Bio-sensing firm Continuse Biometrics has won a startup award at the photonics trade fair Laser World of Photonics in Munich, Germany. Continuse Biometrics was selected from five finalists by a panel of judges.
Continuse Biometrics, based in Tel Aviv, Israel and using technology developed at Bar-Ilan and Valencia universities, makes a contactless biosensor that can monitor physiological characteristics like heart rate, heart and lung sounds, blood pressure, glucose and alcohol levels, and muscle activity. The technology uses nano-level detection and vibrations from the movement of internal organs.
Second place was awarded to ATR Elements for its signal-enhanced silicon ATR crystal for infrared spectroscopy, while third place went to Crystalline Mirror Solutions for its semiconductor supermirrors.
More than 32,000 visitors attended the trade fair from 26 to 29 June, which saw 1,293 exhibitors presenting products and 3,500 participants at the World of Photonics Congress.
The trade fair’s first Make Light Makeathon, staged in collaboration with the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s (BMBF) Make Light initiative, saw 79 students and young engineers develop hardware prototypes within just 24 hours. One of the projects was called Smog Dog, a device the size of a robotic lawnmower, capable of locating air pollution or the smell of burning with its optical sensor system.
Dr Frank Schlie, head of the Quantum Technologies and Photonics Unit at the BMBF, commented: ‘Our aim with the Make Light initiative is to make photonics accessible to talented young people. We are reaching out in particular to those interested in working in the technology arena but who have not previously considered photonics.’
