- EPIC’s Photonics Technologies Program Manager, Antonio Castelo, interviews Niek Rijnveld, CEO of Optics 11 Life
- Optics11 Life is a fast-growing high-tech company based in Amsterdam that manufactures instruments to measure the forces and mechanical properties of soft materials, including biological samples
Summary
AMSTERDAM, Q3, 2022 – Optics11 Life was established to commercialize a promising fibre-top sensing technology developed by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Niek remembers that at that time, the technology will remain very promising, and the company’s founders had some market hypotheses, such as life sciences and structural monitoring, although it was not yet clear how it could be modified to meet the needs of the actual market. Following the development of these unique architectures for multiple sensors in 2012, the company opened its portfolio to industrial applications in 2015.
Today, Optics 11 has two business units, each with a different market but the same core technology: Optics 11 Life provides a variety of user-friendly, versatile, and robust table-top nanoindenters that can measure complex, irregular biomaterials such as single cells, tissues, hydrogels, and coatings and provide various parameters relevant for mechanical phenotyping, biofabrication, drug development, and tissue engineering. Optics 11 provides industrial sensing solutions for asset monitoring, including structural health monitoring, condition monitoring, R&D, micro-seismic monitoring, energy monitoring, and underwater acoustics.
Although the job market is extremely competitive, Niek is confident that Optics11 will be able to recruit and retain new employees, especially young talents, while also providing them with the resources they need to face the challenges ahead.
Read the full interview here!
Interview source: https://online.flippingbook.com/view/767503436/24/
