Photonics Center successfully helps new business

17 Jun 2002

Two years after the opening of its USD 80 million facility dedicated as a business incubator within Boston University, US, the Photonics Center is reporting commercial successes.

One of the first examples is a company called Mosaic Technologies which has recently commercialized optical fibre based biomedical devices to rapidly detect bacteria and viruses in human blood.

Mosaic was started five years ago by a group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It joined the Photonics Center two years later to take advantage of the facilities and business expertise. The first commercial devices from the collaboration were launched last year and the centre sees Mosaic as its first 'graduate'. Mosaic now has about 30 members of staff and has attracted funding of about USD 6.5 million. "They have really outgrown the centre now and are likely to move to other facilities by the end of the year," said Clifford Robinson, a director at the centre.

The multidisciplinary centre helps startup companies develop light-related products by taking an equity investment in them and providing them with rent-free office space and business and technical expertise. The centre receives a percentage of the profits depending on its involvement in the specific project.

In addition to helping startup companies, the Photonics Center also establishes joint venture projects with larger companies. These include projects with EG&G and Lockheed Martin.

The centre was launched in 1994 with USD 29 million of seed funding from the US Office of Naval Research and from Boston University. "It is quite common for a business to start a business incubator. It is much less common for a university," commented Robinson. He added that this is because such a venture requires a large amount of money. The centre continues to attract venture capital funding.

SH