News

Solar Startup Reaps $15 Million in New Funding

Ottawa's Cyrium Technologies as raised $15 million in new funding to make solar cell generation competitive with power generated by coal, nuclear, water and other electricity sources. Cyrium chief executive Steve Eglash said yesterday that the the investments from a key new California investor and others will fund development of high volume production of concentrator photovoltaic cells (CPV).

The technology uses optical mirrors to maximize energy production from the sun compared to solar silicon wafers used by an older solar technology. "We are very close to our first commercial product." Mr. Eglash said. "Six customers are currently sampling a prototype." Cyrium founder and chief technology officer Simon Fafard said the "investment is what Cyrium needs to commercialize its solar cells and enable CPV to be more competitive, thus promoting massive deployment of renewable solar energy."

The former National Research Council optical expert started Cyrium five years ago. It had previously raised about $3 million in funding.
The new round was led by The Quercus Trust of Costa Mesa, California with several previous investors participating, including BDC Venture Capital, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital and Pangaea Ventures Ltd.

The Quercus Trust is a privately-held family trust which invests in the alternative energy sector. Mr. Eglash, who joined Cyrium about a year ago, has set up a Sunnyvale, California office to tap the strong West Coast solar industry. The company has nine employees and plans to hire more in Ottawa and California.

Cyrium and some partners also got $4.6 million in separate project funding this week from the federal government through Sustainable
Development Technology Canada. The Cybium funding is the second involving an Ottawa-area startup this week. Diablo Technologies, a Gatineau semiconductor startup, also raised $15 million in new funding to expand product lines.

(c) The Ottawa Citizen 2008

Canadian Delegates Offered Snapshot of Tucson Technology
Posted: Monday, Mar 26, 2007 - 03:30:12 pm MDT

Philip S. Moore

Inside Tucson Business

New technologies, new applications and new partnerships are what keep optical sensor maker LxSix Photonics Co. expanding, and that’s why Chief Technical Officer Paul Lefebvre says he never misses an opportunity to go someplace new.

“For six years we’ve been providing solutions,” he said, “But our product is usually part of someone else’s solution. That’s why we’re always looking for someone with specialized skills. We want to partner with people who are experts.”

Toward that effort, Lefebvre, whose firm is based in Montreal, Quebec, joined a dozen other technology business leaders and trade promotion officials for a one-day trip to Tucson, March 22 sponsored by the Government of Canada’s Business Development Office.

The University of Arizona’s Office of Economic Development hosted the delegation as a prelude to a trade mission that will go to Ottawa June 3 - 7 as part of the Photonics North Conference and Expo.

The delegation toured the University of Arizona and Science and Technology Park and met with local optics and photonics industry officials. 

“Our approach is to make it risk-free to enter the U.S. market through Tucson.” said John Grabo, UA director of Marketing and International Programs, at the Canadian optics breakfast.

Through the university’s economic development office and the Global Advantage program, he said, “We make your life as easy as possible while you explore your business opportunities. Use our facilities, and use our network of connections. It’s a no obligation offer.”

Grabo said it’s part of an overall strategy to make Tucson a hub for high technology, “building a robust city though exchanges that build our expertise.”

With more than 1,000 technology companies, locally, employing more than 50,000 workers earning more than $6 billion per year, he said the strategy is working. But the UA wants to do more.

Grabo said the university’s Science and Technology Park was created with the goal of fostering technology’s development, from the laboratory to the marketplace. “That’s why we wanted this to be a place where like minds, with like philosophies and like goals can come together. ”

Moving beyond its boundaries, there are new relationships to explore, he said. The Global Advantage program now has partnerships in Manchester, U.K., and Berlin, Germany, and growing ties elsewhere, worldwide.

“Tucson started as a frontier community,” said Kendall Bert, vice president of Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, “but it’s more than a small western town that’s grown a bit.”

He said the city has a 300-year history of being a crossroads of cultures and nations. That, and the weather means workers with a choice choose to live here. With the University of Arizona as the “key jewel” in attracting knowledge workers, he said, “we’re on the frontier of technology.”

Looking to the upcoming Photonics North conference, Breault Research Organization Chairman Bob Breault said the opportunities for companies taking advantage of the existing ties between Canada and Southern Arizona are unpredictable but abundant.

“These are the kind of connections you want in place,” he said. Not because they’ll all succeed, “but you never know which one is going to bloom.” 

Although Canada has been, at times, uncertain about how to move forward in establishing business-to-business connections, the support is now there to pursue opportunities, wherever they emerge, said Sadiq Hasnain, head of the Canadian Business Development Office in Ottawa. “There’s now more than a $500 million invested,” he said, and the federal government has allocated $150,000 to study what opportunities exist for small and medium optics and photonics business. “That shows they’re serious,” he said.

