Photonfirst ready to claim world leadership in integrated photonic sensing

On 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 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 cost-effective end-to-end solutions takes time.”