Laser Focus World - September 2013

editor’s desk

W. Conard Holton

Associate Publisher/ Editor in Chief

cholton@pennwell.com

Strategic thinking for the life sciences

In the life sciences, many important applications have emerged from technologies first developed during the 1990s telecom bubble, or more recently from technologies as diverse as nanophotonics and smartphones. This dynamic mix of technology and opportunity is generating paradigm-shifting products that enable better standards of care, spare patients’ misery, or provide greater functionality and lower cost.

Strategies in Biophotonics is a new event launched by Laser Focus World and our sister publication

BioOptics World to foster the development of such innovations and help them navigate the tricky waters of commercialization. We are doing this because we noticed that existing conferences focus on various areas in biophotonics—including photonics technology, life science advances enabled by photonics, or general biomedical device design and manufacturing—but none was dedicated to the significant issues of both development and commercialization of biophotonics-based systems.

Our goal for the conference is to help optics- and photonics-based device and system developers cover all the important bases to succeed. The program will highlight key examples of clinical and scientific needs, demonstrate the critical role of biomedical optics and photonics, and discuss needs for the devices and systems to fulfill their potential. Networking will be a critical component of the event. The expo will give exhibitors a chance to meet with researchers and engineers from key organizations wanting to develop devices and systems that incorporate photonics and/or optics.

The two-day Strategies in Biophotonics conference and exhibition, along with its pre-conference workshop, will be held September 9-11, 2014, at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. I will write more about it in the coming year. Even if your field is not bio, I’m confident that the discussions will give you some ideas for your own area of interest and spark a bit of strategic thinking. Intrigued? Check out the website for the conference and expo, www.strategiesinbiophotonics.com, and follow along as we update it.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Stephen G. Anderson, SPIE;

Dan Botez, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Walter Burgess, Power Technology; Connie Chang-Hasnain,

UC Berkeley Center for Opto-electronic Nanostructured Semiconductor Technologies; Pat Edsell, Avanex;

Jason Eichenholz, Open Photonics;

Thomas Giallorenzi, Naval Research Laboratory; Ron Gibbs, Ron Gibbs Associates; Anthony M. Johnson, Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research, University of Maryland Baltimore County;