DATE: June 25, 2007
CONTACT:
Jeff Conley, (864) 325-4700
jcon@charter.net
WRITER:
Jeff Conley, (864) 325-4700
jcon@charter.net
Carolina universities form photonics consortium
Getting photonics technologies to the marketplace has just gotten easier.
The Carolinas Photonics Consortium (CPC) today announced the signing of the CPC Inter-Institutional Agreement by Clemson University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Western Carolina University and Duke University.
The agreement provides the foundation for collaborative university work aimed at the commercialization of photonics, or light-based technologies. Photonics are used in a wide array of everyday products, including DVD players, long-distance communication, medical and dental surgeries, dashboard lighting, missile guidance and garage-door sensors. Recent advances include high-intensity lighting, biochemical detection, high-powered lasers for manufacturing needs and early cancer detection. One of the primary goals of the CPC is the commercialization of photonics-based research by awarding funds to competitively submitted proposals from the five campuses.
“There is a classic gap between great research and realization of the commercial opportunity. CPC provides a bridge to move technology to the marketplace by engaging a world-class collaboration of universities and providing some important seed money to get the commercialization process started,” said Jeff Conley, interim director for CPC.
“The Carolinas Photonics Consortium has been very active in involving researchers across the five campuses and has moved quickly in establishing a strong collaboration. The region will see significant new business creation as a result of CPC,” notes Sarah Smith, director of sponsored programs for the University of North Carolina General Administration.
A project proposal program will be announced in August. It will provide seed funding for one photonics-based project from each campus over the next 12 months. The goal of the program is to identify top commercial prospects and provide some initial funding to move the concepts down the path of commercialization. Commercialization support and company development will be provided by the Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Program (TEC) at North Carolina State University. The TEC Program has been supporting technology migration from bench to market domestically and internationally for 13 years with proven tools and techniques.
Each of the five consortium members has nationally respected programs in photonics. North Carolina State University’s strengths are in photonic devices, optoelectronic and semiconductor materials and information technology. The Center for Optoelectronics and Optical Communications at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has a core competence in micro-optics and modeling of optical systems. Western Carolina’s Center for Rapid Product Realization provides prototyping, testing and design expertise for new product scale-up. The Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics at Duke has research programs in biophotonics, nano- and microsystems, nanophotonics and quantum optics and information. Clemson’s Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET) is focused on the development of novel optical materials. More than $300 million has been invested from state and federal funds over the last five years, making CPC the largest concentration of photonics-based resources in the country.