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FEMTOprint

Cutting-edge technology used to create three-dimensional microdevices, using glass or other materials - the idea behind a successful start-up based in Lugano.

Company profile

 

Year founded

2013

Number of employees

5-25

Activities

Developing and building three-dimensional printed microdevices, using glass or other transparent materials. Using a special laser printer, the company can produce complex devices suitable for use in a wide range of sectors, including the optics field (microlenses for cameras), the watchmaking industry (micromechanisms) and the biomedical sector (microcatheters). The company also offers micromanufacturing solutions for other laboratories, universities and research centres.

Premises in the region

FEMTOprint's offices and laboratories have been located in Muzzano since 2013, the year the company was founded.

Links with Ticino

  • FEMTOprint began life as a startup, in part thanks to the support of the AGIRE Foundation, an organisation that fosters innovation in the Canton of Ticino;
  • the firm's headquarters have remained in the Lugano area ever since.

Interesting facts in numbers

  • 10.000: the number of incisions the laser developed by FEMTOprint could make in a single millimetre of space;
  • one millionth of a metre:  a micrometre, the precision level of FEMTOPRINT®'s manufacturing technology, a scale resolution 100 times smaller than a hair's breadth;
  • one millionth of one billionth: the fraction of a second known as a 'femtosecond', which gives the company its name. The ability to work on such a minute time scale allows the laser to alter the material with a high degree of accuracy.

Results and achievements

Unlike traditional additive 3D printing, FEMTOPRINT®'s technology uses a process of alteration and subtraction: beginning with a solid structure, such as glass, the laser is focused on the inside of the material, creating microscopic 3D paths and shapes. This innovation has seen the Lugano-based company win various awards, for example claiming third place in the AKL International Laser Technology Award 2014 (Aachen, Germany). FEMTOprint was shortlisted as one of the 'best Swiss start-ups' during the Micro and Nano Engineering (MNE) conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, and was named one of the best projects by EuroNanoForum FutureFlash! (Riga, Latvia). In 2015 it was also one of three finalists in the Prism Award (San Francisco, USA), considered to be the Oscars of photonics, whilst in June it won the PHOTONICS Award 2015 in the 3D printing category at LASER World of PHOTONICS (Munich, Germany) and the Grand Prix des Exposants 2015 at the EPHJ-EPMT-SMT exhibition in Geneva, the world's most important watchmaking and med-tech trade fair.

Employee experiences (Italian only)

Nicoletta Casanova

Il Ticino come terra di opportunità e innovazione

(company profile updated in April 2015)