Eastman Kodak Company

The board appointment of three leading industry figures, and

Negotiations to license Opsys technology and products. Venture capital company 3i is investing £3m and Quester, which is represented by Andrew Holmes on the Opsys board, £2.5m. This is the second tranche of funding the two groups have invested in Opsys.

Another £2.5m is being invested by Japanese venture capital group NIF and international investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, acting through its Online Markets Investments division.

A further round of fundraising is also planned later in the year.

Matthew Mead, investment director at 3i, said: "Opsys is at the forefront of developing technology which will be ideal for the fastest growth segments of the displays markets.

Opsys was founded in 1997 to exploit research at Oxford University engineering department.

Opsys chief executive officer Michael Holmes said: "We are using our outstanding research and development capabilities and our international manufacturing and licensing expansion programme to become a world leader."

The company has also begun a recruitment drive for engineers and chemists at its new US centre and at Begbroke.