The Valencian company dedicated to photonics is one of the participants in the INNpresa project, Observatory of Innovation in Business, promoted by theUniversity of Valencia Science Park Foundation (FPCUV) with the support of the Valencian Innovation Agency to stimulate innovative behaviors in the productive fabric of the Valencian Community. It is also part of the Valencia Silicon Cluster to raise funds from the Semiconductor PERTE
Knowledge and development are the two main axes of a technology company like VLC Photonics, born in 2011 as a spin-off from the Institute of Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications (iTEAM) of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, dedicated to photonic engineering that transforms systems and instruments into photonic microchips, reducing size, cost and consumption, with improved performance and using mass micro-manufacturing technologies. The advancement of telecommunications requires spaces such as science parks, where research and the promotion of innovative applications come together to reach society. With the interest of knowing its facilities, Iñigo Artundo, CEO of the firm, visited the Universitat of Valencia Science Park (PCUV) on Wednesday, where he was received by its director, Juan José Borrás, and by the manager of the Fundació Parc Científic Universitat of Valencia (FPCUV), Fernando M.ª Zárraga.
The technology of VLC Photonics, a company that since 2020 belongs to the Japanese multinational Hitachi High-Tech Corporation, is based on photonic integrated circuits, which are equivalent to electronic ones with the difference that the transmission and processing of information are carried out in the field of optics, through laser light. In a horizon in which the demand for this type of technology is growing, the director of VLC Photonics, installed in the Polytechnic City of Innovation, Artundo, who during his visit was interested in the aims and management carried out by the FPCUV in the Business Area, where more than 70 innovative companies are installed, recognizes that companies in the sector, and the science parks that house them, need more space to meet the needs of growth and expansion.
In the foreground, Juan José Borrás, director of the PCUV (left), and Fernando M.ª Zárraga, manager of the FPCUV. In the center, Iñigo Artundo, CEO of VLC Photonics. Photo: FPCUV
Participant in the INNpresa project
This Valencian technology company, a world pioneer in the fabless business model and collaborator in a global network of foundries, encapsulators and suppliers, is one of the participants in the innovation survey within the framework of the INNpresa project, Observatory of Innovation in Enterprises, initiative of the FPCUV that finances the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI), with the aim of investigating how innovative Valencian companies innovate, what sources of knowledge they apply in their innovations, how they access that knowledge or how they make their innovation processes progress.
"The participation of leading technology companies such as VLC Photonics is essential to know the current state and the challenges of innovation in the business fabric of the Valencian Community to improve all its processes, from research and development to bringing applications to market", emphasizes Zárraga , manager of the FPCUV.
The most critical element of VLC Photonics is in R&D, says its director, "because the fundamental thing is to mature the technology, for example, software development. Innovation, in our case, translates into the model of business, having implemented design houses in the field of electronics as a service to companies that are interested in developing electronic chips. We have adapted this model to our field, that of photophonic chips, as a form of innovation," he explains. Artundo, Telecommunications engineer and CEO of the company.
The Valencian photonics firm is a member of the Valencia Silicon Cluster, an initiative that brings together universities, research institutes and companies, including the University of Valencia and the multinational Analog Devices, located in the PCUV
Valencia, pole of semiconductors
In the train of opportunities that is expected from the Strategic Project for the Recovery and Economic Transformation (PERTE) of semiconductors, the Valencian photonics firm is a member of the Valencia Silicon Cluster, an initiative that brings together universities, research institutes and companies, among which are the Universitat de València and the multinational Analog Devices, located in the business area of the PCUV.
"In Spain, almost the entire semiconductor industry is concentrated in Valencia, in particular the design of electronic and photonic circuits. It is an exceptional situation, and this initiative is called to be recognized at the regional and state level," Artundo points out.
Javier Calpe, director of the Analog Devices Development Center, explains the initiative to convert the Valencian Community into a priority environment for the semiconductor PERTE. Video: FPCUV.