Comiskey is known for being one of the "fathers of E Ink." At MIT, Comiskey invented the microencapsulated electrophoretic display, commercialized by E Ink, which he co-founded in 1997. He began developing the E Ink display during nights and weekends at the MIT Media Lab in 1995, at the age of 19, after MIT professor Joseph Jacobson challenged him to create a technology that would mimic the appearance of ink on paper. Comiskey ultimately conceived of the microencapsulated electrophoretic display, which overcame the many practical challenges faced by previous attempts at realizing workable particle-based displays. In 1997, after years of research and experimentation, Comiskey and fellow MIT undergraduate JD Albert realized a working prototype. Over the next decade, Comiskey worked on the further development and industrialization of the technology at MIT and subsequently at E Ink, in both Cambridge, Massachusetts and Shanghai, China. For its role in the evolution of the publishing industry, E Ink has been called “the greatest innovation since Gutenberg.” While still an undergraduate at MIT, Comiskey was published as first author of the May 1998cover article of Nature magazine, "An electrophoretic ink for all-printed reflective electronic displays". Comiskey holds 72 patents. He was recognized as a “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2016 for the invention and commercialization of E Ink, together with Joe Jacobson and JD Albert.
Migo
Comiskey founded Migo in 2009. Migo is an offline digital distribution platform, built to close the Gigabyte Gap for the billions in emerging markets who cannot afford large volumes of data required for many online services. The company has commercial operations in the Philippines and has an R&D center in Taipei, Taiwan.
Comiskey holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University, a B.S. in Mathematics from MIT, and is an alumnus of Regis High School in New York City. Profiled by Esquire magazine as "The New American," Comiskey grew up in New York City, and has been in Asia since 2004, living in Shanghai, Taipei and Manila.
