Osram and Coherent sign agreement
Coherent (Santa Clara, CA) signed a licensing agreement with Osram (Munich, Germany) for the use of Coherent’s optically pumped semiconductor lasers for projection displays. This license allows Osram to develop and deploy red, green, and blue lasers using Coherent’s intellectual property in consumer applications such as projection television and pocket projectors for handheld devices.
Cascade Technologies gets emissions deal
Quantum-cascade-laser designer and manufacturer Cascade Technologies (Stirling, Scotland) signed a distribution agreement with Clyde Bergemann Power Group (East Kilbride, Scotland) to develop and market its emissions-sensing technology. Clyde Bergemann provides clean-energy technologies and supplies air-pollution control equipment. Clyde Bergemann will inject funding during a preliminary six-month market and test site evaluation phase.
Siemens honors Leibinger
The Werner-von-Siemens-Ring Stiftung Foundation awarded entrepreneur Berthold Leibinger Germany’s most important technology award. The Werner-von-Siemens Ring is awarded every three years to “pioneers in technology.” Leibinger received the award in honor of his contributions to the innovative development and successful entrepreneurial implementation of the technologies for flexible sheet-metal processing and industrial laser technology.
Laser-weapon revenue down for Ionatron
Ionatron (Tucson, AZ), a specialist in laser-guided-energy (LGE) developing next-generation directed-energy weapons, reported a revenue loss for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2006. Revenue for the third quarter of 2006 was $1.5 million, compared to $6.2 million for the same period last year. Revenue for the nine-months ended Sept. 30, 2006, was $8.6 million, compared to $12.7 million for the same period last year.
The company attributed the decrease to the completion of several government contracts in early 2006 related to its counter-IED (improvised explosive device) technologies and slower than expected contract awards for its core LGE-related projects.
Multiwave Photonics wins venture award
Fiber-laser and optical-source manufacturer Multiwave Photonics (Moreira da Maia, Portugal) was awarded second prize in the European Venture Contest 2006. Organized by the European Venture Institute, the contest is the only pan-European competition with an exclusive focus on top technology ventures that have the ambition and potential to reshape their industry and conquer the international market. Over several months, 485 early-stage companies from Europe and Israel competed. Out of 18 finalists, Multiwave was awarded second prize.
LBO sees more funding and signs agreement
Light Blue Optics (LBO; Cambridge, England), a developer of miniature laser-projection technology, closed a $1 million extension to its seed-funding round, that followed the closure of a $2.5 million seed-funding round in July 2006.
Light Blue Optics has also signed an exclusive licensing agreement on a key patent with Cambridge Enterprise, the University of Cambridge’s technology commercialization service. The patent is a method for real-time, full-color holographic laser projection. “We now have a strong, clear IP position and are ideally placed to become the world’s leading supplier of miniature laser-projection systems,” said Chris Harris, LBO CEO.
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Also in the news . . .
Luna Innovations (Roanoke, VA) entered into a technology transfer and licensing agreement with Coherent giving Luna the right to manufacture and sell the former Iolon “Apollo” line of swept tunable lasers. . . . Ferro (Cleveland, OH) and DataLase (Widnes, England) signed a distribution agreement to develop and market a special laser-markable aerosol containing the DataLase pigment for applying variable information onto metal parts. . . . ficonTEC (Bremen, Germany) has acquired the automated fiber-alignment and laser-welding product lines of Newport (Irvine, CA). . . . Materials-processing laser supplier Han’s Lasers Technology Co. (China) has opened a U.S. branch in Houston, TX. . . . Laser maker Powerlase (Crawley, England) opened a major service center in Daegu, Korea to support its Korean customer base. . . . The Quality Management System of LED maker Luminus Devices (Woburn, MA) is now compliant with the International Standards Organization (ISO) 9001:2000 standard. . . . IMRA America (Ann Arbor, MI) has served suit against IPG Photonics (Oxford, MA) to stop misuse of IMRA intellectual property following IPG’s alleged refusal to enter into a serious license negotiation. . . . The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) awarded Lasermet (Bournemouth, England) accreditation for laser testing.
