The new $5M per year optics, photonics, and imaging (OPI) accelerator called Luminate has named Jay Kumler, President of Jenoptik Optical Systems, a premier provider of optical systems in North America, to its national advisory board.
Luminate is a new accelerator for OPI-enabled startups; the organization is formally accepting applications from prospective companies with entrepreneurs solving challenging problems including but not limited to: machine vision, inspection, biophotonics, security, surveillance, augmented and virtual reality, and autonomous vehicles.
Teams will be competing for one of ten available slots in the first cohort, guaranteeing them a minimum investment of $100,000, and potentially as much as $1M. Luminate applicants must be incorporated, have a full-time team, should have proven their core technology, and should preferably have developed a working prototype.
“I am honored to be a part of this distinguished group of key industry leaders and to help facilitate the advancement the OPI industry,” says Jay Kumler.
"The addition of this group of world-class advisors will help improve the chances of Luminate companies ultimately succeeding," says Don Golini, Advisory Board Chair. "The board will participate in the recruitment, selection, coaching, networking, and mentoring of the cohort. Each member of the advisory board has a passion for helping new entrepreneurs, and a wealth of knowledge that will guide our startups to spend their time avoiding mistakes, rather than fixing them. That kind of assistance is simply invaluable."
Board of advisors:
--Eugene Arthurs -- CEO, SPIE
--Milton Chang -- Managing Director, Incubic Management
--Stuart Elby -- SVP, Data Center Business Group, Infinera
--Steve Fantone -- Founder & President, Optikos Corporation
--Mike Foley -- Managing Director, Artemis Capital Partners, L.P.
--Chair, Don Golini -- Founder, QED Technologies
--Jay Kumler -- President, Jenoptik Optical Systems
--Michael Liehr -- CEO, AIM Photonics
--Duncan Moore -- Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship, University of Rochester
--Ryne Raffaelle -- VP for Research and Associate Provost, Rochester Institute of Technology
--Darius Sankey -- CEO, 3Discovered
--Jim Senall -- President, High Tech of Rochester
For those interested in getting involved with the Luminate accelerator, either as a startup, mentor, corporate or venture partner, please visit www.luminate.org.