Not sure if he’s interested is John Tulip, vice president of Boreal Laser, 10-year-old manufacturer of gas detection systems. “I’m fishing,” Tulip said. “We had relations with an Arizona company, before, but they went out of business. Now, I’m seeing what there is to see.”

For now, the company’s only U.S. partners are in California, he said, “but I’m open to whatever pops up.”

E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Contact Philip S. Moore at pmoore@azbiz.com or at (520) 295-4238.

© 2007 Inside Tucson Business. All Rights Reserved

Infotonics Center Awarded $3 Million
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y., March 22, 2007 -- The Infotonics Center in Canandaigua has been awarded a $3 million grant from the Economic Development Administration in the US Department of Commerce. The funds will help the center incubate businesses in the fields of photonics, information systems and optics and create approximately 200 jobs in the greater Rochester region.

"This grant is a huge boost to the Infotonics Center and Canandaigua," said US Rep. John R. Kuhl Jr. (R-Hammondsport) in a statement announcing the award on Wednesday. "The research they are performing on microsystems, photonics, optics and information technology are things that we only dreamed about a few years ago, and now that research is spinning off into job- and revenue-creating businesses right here in our area."

"This investment will help Canandaigua generate a commercial environment that will attract entrepreneurs, businesses and capital," said US Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez in a statement.

The Infotonics Technology Center was formed in 2001 by Eastman Kodak Co., Corning Inc. and Xerox Corp. as a nonprofit corporation to operate New York State's Center of Excellence in Photonics and Microsystems. The center, which in 2002 moved to a 123,000-sq-ft former Xerox facility in Canandaigua, provides research and development on photonics, MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) and MOEMS (micro-optoelectromechanical systems) for applications including chemical, biological and physical sensors; planar and free-space optics and microfluidics.

The $3 million grant from the EDA Public Works Program will renovate incubator space for startup photonics, information systems and optics businesses and construct the Infotonics Commercialization Center for the manufacture of pilot products, creating 200 jobs and generating $130 million in private investment in the greater Rochester region, Kuhl said.

The center received $1 million in the FY 2007 Defense Appropriations bill and $2 million in the FY 2006 bill.

The total cost of the center's expansion is $6.4 million, with the rest of the funds being contributed by state, local and private investments, Kuhl said.

For more information, visit: www.infotonics.org

Winter 2006-07 LightNEWS Published
The Winter 2006-07 issue of LightNEWS - the newsletter of the IPCA - has been posted online. Click HERE to download the latest issue.

CPFC To Hold Photonics Commercialization Symposium
Lighting the Future. A high-level international event that brings together Senior Executives from leading photonics corporations together with high ranking government officials who will present their perspective on the commercialization of photonics. Presenters will also showcase emerging commercial opportunities in optics and photonics and show how these technologies are changing the way we live.

This is a one day symposium where CTOs, CEOs, VPs of Engineering, high-ranking government officials, venture capitalists and industry analysts will provide their perspectives on the most rapidly evolving markets and how photonics will provide solutions to problems of global economic importance. The speakers will share their privileged view of the evolving photonics markets and the commercialization of new photonics technologies that will enable next generation applications.

Photonics is both an industry in its own right and a far-reaching enabling technology. Photonics technology is everywhere - in medical diagnostics, solid-state lighting, data communications, energy conservation, national defence, telecommunications and other applications, which will be addressed by the symposium speakers. This meeting will provide investors, business leaders, government officials, entrepreneurs and other key decision makers with a unique opportunity to network with a select group of invited speakers in an exclusive forum. We invite you to register soon for this exclusive event and discover what will be...Lighting the Future.

To REGISTER click here, or for more information call (613) 991-1143.

IPCA to Hold Biophotonics Event with Elcan
IPCA Stakeholders/Members Meeting Scheduled for March 29, 2006 at the offices of the Infotonics Technology Center. This program will focus on opportunities for collaboration in the area of biophotonics with Elcan - a division of Raytheon. For complete details and registration information, click HERE for complete details.

LightNEWS - First Issue Published
IPCA is pleased to release it's first issue of LightNEWS - a bi-monthly newsletter which will highlight recent IPCA activities and those of our stakeholders and cluster members. Click HERE to download the first issue. If you are an IPCA member or stakeholder interested in submitting material for an upcoming issue, please email davidg@ipcalliance.org. Submission for the next issue must be received by Februrary 28th and should be no more than 350 words.

