Photonics Innovation Wanted: Prism Awards Accepting Applications

Annual competition sponsored by SPIE and Photonics Media will showcase groundbreaking optics and photonics inventions

Bellingham, WA and Pittsfield, MA /PRNewswire/ - Applications are being accepted for the prestigious 2018 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation. The competition, sponsored annually by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and Photonics Media to honor groundbreaking technology and product inventions within the high-impact industry of optics and photonics, will mark its 10th anniversary in 2018.

Application information and listings of past winners and finalists are on the Prism Awards website: www.photonicsprismaward.com.

Winners will be announced by industry leaders at a gala banquet on 31 January during SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco, California. With high-level presenters and an audience including the "who's who" of the photonics industry, the awards boost visibility, recognition, and brand equity for companies bringing innovative products to the market.

Among presenters of the 2018 awards will be Akira Hiruma, President and CEO of Hamamatsu Photonics KK; Ray O. Johnson, former Senior Vice President and CTO of Lockheed Martin Corp.; and Peter Leibinger, Vice Chairman of the Managing Board of Trumpf GmbH and Co.

"In providing visibility to some of the most creative applications of optics and photonics technology each year, the Prism Awards help raise awareness about the importance of technology in general for economic growth, and the key role of photonics as an enabling technology in so many areas of life," said SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs.

"For 10 years, the Prism Awards have brought well-deserved attention to the most exciting and beneficial new products in the photonics field — products that have gone on to make their marks in an increasing number of industries," said Thomas Laurin, president and CEO of Laurin Publishing.

Prism Awards applications are judged by a panel of leading industry experts, venture capitalists, luminaries, and visionaries who select finalists and winners in several categories for new products.

Application deadline is 6 October. Finalists will be announced in mid-November, and winners will be announced during the awards banquet on 31 January in San Francisco.

SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. www.spie.org

Photonics Media, a brand of Pittsfield, Mass.-based Laurin Publishing Co. Inc., publishes Photonics Spectra, BioPhotonics, EuroPhotonics, Photonics Buyers' Guide and Photonics.com. www.photonics.com.