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01 Oct 2015
Awards for photonics technology innovation across 12 categories to be presented at Photonics West 2016 gala dinner.
The deadline for entries to next year’s Prism Awards is rapidly approaching – any prospective applications for the international competition recognizing optical technology innovation must be completed by October 9.
The awards, jointly sponsored by optics.org publisher SPIE and Photonics Media, celebrate creativity and persistence as well as the versatility of photonics, according to SPIE’s CEO Eugene Arthurs.
"As we have celebrated the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies around the world throughout 2015, there have been examples at every turn of new photonics-enabled applications that change individual's lives and solve society's challenges,” he said.
"It is inspiring to see so much insightful research applied not only to the increase of human knowledge, but in the form of new products and processes that save lives, secure our communities, enrich communication across the planet, drive sustainable lighting and energy sources, and enhance education around the world. Our Prism Awards honor the companies and individuals who bring the best of these new products to market."
As usual, past Prism Award winners have made headlines around the world this year. For example Canada’s Verisante Technology - a winner in the biophotonics and life sciences category back in 2013 - found its cancer diagnostic system based on Raman spectroscopy the subject of major BBC News report in August.
The technology is currently being used in a clinical trial at the Charing Cross Hospital in central London, testing its ability to provide real-time discrimination between benign and cancerous brain tissue during neurosurgery. Those tissue samples are more usually sent to a laboratory for time-consuming analysis by histopathologists.
Ironically enough, one of the first patients to take part in the Verisante trial was a PhD student from Imperial College working on laser technology, and was the subject of the BBC report.
Entries to the 2016 Prism Awards are now being accepted across these 12 different categories:
• Additive Manufacturing
• Alternative Lighting
• Biomedical Instrumentation
• Detectors and Sensors
• Displays
• Imaging and Cameras
• Industrial Lasers
• Materials and Coatings
• Optics and Optical Components
• Optical Communications
• Other Metrology Instrumentation
• Scientific Lasers
Following deliberations by an independent panel of judges, finalists for the Prisms will be short-listed later this year before the winners are revealed at a gala dinner taking place February 17, during the SPIE Photonics West event.
For full details and online application details, visit the Prism Awards dedicated web site.
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