Swave Photonics, QART Medical, and PhosPrint win big at 2023 SPIE Startup Challenge
Yesterday, at a ceremony during SPIE Photonics West, Swave Photonics – with their Holographic eXtended Reality chips based on proprietary diffractive photonics technology – was announced the winner of the $10,000 top prize at the 13th annual SPIE Startup Challenge.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230201005834/en/
Jenoptik’s Ralf Kuschnereit, far left, Swave Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Theo Marescaux, Swave CEO Mike Noonen, and 2023 SPIE Vice President Peter de Groot. Credit: Joey Cobbs.
QART Medical, utilizing biophotonics and data for 3D analysis of sperm cells during IVF, received $5,000 for second place. PhosPrint came in third, winning $2,500, with their novel bioprinting technology that repairs in vivo human tissue during surgery. All cash prizes are provided by SPIE Startup Challenge Founding Partner Jenoptik.
The SPIE Startup Challenge, a pitch competition held annually by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, showcases new businesses, products, and technologies that address critical needs by utilizing photonics in the areas of healthcare and deep tech. This year’s finalists included innovations in medical diagnostics, medical imaging, food safety, and display technology.
“It’s a privilege just to present to a such distinguished audience,” says Swave Photonics CEO Mike Noonen. “Participating at the Startup Challenge was an award in itself, but to actually win first-place recognition, well, our team is very excited. We really want to thank the sponsors and SPIE and Photonics West for the opportunity.”
“It's very nice to get the acknowledgement,” notes QART Medical CEO and Co-Founder Alon Shalev. “The judges were very supportive, and they gave us good insights yesterday in the preparation session. I think SPIE Photonics West is a wonderful, wonderful event, and a great opportunity to see and meet people. Being acknowledged is always nice, and this feels like a real achievement.”
“It was a great experience for me,” adds Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of PhosPrint Ioanna Zergioti. “It was exciting for us to have the opportunity to present our startup at the SPIE Startup Challenge. It was especially great to work with the judges, and to get feedback from senior investors in the field.”
The 2023 SPIE Startup Challenge was supported by Founding Partner Jenoptik; Lead Sponsors Edmund Optics, Hamamatsu, MKS Instruments, and Thorlabs; and Supporting Sponsors NextCorps Luminate and Photonics Media. The competition judges who vetted the applicants for their business models, financial cases, and competitive advantages included Jenoptik’s Kristin Holzhey, MKS Instruments’ Marc D. Himel, Edmund Optics' Agnes Hübscher, NextCorps Luminate’s Sujatha Ramanujan, Hamamatsu Ventures’ Richard Oberreiter, and Thorlabs’ Garrett Cole.
Light-based technologies enable developments in a proliferating number of areas, from healthcare and high-speed communications to quantum computing, AR/VR/MR, and self-driving vehicles. The SPIE Startup Challenge is an annual entrepreneurial pitch competition for new businesses that utilize optics and photonics to create innovative products, applications, and technologies. Startup Challenge winners that have gone on to wider commercial success include Cellino Biotech, Double Helix Optics, PhotoniCare, C. Light Technologies, Circle Optics, and In A Blink.
