Alexis Mendez received a PhD. degree in Electrical Engineering from Brown University, USA in 1992. He is president of MCH Engineering LLC—a consulting firm specializing in optical fiber sensing technology. Dr. Mendez was the former Group Leader of the Fiber Optic Sensors Lab within ABB Corporate Research (USA) where he led R&D activities for the development of fiber sensors for use in industrial plant, oil & gas, and high voltage electric power applications. He was also Director of Engineering Sensing Solutions at Micron Optics. He has written 70 technical publications, taught several short courses on fiber sensors, holds 5 US patents and is recipient of an R&D100 award.

Dr. Mendez is a Fellow of SPIE and was past Chairman of the 2006 International Optical Fiber Sensors Conference (OFS-18), past Technical Chair of the 2nd Workshop on Specialty Optical Fibers and their Applications (WSOF-2). He is also VP of the IEEE Fiber Sensors Standards Committee, and co-editor of the “Specialty Optical Fibers Handbook”, and co-author of SPIE’s “Fiber Optical Sensors Book”.

Bram Van Hoe (Director of Sales and Marketing) graduated with Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from Ghent University (Belgium) in 2008 and obtained his PhD degree from the Centre for Microsystems Technology (CMST), an IMEC associated research lab at Ghent University, in 2013 with a dissertation entitled “Photonic Skin Based on Polymer Embedding of Optical Sensors and Interrogation Units”. After a year of post-doctoral research, including 6 months stay at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at North Carolina State University focusing on the combination of optical sensing systems and integrally stiffened composite structures, Bram joined FBGS in 2014 as a Business & Technology Developer, where he is currently active as Director of Sales and Marketing.

Daniele Inaudi received a degree in physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ). In 1997, he obtained his Ph.D. in civil engineering at the IMAC Laboratory of Stress Analysis of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. In 2005, he received a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern Switzerland. Daniele Inaudi is co-founder of SMARTEC SA and General Manager of Roctest. He is author of more than 200 papers, five book chapters and a book on “Fiber Optic Methods for Structural Health Monitoring”.

Guillaume Laffont (Head of Laboratory) is an engineer from Telecom Physique Strasbourg and completed a PhD in physics and optics in 2001 at the Université de Lille, France for research on the photo-writing, modelling and sensing applications of (Tilted) Fiber Bragg Gratings. He is Head of the LSPM Lab on Systems and Photonic for Monitoring at CEA List in Saclay near Paris, with a team of 30 people. For almost 22 years, he has specialized in the development of innovative Optical Fiber Sensors and Instrumentations for monitoring applications in harsh and even extreme environments. He is also strongly working for the emergence of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems based on optical fiber sensors for aerospace, naval and nuclear applications.
His current research includes the development of: i) specialized optical fibers and high temperature fiber coatings for sensing applications under high temperature/intense ionizing radiations, ii) advanced automated femtosecond-laser based writing platforms for wavelength-multiplexed Fiber Bragg Grating sensors and amplified Rayleigh distributed sensors, iii) innovative fiber-based sensors and especially FBG sensors for temperature, strain, pressure, acoustic and even biosensing applications, iv) Photonic Integrated Circuits based compact FBG monitoring systems and v) fiber-based systems and Artificial Intelligence-based methods for Structural Health Monitoring SHM using elastic guided waves and FBG ulrasonic receivers able to operate in harsh environments.

Meüs van der Poel studied aerospace at Delft University. After his graduation, in 1989, he was active as a wind tunnel test engineer, exploring many measurement techniques, including strain gauges and (instationary) pressure measurements. From 2001 onward, Meüs was sales manager with companies including measurements in O&G/chemical, with Emerson and Honeywell, mostly 4-20mA and fieldbus techniques. From 2015 onward, Meüs further specialized in sales of compressor and turbine control systems, independent of the host control system. Since beginning of 2023, Meüs joined Optics11 as business director, responsible for developing fiber optic sensing technology into the wider industrial domain. Meüs is 58, married with 3 children, living in the Netherlands. In his free time, Meüs enjoys playing volleyball.

Nicephore Nicolas (Business Development Manager) graduated from Institut d’Optique Graduate School in 1997 and obtained an executive MBA from CNAM-ICSV in 2005. He made most of his career in the Fiber Optics and Telecom industry working in multi-site and multi-cultural environment; he has held various senior management positions with responsibility for product and business development as well as sales and marketing management in Photonetics, Nettest, Anritsu, Yenista (now EXFO) and iXblue. Nicephore Nicolas is currently Deputy Sales Director with a strong focus on business development for Photonics activities in exail.

Juan José Martínez (CTO) has worked in multiple fields of research in photonics and optics from 2005, when he started his PhD studies at University of Zaragoza. He has participated in more than 10 public founded projects (both Autonomic, National and European founded programs) first as a researcher and later as director and coordinator. Either in universities, research centers or private companies, his expertise has always been linked to the world of photonics for multidisciplinary applications: optical communications, distributed fibre sensing, POF, free space optical metrology, optics solution for Concentrated Solar Power Generation, Brillouin Spectroscopy, non-linear optical effects. After the completion of his PhD in optical communications in 2011 from University of Zaragoza, he successfully directed and completed a metrology project at University of South Wales (UK), in 2016, he started working for a private company where he continued to apply his acquired knowledge from university R&D to the creation and improvement of high-profile optical measurement products. As a senior researcher he has tens of published papers both in journals and conferences and is part of several industrial properties, all related to optics and photonics.

Edgar Mendoza leads the technology and business strategy vision for Redondo Optics, with over thirty years of experience as a senior executive, strategic business development, and technology innovation in fast-growth star-up companies focus on emerging markets in aviation & aerospace, smart structures, renewable energy, life sciences, oil & gas, and defense and security. Ed received his Ph.D. from the City University of New York with focus on the development of photosensitive glasses for photonic integrated circuit (PIC) microchip applications. Currently works in fields ranging from fiber optics sensors, silicon photonics, smart wearable fabrics, remote sensing, Lab-on-Chip opto-fluidics, diffractive and refractive optics, and nanomaterials.

PETER LOWY graduated at electrical engineering / material science with focus on fiber optics and did an internship in Switzerland about fiber optic installations. Develops fiber optic applications for 18 years at Sylex, while last 13 years focuses on sensing systems for civil engineering, energy and other markets. Lately works on integrating AI/machine learning into data processing of fiber optic sensing data. Likes Sci-Fi literature and active sports.

Miguel Melo (Managing Director) was born in Porto, Portugal, and received his diploma in Optoelectronics and Lasers and his master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Porto. He initiated his R&D activity at INESC TEC where he worked in several national and European projects in the fields of optical fiber amplifiers, planar technology, and Bragg gratings for optical communications and fiber sensors. He then joined Multiwave Photonics as Product Manager, working in the development of high-power pulsed fiber lasers and amplifiers. After Multiwave, he co-founded MWTechnologies which was acquired by Amplitude in 2022, and renamed Amplitude Portugal where he now serves as Managing Director. He has more than 15 years of experience in the industry and more than 25 publications in international scientific journals and conferences.

Rita Lima concluded an MSc. in Physics Engineering in 2017 from the University of Porto, Portugal. Over the past 5 years, she has worked as an Optical business sales engineer at HBK.
During these years, she created sensing solutions and conducted sales projects from portfolio selection and sensing network design up to service management always focusing on fiber optic-based technology, across different markets and industries (R&D, SHM, Energy, Wind, etc).
As a technical sales professional, she is responsible for promoting and selling HBK Optical Portfolio and services. She understands the needs of each customer and provide solutions that meet those needs. From all the skills she has developed, resilience, flexibility and teamwork are the most relevant ones.

Pascual Sevillano (Technology Advisor & Professor) received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Zaragoza in 2010 and 2015 both focused on the development of all-optical measurement techniques for telecommunication signals. In 2015, he joined the R&D department of Aragon Photonics Labs where he was in charge of the development and integration of new optical sensing solutions. In late 2020, he joined the University of Zaragoza, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Physics. In 2021, he becomes a member of the Engineering Research Institute of Aragon (I3A) and recently has rejoined Aragon Photonics Labs as Technology Advisor in the Optical Sensing division of the company. His research interests are mainly focused on no-linear optical phenomena in fiber and its application in distributed sensing.

Werner Lienhart is Full Professor and Head of the Institute of Engineering Geodesy and Measurement Systems (IGMS) at Graz University of Technology, Austria. Prior to this position, he was Product Manager Innovation at Leica Geosystems at the Headquarter in Switzerland. He has more than 20 years of experience in the monitoring of civil engineering structures using geodetic, geotechnical and fibre optic sensors. Prof. Lienhart has published more than 140 papers and holds several patents. He is President of the Austrian Geodetic Commission (OeGK) and President of the International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure (ISHMII). Furthermore, Prof. Lienhart is co-founder of ACI Monitoring, a company specialized in fibre optic sensing in civil engineering and geotechnical applications.

Nicky de Battista (Research Associate and Director) is a Research Associate at CSIC, University of Cambridge, where he carries out applied research in state of the art monitoring technologies, with particular emphasis on developing applications of fibre optic sensing for civil infrastructure. He is also a Director of Epsimon, a UK-based specialist instrumentation and monitoring company which he co-founded in 2016. Nicky is a licensed architect and civil engineer with several years of experience as a structural designer and construction site engineer. He has a Master's degree in structural engineering and a PhD in structural health monitoring, both from the University of Sheffield, UK. Since 2009 he has designed, installed and operated monitoring systems in a number of high profile projects, including deep foundations, tunnel linings, bridges and building structures.

Thijs Spuesens (CTO) obtained a MSc degree in Electrical Engineering/Broadband Telecommunication from TU/e in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. He then joined the Photonics Research Group from Ghent University, Belgium, to work on On-Chip Optical Interconnects on Silicon for which he obtained a PhD degree in Photonics. After obtaining his PhD, he worked as a postdoc at Ghent University and as a Photonics Design Engineer for imec where he was involved in several EU FP7 projects. In parallel, he worked on the commercialization of a silicon photonics based FBG interrogator, and in 2018, he co-founded Sentea where he is now responsible for the R&D activities.

Joel Villatoro received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in optics from the INAOE -Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica-, Puebla, Mexico, in 1995 and 1999, respectively. He is currently Ikerbasque Research Professor at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. Prior to his current position, he held research posts at Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies, Birmingham, U.K., the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), Barcelona, Spain, the Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica A. C., Leon, Mexico, the University of Valencia, Spain, and the Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. In 2020, he was awarded the distinction of OPTICA Fellow for his contributions to interferometric optical fiber sensors. In 2021 and 2022, he was included in the prestigious list of the World’s top 2% scientists. His research interests include interferometric sensors based on standard, multicore and photonic-crystal fibers, applications of sensors in real-world environments, and development of micro- and nano-sensors for biomedical applications.

Paolo Petagna (Section Leader) received a MSc degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1989 from the University of Pisa. From 1989 to 1995, Paolo was contract researcher at the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aerospaziale (DIA) of the University of Pisa, and was Founder Partner of ARIA, an applied research spin-off of DIA. In this context, he complemented his main scientific research on turbulent flows and mixing with a consulting activity on specific applied R&D problems c/o several industrial partners: Ferrari Auto, Brembo, Piaggio, ENEL, among others. In 1996, Paolo joined CERN collaborating to the conception, design and construction of the Central Tracker of the CMS experiment. From 2009, he leads the Detector Cooling Project of the CERN Physics Department. Paolo leads and actively collaborates to R&D activities covering: physics detector design; fiber optics-based sensors; CO2 boiling flows; detector cooling systems; micro-fabricated cooling plates; and dynamic simulation of complex systems. He is co-author of approximately 150 scientific publications.

Tatiana Sakharova is the Chief Technology Officer in art photonics GmbH since 2019. She studied semiconductor technology and material science in Moscow, specializing in crystal growth. In addition to her diploma in technology from Moscow Institute of Fine Chemical Technology, she holds PhD in chemical technology from alma mater in 1994. As a scientist and coordinator of several student projects, Tatiana developed crystal growth technologies for the multilayer structures for infrared detectors. With her multidisciplinary background Tatiana works since 1998 for art photonics GmbH developing the unique technology of optical fibers for mid-IR range as well as engineering and production of fiber optic cables and spectroscopy probes.

