ECSE Research Seminar on Wednesday, 24th August 2005
"Commercialisation of University Research, The VPI Story"
Speaker: Professor Arthur Lowery, E&CSE, Monash University, Australia.
Abstract:
VPIsystems as grew from small-scale research at the universities of Melbourne and Berlin into a global provider of telecoms system and network design software within a few short years. Arthur Lowery, co-founder of Virtual Photonics Inc, will explain how his research became a commercial success and the experience of growing a 2-person part time company to a worldwide enterprise with 130 corporate customers during the telecoms boom.
This talk should give budding entrepreneurs a lot of insight into high-tech industry funding - without having to spend the money or do the time!
About the speaker:
Arthur built the global Photonic Design Automation (PDA) industry from his fundamental research in semiconductor laser modeling. In 1996 he founded Virtual Photonics Pty Ltd (later Inc) with Phil Gurney, to commercialise OPALS, a software tool for designing optical communications devices and circuits. Phil and Arthur merged Virtual Photonics Inc with BNeD Inc, a competitor out of the Heinrich Hertz Institute (Berlin) that had obtained government funding and VC money, to form VPI Virtual Photonics Inc in late 1998 (known in the industry as VPI).
VPI has grown by technology acquisition and internal development to be the leading supplier of design tools for communication components, systems and networks (see www.vpisystems.com and www.vpiphotonics.com ). VPI boasts 150 corporations as customers and VPI's software tools are used by over 130 universities for research and teaching. Free software tools are available for teaching ( www.vpiphotonics.com/VPIplayer).
Arthur was appointed Chair of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, at Monash University in September 2004. His research interests include:
Design Automation - the use of computer tools to streamline design processes and form tightly-integrated design chains throughout research communities and industry
Photonic Circuits and Systems - creating novel topologies of photonic components to create useful circuit functionality and improve systems performance and create instrumentation for electronic and medical applications
Research Efficiency and Commercialisation - developing processes that enhance creativity, collaboration and commercial outcomes of research
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