EpiCrystals Oy is a spin-off company developing and manufacturing semiconducting lasers for projection screen applications. The company originated from research at the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) of TUT, where the founders of EpiCrystals Tomi Jouhti and Janne Konttinen used to work as researchers.
"The knowledge and skills we acquired at ORC on semicondicting lasers and our knowledge in physics have played an important part in launching the company. We've also had to learn a lot the hard way", tells CEO Tomi Jouhti.
Lasers have many advantages that promote their use: they prolong the life cycle of the projector, improve image quality and significantly reduce energy consumption.
EpiCrystals, founded in 2000, received its seed investment from VNT Management and the Finnish Industry Investment Ltd. With the help of these investments, the company was able to develop its own laser products. The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes) has also funded the company from the start.
"Technology Manager Janne Konttinen had a key role in product development. At the time commercialisation was still in its initial stages", tells Jouhti. A contract signed with TUT to rent equipment for R&D also proved significant. "The current staff of EpiCrystals used to take part in several interesting laser projects at ORC that fuelled our enthusiasm. TUT attained many of the world’s best results, which added to our motivation and strengthened our belief in the work we were doing", adds Jouhti.
New semiconducting laser material developed at ORC and EpiCrystal’s own innovative product concepts have generated totally novel technology. EpiCrystal’s own laser technology enables new applications, e.g. an extremely compact projector for mobile phones and cameras.
"Our company aims at taking over dozens of percentages of the market share. We are striving after continuous growth both in annual turnover as well as in the number of staff", states Jouhti. "EpiCrystals will continue collaborating with TUT by taking part in development projects. We plan to keep R&D in Finland, but mass production will most likely be outsourced to Asia".