Small companies speed developments

17 Jun 2002

A programme to build pre-competitive partnerships between academia and small optics companies is yielding commercially viable results up to three times faster than previous schemes.

Rapid commercialization is aided by the involvement of small companies, believes Ian Williams, manager for the LINK Photonics programme, funded by the UK government. "Small companies tend to need more immediate payback for their work. This perhaps makes them more dynamic than larger companies." He compared the current effort to an optoelectronics programme which closed four years ago. "The results from that are only now starting to be exploited by large companies such as Hewlett Packard and Nortel."

LINK Photonics was established to adapt telecommunications technologies to other disciplines such as medicine and engineering. Many of the projects have yielded results within a year of completion.

Williams explained that each of the 2 or 3 year projects involves several companies and at least one university group. About 50% of the funding for each project comes from the UK government, through research grants to the academics and through grants, from the Department of Trade and Industry, to the industrial partners.

The model is not new, but the speed at which research ideas have become products is unusual. The government would not normally fund direct commercial ventures and previous schemes have taken 5 or 10 years to yield results.

LINK Photonics closed to new applicants about a year ago and about half of the 33 projects have now been completed.

One success is the formation of a company called Cambridge Display Technology. This resulted from research at the University of Cambridge to explore displays made from light emitting polymers.

Another group, including Bookham Technology and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxford, has developed a fibre optic pressure sensor to put into the cylinders of car engines. The motor company, Ford, is enthusiastic about this result and plans to launch a product based on the technology at the Frankfurt motor show later this year.

Within a year of completion, a project, lead by Siemens Environmental Research Systems and including researchers at St Andrews University, has launched a fibre optic multi gas sensor for use in environmental monitoring.

Williams told OPTICS.ORG about many other project that show similar potential. "I'm probably biased but I'm very pleased to see new companies form so quickly as a direct result of the programme," commented Williams. "There are still more results to come as half of the projects are still running."

SH