IPCA Posts Fabrication Centers' Capabilities Online
In an effort to assist firms interested in commercializing photonic technologies, IPCA has posted brief descriptions of the three fabrication centers who are currently members of IPCA. These include the Photonics Center at Boston University, the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre in Ottawa, and the Infotonics Technology Center in Canandaigua, NY. Contact information is provided on each of these pages if you would like more information on any of these facilities. Click here to go directly to the listings.

IPCA Attends RFSI Innovators Event
Do you think you have a great idea that might be developed into a new company? The Rochester Federal Subcontracting Initiative met to discuss possible sources of innovation, funding and commercialization strategies, and areas for international collaboration and local and regional economic development. This event also announced the local kickoff for the International Photonics Commercialization Alliance.

On Thursday, December 15th, we hosted a reception to discuss the formation of a new international network of innovators. This event was sponsored by Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel, LLP, the Infotonics Technology Center, Canadian Photonics Fabrication Center, the Canadian Consulate, the International Photonics Commercialization Alliance and The Javelin Group.

IPCA Holds First Roundtable
The International Photonics Commercialization Alliance (IPCA)  held its inaugural meeting and first roundtable discussions on the subject of  "Enabling Photonics Commercialization through International Alliances". This roundtable was held November 9th at the Photonics Center at Boston University and prior to PCBU's The Future of Light: 9th Annual Symposium on Emerging Opportunities in Photonics held at The Photonics Center at Boston on November 10th.

Roundtable Purpose: To explain the mission and benefits of the new organization (IPCAlliance) to local Boston based members from industry, academia, and research organizations.  To create an exchange between industry and alliance stakeholders on what is needed to successfully commercialize photonics today and moving forward.  We also held an open session designed to allow participants to discuss the MIT roadmap and the technologies/capabilities that will be required to enable the commercialization of these next generation photonic devices. Local Boston photonics companies were encouraged to attend and express their views on how IPCA can provide commercialization assistance.

AGENDA:
Greetings & Introductions - Jacques Ruel, Canadian Consulate Office in Boston
IPCA Overview & Value Proposition - Jim Frappier, NRC/Canadian Photonics Fabrication Center
Photonics Center Commercialization Capabilities - Cliff Robinson, Photonics Center at Boston University
Commercialization Initiatives at Infotonics - Pam Sims, Infotonics Tech Center
Commercializing Photonics in Canada - Sylvain Charbonneau, NRC/Canadian Photonics Fabrication Center
MIT's Communication Technology Roadmap - Prof. Randolph Kirchain, Director of Roadmap Project, MIT
Coffee break
Roundtable discussion: The MIT technology roadmap and the capabilities  required to help commercialize next generation photonic devices.

CPFC AND INFOTONICS FORM STRATEGIC ALLIANCE
The NRC Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre (CPFC) and New York State based Infotonics Technology Center sign MOU agreement that plans to bring next generation photonics to life.

Canada's first fully integrated photonics prototyping and fabrication facility, the National Research Council (NRC) Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre (CPFC), and the Infotonics Technology Center, a New York State Center of Excellence in photonics and microsystems, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The agreement promises a new level of international business cooperation between the two photonic technology commercialization centres. Both share a common goal - to facilitate the commercialization of innovative photonic technologies. They provide world-class industrial grade facilities that "bridge the gap" between innovation and product commercialization, thereby providing companies with a unique competitive edge in the global photonics market. "One of NRC's priorities is "Global Reach" which includes securing strategic international partnerships that benefit Canada," said NRC President Dr. Pierre Coulombe. "This alliance with Infotonics will help Canadian researchers and firms access specialized facilities and equipment and ultimately commercialize leading edge technologies."

The MOU will help promote the collective capabilities and facilities of Infotonics and CPFC. The Infotonics Technology Centre provides comprehensive in-house design, microfabrication and device packaging. "Infotonics' capabilities are complementary to those of the CPFC and together we can enable a new generation of photonic enabled solutions. This alliance will provide our respective clients with unparalleled design, prototyping, and pilot production capabilities, second to none in the world." said Dr. Sylvain Charbonneau, Director of Applications Technologies, NRC's Institute for Microstructural Sciences in Ottawa.

NRC's research in semiconductor materials and devices based at the Institute for Microstructural Sciences (NRC-IMS), combined with CPFC's strengths in design and fabrication of semiconductor based lasers and detectors, complements the Microsystems based expertise of the Infotonics Centre. "This agreement enhances our plan to become part of a Northeastern corridor of expertise in microsystems and photonics. It increases the services we can offer to our clients, and it opens us to new potential clients internationally. This can only help in our mission to drive economic growth and create jobs in the Rochester and Finger Lakes region and New York State" said David R. Smith, CEO of Infotonics. The agreement was facilitated by Javelin Associates, which has its offices at the Infotonics Center. Javelin helps its clients secure federal contracts, assists them with business plans, and networks with the appropriate constituencies on their behalf.

