The Foundation for Research and Technology (FORTH) announced the official foundation of Biomimetic, the new spin-off developed by Dr Evangelos Skoulas, Andreas Lemonis, Antonis Papadopoulos and Alexandros Mimidis.
The company, that had managed to distingush last year in the competition RG Challenge19 winning the “People Choice Award”, raised, alongside its foundation, Seed Funding of 900 thousand euros from Big Pi Ventures.So, it became the second spin-off of the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser that has been funded by Big Pi the last six months.
Biomimetic’s aim is to reduce reflection or glare under the light of transparent surfaces or screens, through theιr processing with laser radiation, feature of great importance for almost every optical system and electronic device.For example, glass reflectance is the main reason for which noone can use a tablet in the light of the day.The modern methods of producing anti-reflective glasses have high cost, include a complex procedure of multiple steps and demand the use of chemicals, harming therefore the environment.Consequently, the need for sustainable and cost efficient solutions consists nowadays one of the most demanding bets of the industry.
Biomimetic offers a simple, low cost and environmentally-friendly alternative solution.Biomimetic, inspired from the greek words “bios” and “mimesis”, leveraging the wisdom of nature, uses laser light to process glass and other transparent materials, imitating the amazing qualities of living organisms.Specifically, the company uses methods that imitate high efficiency anti-reflexive nano-structures found in the feathers of various kinds of cicadas and butterflies.The technology has a huge spectre of apps on the screens of mass consumption electronic products, solar panels and specialized visual components.
“Our vision has been accomplished.Our long-term research efforts in the Laboratory of Nano-processing with pulsed lasers from the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, regarding the use of lasers for the mimicry of the exceptional functions of the surfaces created by nature, have succeeded.It is very important to have investment interest for the establishment in Crete of an innovative greek startup, aiming to develop glasses’ visual quality.We foresee that screens in the future as well as other products of the huge market of glass coating, will embed Biomimetic’s glass.”, said Dr Emmanuel Stratakis
“We are particularly proud that an innovative technology that was developed in the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser finds its way to Society.This specific innovative application was based on a long-term leading and applied research , always of high quality that was held in the laboratories of laser and photonics of the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser mostly in the framework of competitive funded research projects.All the people involved in the Research had as their leader the excellence on every step.These principles lead our research course throughout the years.We are expecting that the high quality research of the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser will lead to additional innovations that will correspond to the ever increasing challenges that Society faces nowadays.”, mentioned Prof. Spiros Anastasiadis.
“We are excited to support the commercial development of that innovative technology. Biomimetic can convert the screens of portable devices, allowing them to be used in a wider spectre of environmental conditions.We are double excited because technology was developed in a research centre and can become an exceptional example about how the gap between academic research and the development of commercial products can be bridged.”, said Dr Alexandros Eleftheriadis, partner of Big Pi Ventures.
