Generous funding fuels spin-off

17 Jun 2002

With a hefty funding injection of USD 3.8 million Australia-based Redfern Polymer Optics makes its debut.

Redfern Polymer Optics's (RPO) technology is based on intellectual property owned by the Australian Photonics Cooperative Research Centre, a collaborative venture between the Australian National University and the University of Sydney. Its proprietary waveguide production method is a low-temperature, low-cost process, which RPO says allows the mass-manufacture of high-performance planar waveguides with superior physical integrity.

The cash, mainly provided by parent company Redfern Photonics - itself a spin-out from the research center - will be used to develop and commercialize polymer optical fibers, as well as polymer planar and fiber components.

The first two products are scheduled for trial later this year, and the company says that it will announce a novel optical fiber development at the 27th European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) in Amsterdam (30 September to 4 October 2001).

"With continuing milestone achievement, the company expects to close up to USD 10 million in Series A funding by early 2002," said company founder and chief executive officer Ian Maxwell.