2019 Prism Award Finalists Announced

Established industry stalwarts will compete with disruptive startups at the Prism Awards ceremony and banquet during SPIE Photonics West 2019 in San Francisco. Celebrating its 11th year, the Prism Awards recognize industrial innovation in photonics in multiple categories; 120 companies from 15 countries applied for this year’s awards. 2018 Prism Award winners in the Lasers category, Class 5 Photonics. Courtesy of SPIE. The awards, organized by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and sponsored by Photonics Media, add two new categories this year: Transportation and Vision Technologies. The Prism Awards continue to reflect the rich growth, exciting developments, and technical innovation in optics and photonics. “This year’s Prism finalists represent the savviest and most innovative companies from the growing optics and photonics industry,” said SPIE CEO Kent Rochford. “Bringing a product to market is a huge achievement, and we applaud all the applicants for the many years of research and development necessary to create a sellable technology. The benefits that photonics provide to society are more critical than ever, and the products showcased by the Prism Awards mark an exciting glimpse into the high-level and wide-ranging accomplishments in the field. I look forward to hearing the winners announced at Photonics West.” Newer companies such as RedShift BioAnalytics, aJile Systems, and Double Helix Optics — a 2016 SPIE Startup Challenge champion and recent winner of Luminate’s accelerator program and $1 million prize — will share the distinction of being finalists alongside photonics giants such as Nikon, Trumpf, Leica, and Hamamatsu. “Photonics Media is once again exceedingly proud to join in presenting the international competition that has become the benchmark for innovation in photonics around the globe,” said Thomas Laurin, president and CEO of Laurin Publishing. “For more than a decade now, the Prism Awards have recognized the people and companies that are driving the remarkable pace of product innovation and technology application in our burgeoning field.” Prism Award finalists and their competing technologies: Detectors & Sensors CloudMinds — XI AI Raman Spectrometer Hamamatsu Photonics — C14384MA Mini-Spectrometer (SMD series) ImpactVision — Real-Time Food Quality Decisions Diagnostics & Therapeutics Convergent Dental — Solea CO2 Dental Laser Double Helix Optics — SPINDLE RedShift BioAnalytics — AQS Protein Analyzer Imaging & Cameras Ajile Light Industries — DepthScan Leica — BLK3D RDI Technologies — Iris MX Industrial Lasers Civan Advanced Technologies — HP Laser & CBC Technology for Materials Processing nLIGHT — Corona Fiber Laser TRUMPF — TruPrint 5000 Light Sources Gamma Scientific — RS-7-SWIR SLD Laser — LaserLight MicroSpot Module Smart Vision Lights — NanoDrive Optics & Optomechanics Dover Motion — DOF-5 Modular Photonics — Omplex Passive Silica Chips Nikon — 4D Free-Form SG Scientific Lasers Chromacity — OPO-CX Spark Lasers — ALCOR 920 nm, 2W TOPTICA Photonics — DLC TOPO Automated Widely Tunable MIR Laser Source Test & Measurement 4D Technology — 4D InSpec XL InterOptics — OptoFlat SmarAct — PicoScan Vibrometer Transportation Alta Devices — AnyLight Gen4 Solar Cell Blackmore — Automotive Doppler Lidar System OFS — FlightLinx PLUS Fiber Optic Cable Vision Technology AlphaMicron — CTRL Eyewear Optotune — Extended Pixel Resolution Beam Shifter XPR-25 QD Laser— RETISSA Display In 2019, SPIE’s Photonics West will host an estimated 23,000 registered attendees, 1,350 exhibitors, and more than 5,200 papers. Along with 14 professional-development sessions and 70-plus courses covering everything from Laser Sources to Photonic Therapeutics and Diagnostics, Photonics West 2019 also hosts a job fair for optical engineering.