The success of technology transfer is measured by the ability to transform frontier research into solutions that redefine industrial standards. Within the Catalan photonics ecosystem, Sensofar has positioned itself as a benchmark in optical surface metrology , a critical discipline for quality control in high-precision sectors such as semiconductors, automotive and additive manufacturing. Born as a spin-off from the Sensors, Instrumentation and Systems Development Center (CD6) of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), the company has traveled a path of more than twenty years from the laboratory to hegemony in its market niche.
Based in Barcelona, its history is based on its ability to consolidate measurement technologies that until recently operated in isolation on a single platform. Its activity focuses on the design and manufacture of non-contact measurement instruments that combine precision techniques such as confocal microscopy, focus variation and interferometry. This technical robustness, combined with advanced software , has allowed the company to position itself as a leading supplier on a global scale, with a volume of business mostly abroad and a diversified corporate structure that responds to the most complex challenges of modern industry.
Four research areas to be at the forefront of photonics
Currently, Sensofar is promoting four Industrial Doctorate projects that act as an engine of innovation. In practice, the projects focus on three high-impact applications: semiconductors, automotive and industry 4.0, and Additive Manufacturing (3D). This applied research is structured around hybrid optical-computational metrology, with the aim of overcoming the physical limits of light. In short, its industrial doctorate projects focus on the development of ultrafast sensors for mass quality control environments and the implementation of coded lighting techniques, which allow the reconstruction of three-dimensional surfaces with much greater efficiency than conventional methods.
These lines of work also include research in super-resolution to visualize microscopic details invisible until now, as well as the adaptation of metrology to emerging sectors such as additive manufacturing (3D printing), where the measurement of large rough areas is a critical challenge. Ultimately, this research allows us to bring to the market industrial decision systems that ensure that the customer’s final product (a chip, a motor or a prosthesis) meets the most demanding industry standards.
Understanding Sensofar’s trajectory is understanding the importance of maintaining a living link with the source of academic knowledge. To analyze how this university genetics continues to pulsate in the firm’s current strategy, we spoke with Guillem Carles Santacana, the company’s head of scientific research and a key player in the integration of research talent within the company’s R&D structure.
— What is the origin and interest of the company in developing industrial doctoral projects?
— Industrial doctoral projects give us an important impact and reinforcement for our research activities. As a technology company, innovation and research have a very significant impact. Technological development to make our technologies more efficient is essential. Then, we also research other components that we can integrate, developed by other entities or organizations, and explore how we can integrate them with our technologies.
Perhaps the most determining factor is that we also have lines of research focused on more speculative, higher-risk research . The chances of success may be lower, but they have a much higher conviction in the sense that they can have a much greater impact, solving an efficiency problem or much higher measurement specifications. If the project were successful, then it allows us to have a much higher competitiveness or even open up new markets.
— What added value does this collaborative research bring to you?
— It gives us a different perspective thanks to the collaboration with the University. We have the additional training of the people and the doctoral student, but also of the entire research team. In the end, this contributes enormously to the scientific research culture that exists within the company . For example, industrial doctorates encourage us to publish results in scientific journals and participate in conferences and congresses in the sector. All of this contributes to a reputation and an image that is behind our products.
— Are publications a positive element in your research process?
— It’s very positive. In fact, we have a very open research mentality, of sharing. There are, obviously, the technical details of industrial secrets and the processes where we need a patent with some product or method that need to be considered, but in general we have an open mentality within R&D and publications are a value that we put on the table.
— How do you evaluate international research stays for doctoral students?
— The biggest impact is networking : getting to know other players in the sector. In our case, optical surface metrology is not a very high global activity and, therefore, there are a few congresses where it is key to participate in order to get to know people and establish collaborations. Establishing collaborations, getting to know other publications and getting to know scientific research itself is the main asset in this aspect.
— Tell us about a project that has had a tangible result for the company
— In the industrial doctoral projects that we have done —already completed, active or planned to be initiated—, many have had an impact, whether on products, on the optical methods that we use or on computational methods. In particular, we currently have on offer and in our catalogue products that have been the seed, that is, that have been started in development during industrial doctoral projects. We also have projects that have contributed to the development of computational algorithms that have an impact or a roadmap to be incorporated into the commercial software that our products incorporate.
— What do you think are the key factors for success in collaborating with a university or research center?
— The advantages are obvious. The most direct is access to the knowledge of the research group with which we collaborate, but it also provides an academic perspective that is different from the company’s internal approach. This increases the richness of ideas when facing specific problems . Since industrial doctorates have a long duration, of three or four years, the collaboration goes beyond specific links. The key is to establish relationships of trust that allow, in the long term, to share more ideas and obtain more profit.
— And what does Sensofar bring to the University?
— The University benefits from being able to do applied research that has an industrial and global impact. I am sure that many professors and research groups pursue this application and this applied interest, even if the research has a fundamental basis.
— Would you recommend an industrial doctorate to another company?
— Yes, because it is a very valuable tool for bringing together three aspects: people, the academic world and business. It serves to structure communication very well between the private world and the public research world. It is a collaboration that is clearly of mutual benefit.
