Start-up credit for laser start-up

Midel Phototonics wants to develop individually optimized lasers for industrial production. Now, the idea creators behind it are receiving a high six-figure sum from the "EXIST Research Transfer" funding program.

It's not a start-up yet, but the beginning has been made: the idea of individually tunable high-power lasers is included in the "EXIST Research Transfer" funding program, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the European Social Fund. Idea generators and developers are David Dung, Christian Wahl, Christopher Grossert and Frederik Wolf of the University of Bonn. The name of the upcoming start-up is Midel Phototonics.

The funding program is designed to turn the idea into an industrial prototype and gives the four developers 18 months to achieve self-imposed goals. In the process, they have to develop a business model, because at the end of it they plan to found a company. The financial support amounts to 750,000 euros.

Lasers are needed in many places in industry, but so far round lasers have often been used: "It's like trying to turn any type of screw with a cordless screwdriver with a single cross attachment. With a suitable attachment, it would be much easier," explains Dung. The attachment, to stick with the metaphor, in this case is the developed laser of the four physicists.