Good Question: What’s the latest on photonics in Rochester?

Good Question: What’s the latest on photonics in Rochester?

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. – What’s the latest on photonics in Rochester? Dr. Sujatha Ramanujan, who runs a program called “Luminate” in Rochester to help photonics companies get started, explains.

Rochester made a powerful showing at the largest photonics event in the world. “Photonics West” recently wrapped up in San Francisco. It’s a massive annual conference where industry leaders from all over the world meet to talk about new developments with optics, imaging, and photonics.

“Rochester is actually quite hot for optics,” Dr. Ramanujan said. “I know that in the news cycle you may not have been hearing quite as much, but there’s a lot happening.”

Rochester, sometimes called the “Photo City” as a nod to Kodak’s deep roots here, is experiencing a new era of technological prosperity quietly.

“It’s a very behind-the-curtains type of technology but it’s everywhere, right, that’s why we have like 150 optics companies in the region,” Ramanujan said.

Dr. Ramanujan holds 27 U.S. patents, and spent part of her career working at Eastman Kodak Company. She talked with News10NBC while she and dozens of other New York companies were at Photonics West.

“There’s so many New York companies they don’t all fit in the New York corridor, so that’s another interesting piece,” said Dr. Ramanujan. “Is that we are probably one of the biggest regional, if not the biggest regional sector exhibiting in this incredibly large international conference. It basically takes over downtown San Francisco.”

Emily Putnam, News10NBC: “Rochester being the “Photo City” being the home of Kodak of course how did that help with laying the groundwork for this new era that we’re seeing as the photonics hub of the east?”

Dr. Sujatha Ramanujan: “As Kodak started to become a smaller footprint, a lot of the science, the scientists, the technology, the infrastructure that was there that was Kodak became the seed from which new businesses could grow from. And so that’s part of the reason we have 150 companies is because a lot of these pieces of infrastructure, these nuggets of knowledge, they all grew into businesses of their own.”

Optics and photonics technologies created in Rochester are popping up across the globe in just about every industry you can imagine, including cancer detection, solar cells, semiconductors, space exploration, and AI chip design.

“I can’t think of a sector that there isn’t an optics company in this region that’s not contributing,” Ramanujan said.

As for the future of photonics in Rochester, Dr. Ramanujan said, “We’re poised for a lot right, like we’re poised for a lot of growth and hang on to your hat, I think it’s going to be excellent.”

Dr. Ramanujan has 75 companies in her portfolio. She says the support for those companies from Empire State Development and New York State has been outstanding. She also says the colleges and universities here make Rochester a prime location to be a photonics hub, describing students who graduate here as “instantly employable.”

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