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Photonics
Photonfirst ready to claim world leadership in integrated photonic sensing
Photonfirst CEO Daan Kersten.
Photonfirst is looking to become the world’s innovation leader in integrated photonic sensing. It’s just a matter of reaching the stepping stones that will take its technology to high-volume sales. With a few dozen of potential applications in six different markets, the Alkmaar-based company is Credit: Photonfirst quickly closing in on a pivot point. Paul van Gerven
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n 1 January, the integrated photonic sensing business unit of instrumentation specialist Technobis was spun out as an independent company called Photonfirst. After fifteen years of lovingly nursing the technology to maturity, the time had come for the bird to leave the nest. However, it’s not quite ready to stand on its own two feet yet: it’s going to take another few years to scale the business in scope and size. “Our technology to measure temperature, pressure, acceleration, strain or shape deformation has already proven itself in some eye-catching applications, such as the overheat detection system for Airbus 350 planes. Or the sensors that measure the sway of the Taipei 101 skyscraper, which
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some time ago was the world’s tallest building,” says Photonfirst CEO Daan Kersten. “Now, we need to move into killer applications that generate high-volume sales. But engineering a technology into costeffective end-to-end solutions takes time.” Interestingly, Photonfirst hasn’t identified one but several of such potential killer applications and is exploring them in parallel. Testament to the versatility of its lightbased sensor technology, the company is targeting no less than six markets: aerospace, energy, high-tech systems, infrastructure, medical and mobility. “We’d love to focus on a single application, but since we don’t know which one will be the first to take off, we can’t afford to put all our eggs in one basket,” Kersten explains. All companies looking to introduce a new technology have to go through this difficult phase of finding traction in a market,
but it may be a little harder for Photonfirst. After all, integrated photonics has only recently grown beyond the demonstration level, and few companies are aware of its potential, let alone possess the in-house knowledge to apply it. Fortunately, Photonfirst can count on the help of Photondelta, a Dutch organization tasked to accelerate the integrated photonics industry. Photondelta actively promotes the adoption of this disruptive technology and has successfully created an ecosystem that’s able to design, develop and produce innovative solutions based on integrated photonic technology. Photonfirst is a front-runner within this ecosystem, but we’ll know more in 2025, the year the Alkmaar-based company aims to generate sales exceeding 100 million euros, go public and become the global innovation leader in integrated photonic sensing.
