Perceptra wins PhotonDelta’s €50,000 Global Photonics Contest
Perceptra aims to build the first ultra-compact PIC-based molecular analysers 1,000 times smaller and at 100 times lower cost.
Published on May 31, 2025
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A global competition supported by leading photonics entities assembled the world’s top integrated photonics thought leaders and entrepreneurs to drive breakthroughs in photonic chip applications addressing global challenges. The jury has selected US-based Perceptra as the winner of the contest, receiving €50,000 in services to build the first ultra-compact PIC-based molecular analysers 1,000 times smaller and at 100 times lower cost.
Photonic chip industry accelerator PhotonDelta announced the winner of its global engineering contest yesterday. Perceptra was judged to be the submission with the best new application of photonic chips designed to tackle global challenges.
Perceptra will receive €50,000 worth of services to bring their concept to life and the opportunity to raise a favourable loan of up to €2 million with PhotonDelta to kick-start the company’s growth. Its solution aims to transform the biotech industry, which will help bring lifesaving innovations to the market faster. To help launch Perceptra’s innovative solution, PhotonDelta will showcase this winning submission at the upcoming event PIC Summit Europe 2025, which brings together 700 industry experts from over 25 countries in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on 4 and 5 November.
Ultra-compact, low-cost
Perceptra’s entry focused on developing the first ultra-compact, low-cost PIC-based Raman analysers for real-time molecular monitoring in biomanufacturing and other process industries. Its technology replaces bulky dispersive spectrometers with on-chip tunable lasers. Having demonstrated proof of concept, Perceptra will use the funding to develop the first PIC-based version of the system.
Currently, bioprocessing and biomanufacturing practices have significant inefficiencies due to reliance on offline analytical testing to measure molecular concentrations in processing equipment like bioreactors. This limits access to real-time, high-quality data for R&D and delays time-to-market for critical life-saving products, and leads to poor process monitoring and control, ultimately contributing to high failure rates in biomanufacturing.
PhotonDelta and Wevolver launched an engineering contest to help drive the creation of innovative ideas for photonic chip-based solutions that address some of the world’s most pressing societal and technical challenges, including combating climate change, advancing healthcare, and addressing energy sustainability challenges.
33 entries
The contest received 33 entries from over 15 countries. In total, over 350 organisations engaged with the contest worldwide. Contest entries were judged on the level of innovation, technical and commercial feasibility, and how effectively the design addresses current industry challenges. Participants were required to submit detailed descriptions of their projects, including team information and supporting visuals or videos.
Eelko Brinkhof, CEO at PhotonDelta: “The need for fast and energy-efficient data communication for AI is currently driving the need for PIC technology. However, at PhotonDelta, we believe there are far greater applications where this technology can be a game-changer, such as biosensing, healthcare, and quantum computing. The Global Photonics Engineering Contest sourced dozens of high-quality proposals, which showcased the capacity of photonic chip technology to tackle some of the most pressing problems we face as a society."