SPIE Photonics West will offer an expanded industry track for 2014 that covers topics ranging from financing to product launching. The event will be held Feb. 1-6 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Photonics West, the largest and most influential photonics and laser conference, this year will provide more for entrepreneurs, investors and technology business leaders. Among the additions will be new panel discussions on what startups need for success, promising technology commercialization prospects, and insights on funding biophotonics ventures. “Photonics West ... [brings] together business leaders, suppliers, customers, funders and researchers from the global photonics marketplace," said SPIE Senior Director Andrew Brown. "This year’s added events enrich an already strong program that is designed to drive economic growth in the photonics industry, stimulate new ideas, accelerate technology transfer, foster new partnerships and spark innovation.” A new Technology-Transfer Showcase will connect creators and innovators with companies, providing the chance to turn ideas into cost-effective, reliable products. The Photonics West exhibition features suppliers and developers of lasers, fiber optics, imaging, metrology, etc., from nearly 1300 companies, along with more than 240 product launches. The BiOS Expo features 235 exhibitors focused on technologies such as therapeutic lasers, molecular imaging, biosensors, and spectroscopic and microscopic imaging. Workshops will cover International Traffic in Arms Regulations, intellectual property management, inbound marketing and careers in photonics. New panels this year include: Financing Life Sciences and Healthcare Ventures, moderated by Linda Smith of Ceres Technical Advisers; panelists include Omar Amirana of Allied Minds, Faz Bashi of Angel Capital Association, Jeremy Salesin of Intellectual Ventures and Jonathan Wyler of SV Life Sciences Advisors. What Startups Need to be Successful, moderated by Andrea Belz of Belz Consulting, with an introduction by Arun Chhabra, co-founder of 8tree and winner of the 2013 SPIE Startup Challenge; panelists include James Schaefer of Mark Schaefer Associates, Ken Irato of Faber Group, Liz Nevis of Intermolecular and Ellen McGuirk of Masterplan Consulting. Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits, moderated by SPIE Marketing and Industry Relations Director Peter Hallett; panelists include Radha Nagarajan of Infinera, Mario Paniccia of Intel, Vladimir Kozlov of LightCounting, Peter De Dobbelaere of Luxtera, and Ashok Krishnamoorthy of Oracle. Green Photonics: A Solar Revolution, moderated by Stephen Eglash of the Energy and Environment Affiliates Program at Stanford University; panelists include Homer Antoniadis of DuPont, Raffi Garabedian of First Solar and Martin Green of the University of New South Wales. Executive Perspectives on the World of Optics and Photonics, moderated by SPIE Industry and Market Analyst Stephen Anderson. Competitive awards for innovative products will be presented at Photonics West 2014, and a startup pitch contest will support photonics commercialization. The annual Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation, sponsored by SPIE and Photonics Media, recognize the best new photonics products. (Advance tickets are required.) The SPIE Startup Challenge, hosted by SPIE with support from Jenoptik and others, provides venture capital exposure and mentoring to aspiring entrepreneurs working to bring optics and photonics products to market. Winners receive cash prizes and equipment donations from Edmund Optics. The 2014 semifinalists are as follows: Amos Danielli, MagBiosense; Ryan Shelton, PhotoniCare Inc.; Eric Wandel, Innovative Photonics Technologies LLC; Lars Rindorf, OptoRobotix; Brian Cummins, Glucid Innovations; Ramin Rafiei, University of Western Australia; Garrett Cole, Crystalline Mirror Solutions GmbH; Babak Shadgan, Pathonix Innovation Inc.; Tamas Haidegger, HandInScan Ltd.; Jarkko Antila, Spectral Engines; Natan Shaked, Tel Aviv University; Zeev Zalevsky, Bar Ilan University and Z-square; Anders Hansen, Fotonik, DTU; Christian Weedbrook, QKD Corp.; Matthew Muller, Swept Image Inc.; Nicholas Durr, MIT; Jannick Rolland, LighTopTech Corp.; Robert McLaughlin, University of Western Australia; Dan Gareau, Rockefeller University; Hoi Wai Choi, University of Hong Kong; Boris Lamontagne, Actishade-NRC; Thomas Ditto, 3DeWitt LLC; Sanaz Alali, University of Toronto and Pollux Devices; Boris Mizaikoff, University of Ulm; and Hossein Alisafaee, University of North Carolina-Charlotte. For more information, visit: spie.org/x2584.xml