Photonics activities Technobis continue as PhotonFirst

“In order to be able to grow quickly and with focus”, the photonics activities of Technobis Group continue independently under the name PhotonFirst. Daan Kersten will lead PhotonFirst as the first CEO of the company.

PhotonFirst’s headquarters will remain at Technobis in Alkmaar, where the research and development activities, as well as the production and packaging of the PICs (photonic integrated circuits), will take place. There will also be an office on the Eindhoven High Tech Campus, home to 220 other high-tech companies and also “the center of the Dutch photonics ecosystem”, says Daan Kersten.

From the position built up over the past 15 years in so-called photonic interrogator systems, PhotonFirst will expand its offering to optical sensors and application development. With this, the company wants to offer complete measurement solutions. The focus will remain on aerospace, medical, mobility, and high-tech systems.

“We Measure the World”

“Our new slogan ‘We measure the world‘ refers to our focus on the endless possibilities that our solutions offer for measuring elongation, pressure, temperature, and shape changes,” says Kersten. “We also generate data to improve the performance of critical system functions. For example, we can measure the temperature in the batteries of electric cars or detect overheating in aircraft. Our systems are also used to monitor deformation in large structures such as skyscrapers and bridges, as well as small changes in the needles used to take medical biopsies from patients in hospitals”.