Product innovations in healthcare, food and drug safety, manufacturing included
BELLINGHAM, Washington, and PITTSFIELD, Massachusetts, USA -- New products that solve problems in healthcare, food and drug safety, manufacturing, and other important areas are among finalists in the nine categories for the 2014 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation. The awards are sponsored by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and Photonics Media.
Winners will be announced by industry leaders on 5 February during SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco 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, Network Architecture, Google; Waguih Ishak, Vice President and Director, West Coast Research, Corning; Michael Mertin, President and CEO, JENOPTIK, and President, Photonics21; and Allison Lami Sawyer, CEO of Rebellion Photonics, winner of this year's Wall Street Journal Startup of the Year competition.
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 systems, save money and resources with more efficient solar energy generation, and advance the manufacturing revolution with the ability to print even micro-sized parts using 3D printers -- and much more. The broad range of entries reflects the extensive reach and power of photonics in our lives, and is a tribute to the creativity of our extraordinarily entrepreneurial community."
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.
"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."
Finalist companies and their products by category are:
Advanced Manufacturing
Defense and Security
Detectors, Sensing, Imaging, and Cameras
Industrial Lasers
Life Science and Biophotonics
Optics and Optical Components
Other Light Sources
Scientific Lasers
Test, Measurement, Metrology
Many of the finalists will exhibit in the Photonics West exhibition (4-6 February) and BiOS Expo (1-2 February).
About SPIE
SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. The Society serves more than 235,000 constituents from approximately 155 countries, offering conferences, continuing education, books, journals, and a digital library in support of interdisciplinary information exchange, professional networking, and patent precedent. SPIE provided over $3.2 million in support of education and outreach programs in 2012. Learn more at www.spie.org.
About Photonics Media
Photonics Media, a business unit of Pittsfield, Mass.-based Laurin Publishing Co. Inc., publishes Photonics Spectra, BioPhotonics, EuroPhotonics, Photonics Buyers' Guide and Photonics.com. With a collective subscriber base of more than 150,000 worldwide and more than 2 million website visits per year, Laurin Publishing's Photonics Media products and publications lead the photonics industry with editorial excellence and integrity-fostering a tradition of innovation and progress by sharing knowledge, insights and visions for the future. Learn more at www.photonics.com.
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Media contact:
Amy Nelson
Public Relations Manager, SPIE
+1 360 685 5478
amy@spie.org
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