About SPIE
SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, brings engineers, scientists, students, and business professionals together to advance light-based science and technology. The Society, founded in 1955, connects and engages with our global constituency through industry-leading conferences and exhibitions; publications of conference proceedings, books, and journals in the SPIE Digital Library; and career-building opportunities. Over the past five years, SPIE has contributed more than $22 million to the international optics community through our advocacy and support, including scholarships, educational resources, travel grants, endowed gifts, and public-policy development. www.spie.org.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230201005834/en/
Contact information
Daneet Steffens
Public Relations Manager
daneets@spie.org
+1 360 685 5478
@SPIEtweets
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Tezos Activates ‘Mumbai’ Upgrade Enabling More Than a Million Transactions Per Second29.3.2023 22:45:00 EEST | Press release
Tezos, a pioneering blockchain for Proof-of-Stake consensus and on-chain governance, has activated Mumbai, its thirteenth core protocol upgrade. The Mumbai upgrade introduces Smart Rollups, a new Layer 2 scaling solution built directly into the protocol, which puts Tezos at the forefront of optimistic rollup technology. Smart Rollups enable decentralized applications (dApps) to benefit from their own dedicated hardware resources in order to process a high amount of transactions, while the integrity and security of the Smart Rollup is guaranteed by the Tezos main chain, or Layer 1. Due to this approach, the Tezos ecosystem will be able to surpass the milestone of one million transactions per second in 2023 without sacrificing decentralization. Secure, flexible, developer friendly Smart Rollups come with state-of-the-art technical features, namely: Fully decentralized and open interactive fraud proofs guarantee rollup security and integrity, provided there is at least one honest particip
Spring 2023 Maxon One Release Adds Extraordinary Value29.3.2023 19:00:00 EEST | Press release
Maxon, developers of professional software solutions for editors, filmmakers, motion designers, visual effects artists and creators of all types, announced today a comprehensive update to Maxon One. Maxon’s Spring 2023 release offers exciting new features and workflow enhancements across the entire product line that will empower designers and artists to turn their creative ideas into reality with stunning results. Cinema 4D 2023.2 offers an improved Commander, enhancements to its Nodes system, simulation improvements and a new Thicken generator for modeling. Updates to the Red Giant toolset feature new tools and augmentations; most notably the introduction of Symbol Mapper for Universe 2023.1, anamorphic lens support for Real Lens Flares for VFX 2023.3, and Trapcode 2023.3 includes performance optimizations for Particular and a new collection of Atomic Age sprites. Redshift 3.5.14 brings a fantastic new Sky and Sun Model, a new Flakes Shader and new Camera Backplates. The latest releas
Nasdaq Congratulates Signifier Medical Technologies for Treating 10,000 Patients With eXciteOSA, a Daytime Therapy for Sleep Apnea29.3.2023 18:24:00 EEST | Press release
Signifier Medical Technologies LLC (“Signifier” or the “Company”), a Boston-based medical technology company, announces that eXciteOSA, the only FDA-authorized daytime therapy for sleep-disordered breathing, has treated over 10,000 patients since the commercial launch in 2021. Nasdaq recognized this milestone by congratulating Signifier Medical on the Nasdaq Tower in the heart of Times Square, New York. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230329005432/en/ (Photo: Business Wire) Akhil Tripathi, Signifier’s co-founder and CEO said, “This is a proud moment knowing that our therapy has made a positive impact on the lives of so many patients. It’s been a great team effort among our employees, clinicians, distributors, and most of all, our patients.” Signifier Medical is simplifying the complex standard of care for obstructive sleep apnea with eXciteOSA by tackling a root cause -- empowering patients to restore their ni
Flare gas reduction: Graforce a winner at Petronas Race2Decarbonise for groundbreaking solution29.3.2023 18:00:00 EEST | Press release
Out of more than 500 global solutions, Graforce was recognized at the Petronas Race2Decarbonise with its methane electrolysis technology (plasmalysis) in the category “Gas Flaring Reduction or Elimination.” The competition is aimed at accelerating the development of low-carbon solutions and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230329005084/en/ Gas flaring causes more than 400 million tons of CO2 emissions every year. Graforce’s methane electrolysis technology is a groundbreaking solution that converts flare gas and other hydrocarbons into clean hydrogen and solid carbon. (Photo: Business Wire) Gas flaring results in more than 400 million tons of CO2 emissions every year. Thousands of gas flares at production sites around the globe burn approximately 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas each year, thus wasting a valuable resource. Plasmalysis, on the other hand, converts methane
SRMG launches new venture capital arm, SRMG Ventures, with first investments in regional content studio and immersive platform companies29.3.2023 17:36:00 EEST | Press release
SRMG, a global integrated media group, yesterday announced the launch of its corporate venture capital arm, SRMG Ventures. In line with SRMG’s transformative growth strategy, SRMG Ventures will invest in early-stage companies and technologies within the core target areas: media creators, digital media, media enablers and tools, including generative AI, as well as immersive and interactive entertainment. SRMG Ventures will initially target investments from the seed to Series B stage. SRMG Ventures will enable SRMG to back and empower regional talent and entrepreneurs, acting as a catalyst for further growth of the rapidly evolving media industry in the region. SRMG Ventures will provide SRMG with direct access to innovative technologies, as well as new media talent and content creators, that will continue to enhance SRMG’s own media portfolio and drive forward the future of media. The new corporate venture capital arm will additionally help SRMG penetrate new markets and further diversi
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom