Open Photonics facilitates R&D-to-commercialization process

Jan. 14, 2013

Orlando, FL--Jason Eichenholz has launched a new company called Open Photonics that aims to ease the R&D-to-commercialization process for companies interested in utilizing photonics technologies.

Gail Overton

Open Photonics was launched by well-known photonics industry professional Jason Eichenholz to 'accelerate the commercialization of photonics technologies by facilitating unprecedented collaboration between established companies with channels to market and researchers/inventors having new ideas that they want to see commercialized.' — Open Photonics was launched by well-known photonics industry professional Jason Eichenholz to "accelerate the commercialization of photonics technologies by facilitating unprecedented collaboration between established companies with channels to market and researchers/inventors having new ideas that they want to see commercialized."

Orlando, FL--A new "open innovation" company called Open Photonics has been launched by well-known (Ocean Optics, Newport/Spectra-Physics) photonics industry professional Jason Eichenholz that, according to its newly launched website at http://www.open-photonics.com , aims to "… accelerate the commercialization of photonics technologies by facilitating unprecedented collaboration between established companies with channels to market and researchers/inventors having new ideas that they want to see commercialized."

In a recent article by Henry Chesbrough (Open Photonics Advisory Board member) and Jason Eichenholz (Open Photonics CEO) published in SPIE Professional Magazine (Bellingham, WA) and entitled "Open Innovation in Photonics", Open Photonics explains that today, "… large amounts of knowledge now exists outside the research labs of large companies" and these resources should be tapped to improve a companies' R&D and future technology portfolio. Through open innovation, companies interested in leveraging photonics are encouraged to network with and support inventors and researchers who can offer new ideas and technologies, rather than relying only on internal R&D to meet commercialization and new product goals. This "externally looking innovation process" urges companies to acquire inventions or IP from others when it advances their business model.

Jason also describes the company overview in this YouTube video:

Also described on the website is the two stage Open Photonics crowd-sourcing grant program called Photonic Horizons (http://www.open-photonics.com/photonic-horizons), in which inventors and researchers can receive over $100,000 to develop their technology towards commercialization.

The company has put together an impressive list of technical and business advisors (http://www.open-photonics.com/advisory-board) who peer review the proposals submitted to the program and help advise Open Photonics clients on the strengths and merits of the proposals.

In addition to the website, Open Photonics has formed a group with the same name on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4549758), is one of the sponsors of the SPIE Startup Challenge (http://spie.org/x88933.xml), and will be giving a short presentation at the 2013 Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar (http://www.marketplaceseminar.com) to be held in conjunction with SPIE Photonics West on Monday, February 4.

SPIE corporate member Open Photonics Inc. (OPI) was formed specifically to accelerate the commercialization of photonics technologies by linking the best minds in the industry with existing infrastructure and market channels. Its Photonic Horizons competitive grant program is a crowd-sourcing and open-innovation framework that fosters collaboration between established companies and the researchers and inventors who have ideas with commercial potential. OPI team and advisory board members manage the entire grant process from concept validation through eventual prototype development completion.

SOURCE: Open Photonics; http://www.open-photonics.com

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.