The Finger Lakes Regional Center for Advanced Optics Manufacturing was awarded $675,000 today in the New York State Regional Economic Development Competition. Kudos to the FLREDC Optics & Photonics Committee and its chairmen, Jim Sydor of Sydor Optics and Jay Eastman of Optel for their leadership. The money will be used to purchase two pieces...Continue Reading

It’s been a very exciting time in this industry,” Bob Bicksler, president and CEO of JML Optical, said. “Sophisticated electronics, matched up with software, has resulted in a tremendous transformation.” JML has undergone a transformation of its own since Bicksler and COO Gregg Sadwick acquired the company from founder Joe Lobozzo three years ago. The...Continue Reading

Dimension Technologies Inc. (DTI), conceives and develops innovative optical technologies that add highly desirable and product differentiating features to flat panel displays. These technologies include: autostereoscopic technology that makes 3D images leap out of the screen creating a “WOW” effect for the viewer; and ultra high definition (UHD) projection technology that allows groups to read a...Continue Reading

Funding Opportunity Announced Through a Funding Opportunity Announcement  (FOA) made on Nov. 6, the U.S. Department of Defense is calling for concept papers for the establishment of an Integrated Photonics Institute for Manufacturing Innovation (IP-IMI). The IP-IMI will be the largest federal investment to date under the Obama administration’s National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI)...Continue Reading

Component and system provider Thorlabs has continued its expansion up the photonics value chain with the acquisition of Corning’s optoelectronics research group – including significant expertise in quantum cascade laser (QCL) development. And the company has immediately followed that up with a strategic partnership involving Daylight Solutions, the San Diego firm that has developed QCL-based products...Continue Reading

Big day of news for our industry yesterday, Manufacturing Day in America! First, At an event to celebrate Manufacturing Day at New York Photonics member EMF Corporation in Ithaca, New York with their Congressman from New York’s 23rd district (which includes Corning), Tom Reed, and OSA CEO Liz Rogan. Congressman Reed deserved the wonderful welcome...Continue Reading

Yesterday, September 30, 2014, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter wrote a letter to André Gudger, Acting Deputy Assistance Secretary of Defense in the DoD Office of Manufacturing & Industrial Base Policy (MIBP). MIBP’s Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) program will stand up two manufacturing innovation institutes that play a critical role in the Obama Administration’s national manufacturing agenda.  (NNMI) Slaughter’s letter supports the...Continue Reading

Elon Musk, chairman of Tesla, is also chairman of SolarCity, which is in line to cash in on the Buffalo Billion program through Empire State Development. In June SolarCity bought Silevo, a fledgling solar panel manufacturer that had previously committed to building a plant in Buffalo. The state had already agreed back in November to build...Continue Reading

Union workers at Corning Inc.’s Canton plant have been asked to take unpaid voluntary layoffs because of a slowdown in customer demand for some products produced at the factory. A notice posted at the plant Tuesday came less than three weeks after company officials broke ground on a $21 million expansion project that’s supposed to...Continue Reading

The Rochester region is lighting the way to an exciting new era of collaboration aimed at fueling innovation and manufacturing in the nation’s Optics, Photonics and Imaging Industry. At the Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster Annual Meeting held Sept. 4 at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, leaders in business, government and academia called on the...Continue Reading