The European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC) has presented its CEO Award 2024 to Axel Kupisiewicz, founder and CEO of Lasea, during it's annual general meeting. The award recognizes Kupisiewicz’s outstanding leadership and contributions to the photonics industry.

Kupisiewicz holds a master’s degree in applied sciences from Université Liège, Belgium, and a master's degree in economics and management from HEC, Belgium. After a brief stint in the space sector, he founded Lasea in 1999 at the age of only 25. Pioneering femtosecond lasers since 2003, Lasea specializes in manufacturing micromachining systems that enable precision cutting, marking, engraving, and drilling. Its main sectors include medical, watchmaking and electronics, with prestigious clients worldwide, including two GAMAMs.

Within two decades, Lasea expanded globally, establishing subsidiaries in France, the US, and Switzerland, securing its position as a leader in ultrashort-pulse laser micromachining. With an annual growth rate of thirty percent for twelve years, it boasts over 120 patents, employs 190 people, has 3,000 machines installed across five continents, and enjoys a consolidated income exceeding 41 million euros.

Viacheslav “Slava” Artyushenko is the recipient of the 2024 EPIC Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions and leadership in the optical fibers industry. The CEO of Art Photonics has led the company to become a major player in the global market for special optical fibers’ products and spectroscopy fiber probes.

Born in 1954, Artyushenko graduated from Moscow Physical-Technical Institute and got his PhD in solid-state physics in 1981. In 1998 he founded Art Photonics in Berlin, Germany, to use his polycrystalline infrared fiber technology to develop fiber probes for spectroscopy, medical diagnosis, and control of industrial processes as well as high-power laser cables for medical, industrial and scientific lasers. The company has become one of the worldwide leading manufacturers of fiber cables, bundles, and spectroscopy probes for industrial, medical, and scientific applications, offering a very broad spectral range from 0.3 to 16 µm. In December 2023, Art Photonics was acquired by the Nynomic group.

Further reading: EPIC welcomes new member to its board of directors – Managing director of Trumpf Laser, Björn Dymke, succeeds his colleague, Trumpf CTO Berthold Schmidt, wileyindustrynews.com, 17 April 2024 • Lasea acquires Laser Cheval – The French number 1 in industrial lasers strengthens its position in France and Switzerland, wileyindustrynews.com, 12 September 2022 • 100 % acquisition of Art Photonics – Expansion the technology platform, creating significant synergy potential within the Nynomic group, wileyindustrynews.com, 03 January 2024

References: Liliana Cangueiro, David Bruneel (both: Lasea), Thomas Kiedrowski (Bosch), Nikolai Schroeder, Andrés Fabián Lasagni (both: TU Dresden), J. A. Ramos-de-Campos (Lasea): Heat accumulation in metals under femtosecond irradiation: simulation and experimentation – Research on predicting the quality of laser processing of metals using femtosecond lasers for industrial purposes, PhotonicsViews 18(5), October/November 2021, 30-33; DOI: 10.1002/phvs.202100056 • Ana González, Jose Pozo (EPIC): Integration of Photonic Systems – The new frontier in cancer diagnostics, Optik Photonik 13(2), 22-24, first published: 14 April 2018; DOI: 10.1002/opph.201870207