Expanded SPIE Photonics West 2014 Industry Track Offers More For Technology Commercialization Entrepreneurs, Startups, Investors, Executives

Panels, presenters, workshops cover topics from financing to product launch

Panel discussions on what startups need for success, promising technology commercialization prospects, and insights on funding biophotonics ventures are among new elements of an expanded industry track at SPIE Photonics West 2014. Already the largest and most influential international laser and photonics meeting of the year, Photonics West will provide even more for entrepreneurs, investors, and technology business leaders during its 1-6 February run at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. Photonics West is presented by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

The industry program and two major exhibitions are open to all conference attendees, exhibitors, and exhibition visitors at no charge. 

“Photonics West is widely acknowledged as the industries’ leading annual event bringing together business leaders, suppliers, customers, funders and researchers from the global photonics marketplace.  This year’s added events enrich an already-strong program that is designed to drive economic growth in the photonics industry, stimulate new ideas, accelerate technology transfer, foster new partnerships, and spark innovation,” said SPIE Senior Director Andrew Brown.  “Leveraging our strong connections to, and knowledge of, the photonics industry SPIE has developed a program to meet the business, marketing and education needs of our constituents from industry, government and academia to help them grow their companies, develop new solutions, expand their products, find new markets and foster business creation.”

Biophotonics is as an example of current opportunity, said Linda Smith (Ceres Technical Advisers), moderator of one of the new panels for business management. Smith characterized the field as a fertile ground for investment and economic growth, with a robust market for private placements in development-stage and high-growth biophotonics businesses.

Panels include:

• Financing Life Sciences and Healthcare Ventures, moderated by Smith, with panelists including Omar Amirana (Allied Minds), Faz Bashi (Angel Capital Association), Jeremy Salesin (Intellectual Ventures) and Jonathan Wyler (SV Life Sciences Advisers)
• What Startups Need to be Successful, moderated by Andrea Belz (Belz Consulting) with an introduction by Arun Chhabra, co-founder at 8tree, winner of the 2013 SPIE Startup Challenge, and panelists James Schaefer (Mark Schaefer Associates), Ken Irato (Faber Group), Liz Nevis (Intermolecular), and Ellen McGuirk (Masterplan Consulting).
• Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits, moderated by SPIE Marketing and Industry Relations Director Peter Hallett, with panelists Radha Nagarajan (Infinera), Mario Paniccia (Intel), Vladimir Kozlov (LightCounting), Peter De Dobbelaere (Luxtera), and Ashok Krishnamoorthy (Oracle)
• Green Photonics: A Solar Revolution, moderated by Stephen Eglash, Energy and Environment Affiliates Program, Stanford University, with panelists Homer Antoniadis (DuPont), Raffi Garabedian (First Solar), and Martin Green (University of New South Wales)
• Executive Perspectives on the World of Optics and Photonics, moderated by SPIE Industry and Market Analyst Stephen Anderson

A new Technology-Transfer Showcase aims to connect creators with companies, said moderator David Wick, Licensing Executive at Sandia National Labs. "Universities and labs are hotbeds of wildly creative ideas," he said. "The trick is turning those ideas into cost-effective, reliable products and introducing them to the marketplace." 

Presentations will feature John Dexheimer (Private Equity Investing) on startup financing, David Krohn (Light Wave Venture) on commercialization, and SPIE's Anderson on the economic impact of the industry and growth trends in photonics.

Workshops will cover ITAR, intellectual property management, inbound marketing, and careers in photonics. 

Recruiters from more than 40 companies will be at the SPIE Job Fair on the Photonics West exhibition floor to meet with prospective applicants on Tuesday and Wednesday, 4-5 February. 

The Photonics West exhibition, with nearly 1,300 exhibiting companies and over 240 product launches, will run 4-6 February. Exhibitors are suppliers and developers of lasers, fiber optics, imaging, metrology, and more. 

The BiOS Expo, running 1-2 February with approximately 235 exhibiting companies, is the world's largest biomedical optics and biophotonics exhibition. Featured technologies include therapeutic lasers, molecular imaging, biosensors, and spectroscopic and microscopic imaging. 

Competitive awards presented at Photonics West for innovative new products and a startup pitch contest will also support photonics commercialization. 

The annual Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation, sponsored by SPIE and Photonics Media, will recognize the best new photonics products at a gala banquet. Advance tickets are required. 

The SPIE Startup Challenge, hosted by SPIE with support from Founding Sponsor JENOPTIK and others, will give venture capital exposure and mentoring to aspiring entrepreneurs working to bring new products to market - and the winners will leave with cash prizes and equipment donations. Top prize is $10,000 and $5,000 in credit for equipment from Edmund Optics. 

About SPIE
SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. The Society serves more than 235,000 constituents from approximately 155 countries, offering conferences, continuing education, books, journals, and a digital library in support of interdisciplinary information exchange, professional networking, and patent precedent. SPIE provided $3.2M in support of education and outreach programs in 2013.