During the 2021 Prism Awards ceremony held online on March 3, 2021, SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics (Bellingham, WA), and Photonics Media (Pittsfield, MA) recognized the top optics and photonics products on the market.
The 90-minute virtual ceremony highlighted an exciting range of dynamic companies, all of them applying innovative and creative solutions to critical problems in areas such as life sciences, smart sensing, transportation, quantum, and vision technology.
Each year, the Prism Awards reflect the latest exciting developments, exponential growth, and rich technical innovations across photonics and photonics-enabled industries. For consideration of this year’s awards, SPIE received 149 applications from 18 countries. Finalists and winners were selected by a panel of international judges that included leaders from both the technology commercialization and funding sectors.
The distinguished presenters of the Prism Awards represented the best of the global photonics industry: Microsoft Senior Hardware Engineer Architect Maria Pace; GS1's Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives Rosalie Clemens; Lumentum’s Director of Product Line Management for 3D Sensing Matthew Everett; Raytheon Engineering Fellow Gerald Uyeno; the FDA’s Director of BioMedical Physics Division Zane Arp; Rutgers University Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Laura Fabris; Zemax CTO Sanjay Gangadhara; AegiQ CEO and Co-founder Maksym (Max) Sich; Photon etc., Business Development Director Marie-Christine Ferland; and MKS Instruments’ Spectra-Physics Senior VP and General Manager Dave Allen.
The award categories and their winners are:
- Life Sciences: Augmentiqs Medical
- Manufacturing: Boston Micro Fabrication
- Medical Devices: Norlase
- Quality Control: Teledyne DALSA
- Quantum: Element Six
- Safety & Security: RaySecur
- Smart Sensing: nanoLambda
- Software: ALPhANOV
- Transportation: KYOCERA SLD Laser
- Vision Technology: WaveOptics