On the evening of February 1st, SPIE recognized the top-rated new optics and photonics products with the industry-focused Prism Awards. The gala evening, held during Photonics West, also marked the Prism Awards’ 15th anniversary with a champagne toast, a timeline gallery of past winners, and a video showcasing a decade and a half of Prism highlights.
Each year, the SPIE Prism Awards reflect the rapidly growing trajectory, exciting latest developments, and rich technical innovations across photonics and photonics-enabled industries. This year, the annual ceremony honored a range of established and emerging companies applying innovative and creative solutions to critical problems in areas such as augmented and virtual reality, sensors, lasers, quantum technology, and biomedical optical solutions. For consideration this year, SPIE received 76 applications from 19 countries. The 2023 winning companies and products in the eight categories are:
- AR VR MR: TriLite Technologies, Trixel 3
- Biomedical: Philophos, KUOS-O100
- Cameras and Imaging: Metalenz, PolarEyes
- Lasers: Kyocera SLD Laser, LaserLight LiFi system
- Quantum Tech: QuiX Quantum, 20-mode quantum photonic processor
- Sensors: Ocean Insight, SpeedSorter
- Software: Dotphoton, Jetraw
- Test and Measurement: Precitec Optronik, Flying Spot Scanner (FSS 310)
Finalists and winners were selected by a panel of international judges who leveraged their knowledge and acumen from across the technology commercialization and funding sectors. The distinguished judges’ roster included the FDA’s Zane Arp, iFocus’ Adi Diner, AXA-XL’s Simi George, MKS Instruments’ Marc D. Himel, Coherent’s Qiongying Hu, Chromacity’s Shahida Imani, Teledyne Princeton Instruments’ Jason McClure, Technology Scotland’s Alison McLeod, Tesseract Health’s Nishant Mohan, Engender Technologies’ Cather Simpson, Ceres Technology Advisors’ Linda Smith, Toptica’s Mark Tolbert, and Nanovation’s Ferechteh Teherani.
The evening before, Swave Photonics – with their Holographic eXtended Reality chips based on proprietary diffractive photonics technology – was announced the winner of the $10,000 top prize at the 13th annual SPIE Startup Challenge.
Qart Medical, utilizing biophotonics and data for 3D analysis of sperm cells during IVF, received $5,000 for second place. PhosPrint came in third, winning $2,500, with their novel bioprinting technology that repairs in vivo human tissue during surgery. All cash prizes are provided by SPIE Startup Challenge founding partner Jenoptik.
The SPIE Startup Challenge, a pitch competition held annually by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, showcases new businesses, products, and technologies that address critical needs by utilizing photonics in the areas of healthcare and deep tech. This year’s finalists included innovations in medical diagnostics, medical imaging, food safety, and display technology.
Company
SPIEPO Box 10
Bellingham WA 98227-0010
US
most read
Infineon and Marelli enter new era of cockpit design
MEMS laser beam scanning for an immersive car display experience.
inspect America July 2025 is now available!
In this issue, we provide a comprehensive review of Automate, highlighting the most cutting-edge trends, products, and market insights.
The winners of the inspect award 2025
This time, with two additional categories, “SMEs” and “Artificial Intelligence,” the selection was even larger than usual. But now they have been chosen: the machine vision products of the year 2025.
B&R products now available in Europe through RS
B&R has entered into a strategic partnership with RS to distribute B&R products through RS's online and offline channels.
Change in management at Stemmer Imaging: Arne Dehn steps down
New interim CEO Paul Scholten takes over management