Photonics innovators named 2014 Prism Awards finalists

Smartphone technology for point-of-care, telemedicine and public health monitoring; a digital instrument that maps skin vasculature; and a system that enables imaging and characterization of nanomaterials at the flip of a switch are among the finalists for the 2014 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation, an annual competition recognizing new products and inventions that break with conventional ideas, solve problems and improve life.

The awards are sponsored by SPIE and Photonics Media, with winners to be announced by industry leaders during SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco. Many of the finalists will be showcasing their innovative products during the exhibition at SPIE Photonics West (Feb. 4-6) and BiOS (Feb. 1-2).

Entries are judged by an independent panel of experts, including industry executives, leading academic researchers, venture capitalists and past Prism Award winners.

“With such impressive products and such varied applications, selecting finalists was indeed challenging for the judges,” said SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs. “Competitors include larger, well-established companies as well as newer and smaller firms from throughout the world working in a wide variety of sectors. These new products can improve our ability to diagnose cancer without invading the body, navigate our world with more accurate GPS [units], save money and resources with more efficient solar energy generation, and advance the manufacturing revolution with the ability to print even microsized parts using 3-D printers – and much more. The broad range reflects the extensive reach and power of photonics in our lives and is a tribute to the creativity of our extraordinarily entrepreneurial community.”

“This is an exciting time to be working in photonics. The Prism Awards finalists are writing new chapters to an industry success story that has been building for more than 50 years,” said Laurin Publishing CEO Tom Laurin. “In scientific lasers, life sciences and biophotonics, industrial lasers, advanced manufacturing and all of the categories, these companies are ushering in big changes in the way we live and work, and we proudly support their achievements by supporting the Prism Awards.”

Winners will be announced Feb. 6 at a gala banquet that has become one of the largest gatherings of CEOs and other VIPs in the photonics industry. Past presenters include industry leaders such as Bikash Koley, principal architect and manager of network architecture at Google; Waguih Ishak, vice president and director of West Coast research at Corning; Michael Mertin, president and CEO of Jenoptik and president of Photonics21; and Allison Lami Sawyer, CEO of Rebellion Photonics, winner of this year’s Wall Street Journal Startup of the Year competition.

The Prism Awards were developed to recognize innovative products that are newly available on the open market. Each category is meant to isolate a specific contribution in photonics, in a technology area or sector of the industry. Categories have been added, removed and updated over time to reflect trends in the industry. One winner will be selected from among the three finalists in each category.

Bio-related finalist companies and their products, by category, are:

Life Sciences and Biophotonics

• AccuVein Inc.: AV400 vein viewing system
• Holomic LLC: HRDR-200 rapiddiagnostic reader
• Optofluidics: NanoTweezer

Scientific Lasers

• Amplitude Technologies: Pulsar PW
• Hübner GmbH & Co. KG: C-Wave
• Lockheed Martin Aculight: Argos Orange

Detectors, Sensing, Imaging and Cameras

• BaySpec Inc.: OCI-1000 handheld hyperspectral imager
• Stanford Computer Optics Inc.: XXRapidFrame framing camera
• Tornado Spectral Systems: Octane-860 spectrometer

Other Light Sources

• CoolLED Ltd.: pE-4000
• Necsel: Frequency converted green laser array
• QDLAser: Compact 561-nm laser module

The other categories are Advanced Manufacturing; Defense and Security; Industrial Lasers; Optics and Optical Components; and Test, Measurement, Metrology.

For More information, visit www.photonicsprismaward.com