The MOU outlines a number of objectives, including:
To collaborate in developing programs for specific clients where both parties can offer the best available complementary services that are beneficial to the client.
To identify opportunities for the complementary use of facilities, staff, equipment and expertise to conduct collaborative, joint projects.
To engage in cross-referrals as appropriate.

The alliance will help companies tap into the world-class expertise and innovative capabilities found at NRC, CPFC and the Infotonics Center of Excellence. With the expanded tool set now available, companies, universities, and research centres will be able to reduce their time-to-market and provide more competitive feature rich products.

About NRC:
Recognized globally for research and innovation, National Research Council CAnada (NRC) is a leader in the development of an innovative, knowledge-based economy for Canada through science and technology. www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

NRC's research into semiconductor's materials and devices, centered at NRC-IMS, creates, develops and diffuses integrative and convergent technologies that help apply IT hardware components in sectors as diverse as Communications, Health, Energy, Environment and Security. With its three major programs of Materials/Processes, Components and Technology Base, NRC's core microstructural sciences competencies are organic and inorganic semiconductors, nanofabrication, photonic and quantum devices, thin film technologies, acoustics, nanotechnology and optical components. The CPFC is an example of how NRC can help industry succeed by providing prototyping and related commercialization services. www.ims-ism.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

About the CPFC:
This $43 million facility is a partnership between NRC and Carleton University to support the growth of the Canadian photonics sector. It offers companies, universities, and other institutions access to fabrication services to develop leading edge photonic devices. The Centre provides unique photonic device prototyping and design facilities for SMEs. These include both III-V semiconductor compound and silicon-based photonic circuits for applications in fiber-optic communication systems, solid state lighting, optical sensors for the environment and security applications, medical diagnostics and imaging, optical interconnects, solar cells, and illumination systems. The Centre is located at the NRC research complex in Ottawa to take advantage of NRC's extensive research expertise, facilities and networks. cpfc-ccfdp.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

About Infotonics:
The Infotonics Technology Center Inc. (Infotonics) is a not-for-profit corporation that operates New York State's Center of Excellence in Photonics and Microsystems. Infotonics is structured as a consortium whose founding participants include Corning, Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, and Xerox Corporation. Academic participants include some 20 New York State colleges and universities. Infotonics' goal is to establish a unique, world-class research and development facility to enable rapid commercialization of new products. This initiative will provide major benefits to the region, including creation of jobs and attraction of new companies and investment revenue. For more information, access www.infotonics.org.

For more information, please visit NRC's Web site at http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca, or contact:

Pierre Naud
Media Relations Officer
National Research Council Canada (NRC)
Tel: (613) 990-6091
media@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

David Gottfried
Infotonics Technology Center
Tel: (585) 919-3081
david.gottfried@infotonics.org

Learn about government services for entrepreneurs
Interested in what Canada and the U.S. have to offer entrepreneurs in the startup process? Check out Canada Business - Government Services for Entrepreneurs. The site goes through the various tax issues, export and import regulations, and assistance in starting a business. While you're at it, be sure to check out the U.S. Small Business Administration to learn about business plan writing. There's also a host of incentives offered to entrepreneurs looking to start a business in New York State at www.NYLovesBiz.com. Finally, for information on business incentives in Massachusetts, be sure to visit the MassDevelopment website.

IPCA Kickoff Meeting Held
Several of the initial stakeholders for the IPCA met during Photonics North in Toronto at the Radisson Hotel on September 13, 2005 to discuss the first steps to put together the new organization. One of the outcomes from that meeting was that there will be a virtual newsletter with features focusing on commercialzation of new photonics-related technologies and various sources of pre-seed and venture capital. Expect to see the first issue of the newsletter posted online within the next couple weeks.

The IPCA is also working to deliver on its objectives for the first six months. These include:

- Developing a contact database to serve as a "supermarket of capabilities" of the regions' photonics related organizations;
- Assist in making available to IPCA members, access to IP existing within organizations like NRC and various US National Labs;
- Make available to IPCA members online business planning tools;
- Collect market intelligence on the photonics industry for members' use;
- Provide a process for Canadian and US companies to access regional photonic and microsystem manufacturing capabilities;
- Enable IPCA members' participation in ongoing technology workshops supported by various research labs, governments, clusters, and industries within the expanded region;
- Enable inter-cluster communications;
- Assist in accessing government funding streams, such as SBIR/STTRs;
- Enable commercialization seminars or forums on topics such as: The international VC community; Photonics enabling the Future; Alternative funding sources available for SMEs

Check back for more information to be posted soon as well as details on our first event which will be hosted in Rochester, New York and will focus on photonics-based technology commercialization.