Over the last 20 years, Daniele developed and implemented fiber-optic structural monitoring solutions for several racing yachts programs (America’s Cup and Around the World) and contributed to the industrial adoption of fiber-optic sensing in Energy, Transportation and Infrastructure applications with roles in product marketing and business management.

Tiago Neves (Founder and CEO) is the founder of FiberSight, a tech startup that emerged from CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research). Tiago received his Master's degree in Physical Engineering from the University of Coimbra in 2013, and then pursued a Ph.D. in Photonics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), which he earned in 2021. Tiago's background led him to become a researcher at CERN, where he spent several years investigating photonics and developing innovative technologies for optical sensing applications. It was during this time that he began to envision a company that would bridge the gap between academic research and practical applications.

Carlos Oliveira (CEO) is the Chief Executive Officer of Fibersail. He holds a Master in Electrical and Computers Engineering (FEUP) and a Master in Business Administration (PBS) from the University of Porto. He has a passion for renewable energies and how they contribute to a cleaner, more sustainable, and better world. He has spent the last 15 years optimizing the way we harness the wind energy, 8 of them at the OEM, and knows first-hand how much the industry can benefit from using more advanced shape sensing technology and intelligent algorithms to optimize the way wind turbines are controlled and maintained.

After graduating Engineering Physics in Delft, worked on creating and maturing new technologies for 5 years in Oil &Gas as well as climate fields.
Now for the last 1,5 year I have been responsible for matching the Photonic Integrated Circuit sensing technology platform of Photonfirst with the needs of customers in new markets / applications.
Creating new technical concepts that make our customers successful.

İbrahim Ölçer (CEO) received B. Sc. and M. Sc. degrees in electronics and telecommunication engineering from İstanbul Technical University (İTÜ) in 1992 and 1995, respectively.
From 1994 to 2020, he worked for the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) where he was involved in several R&D projects, mainly in the field of information security and radio frequency spectrum monitoring. Between 2014 and 2020, he served as the deputy director in the National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology (UEKAE) to lead new projects on electro-optics & laser systems, software defined radio, and secure communication technologies. During this period, he started the fiber optic distributed acoustic sensing system (FOTAS™) project. In parallel, he also started and completed his doctoral research on developing signal processing techniques for distributed fiber sensors and received his Ph.D. degree in electronics engineering at Boğaziçi University, in 2019. After commercializing the FOTAS™ project outcomes with the industry, he founded Insigma Engineering to disseminate fiber optic sensing technology in new diverse engineering fields.

Evangelos Diatzikis (Fellow Engineer) is a Fellow Engineer and Advisory Expert in Sensors and Advanced Controls with Siemens Energy. He has over 25 years of experience in the Energy markets with a specialization in sensors and monitoring systems. His undergraduate and graduate studies were in Physics and Optics. Siemens Energy is a global manufacturer of gas turbines, steam turbines, generators, transformers, compressors, and renewable energies.

Andrzej Sielecki (Process Architect Micro Devices) received his MSc in Mechatronics, with specialization in Photonics Engineering from Warsaw University of Technology. He works in Philips since 2018 as a Process Architect for Photonic Assembly. In this role, Andrzej is focusing on developing and strengthening capabilities of Philips MEMS & Micro Devices in the field of photonic assembly. He has experience in various optoelectronic products, from development and design up to production, assembly, and installation. In his career he worked for Optics11, Eurotek International and Thorlabs.

Margarethe Kampling studied Physics in Dortmund and Oldenburg. She graduated in the field of Optics at the University of Oldenburg. During her PhD work at the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin she has worked with fs Lasers in the field of Physical chemistry. She graduated with a PhD at the Free University in Berlin.
After working several years as sales manager, focused on solutions for scientific research, she entered the engionic Group in 2013 as Head of Sales and supported the company’s growth and further international expansion. Since 2021 Dr. Margarethe Kampling is the responsible Managing Director.