Dr. Jens Petter Wold is a senior research scientist at Nofima AS. He has a PhD in Food science and bio-spectroscopy from The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway. In 2001-2002 he spent one year at Centre for process analytical chemistry (CPAC) in Seattle, WA. He has published more than 120 scientific papers within the field of rapid and non-destructive quality assessment of foods and is specialized within fluorescence, near-infrared and Raman spectroscopy, including hyperspectral imaging. He has contributed to a successful in-line NIR hyperspectral imaging system (QVision 500, TOMRA) which is used worldwide for in-line food quality control. Jens Petter is now director of SFI DigiFoods (www.digifoods.no), a Centre for research driven innovation with the aim of developing smart sensor-driven solutions that deliver the essential food quality information required for successful process optimization and digitalization of the food industry.
The technical meeting on photonics for agriculture and food industry is a comprehensive event that brings together experts, researchers, and industry professionals to explore the innovative applications of photonics technologies in various aspects of agriculture and food production. The meeting covers a range of sessions focusing on precision agriculture, smart farming, harvest and early processing management, as well as quality control and safety in food processing and packaging. Attendees can expect insightful discussions, case studies, and presentations on the latest advancements in photonics and its impact on improving crop yields, reducing waste, enhancing food quality, and ensuring food safety. The event aims to foster knowledge exchange, collaboration, and future-oriented thinking in the field of photonics for agriculture and food industry and of course networking opportunities!
All participants biographies, photos and company descriptions are available HERE.
Dr. Jens Petter Wold is a senior research scientist at Nofima AS. He has a PhD in Food science and bio-spectroscopy from The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway. In 2001-2002 he spent one year at Centre for process analytical chemistry (CPAC) in Seattle, WA. He has published more than 120 scientific papers within the field of rapid and non-destructive quality assessment of foods and is specialized within fluorescence, near-infrared and Raman spectroscopy, including hyperspectral imaging. He has contributed to a successful in-line NIR hyperspectral imaging system (QVision 500, TOMRA) which is used worldwide for in-line food quality control. Jens Petter is now director of SFI DigiFoods (www.digifoods.no), a Centre for research driven innovation with the aim of developing smart sensor-driven solutions that deliver the essential food quality information required for successful process optimization and digitalization of the food industry.
Trond Løke has a Masters degree in Photonics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He calibrated and characterized Norsk Elektro Optikk’s (i.e., NEO’s) first hyperspectral system in 2002 and was responsible for the design, together with Ivar Baarstad, of HySpex’s first hyperspectral imaging system in 2003, where he eventually became the CTO. In 2020, Trond became the CEO of NEO located in Oslo, Norway.
Liam Lewis holds a PhD from University College Cork in the area of micro electronic engineering. His background focused on the development and fabrication of novel light sources for applied research. The centre conducts both fundamental and applied research and has a strong track record in delivering solutions to industrial partners. Liam is directly responsible for the industrial engagement and delivery of technological solutions to the industry partners. He has won over €5M in competitively won funding over the last 10 years and some €2.5M in direct funded industry support. CAPPA has over €6M worth of ongoing projects in areas as diverse as food and beverage, life sciences, medical and pharmaceutical and dairy and agri. CAPPA’s industrial projects have a strong focus on the use of a variety of spectroscopic techniques such as FTIR, Raman, Fluorescence etc with the CAPPA project team having extensive experience in these areas.
Christine Zimmerman-Loessl received her Master degrees in political science, sinology and philosophy from Ludwig Maximilian University Munich - that was the starting point for her interest in international work. She is a well-known speaker and advocate for indoor/vertical farming in the past 10 years now. Before she has worked in different Asian countries which has given her experience and deeper insight in the culture and people. She acted as a project manager for risk analysis and crisis management at the European Center for International Security. Networking was always easy for Christine and she founded the Asia Network Information Center – combining her talents for projects, research and ideas. Later on, as the representative for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in China, she took responsibility in different areas and led a German-Chinese Management Institute, initiated environmental protection and poverty alleviation projects, as well as engaged in women’s programs.
Christine was inspired by her son’s interests in Vertical Farming and got involved. She founded with a group of likeminded people the first nonprofit in the world - the Association for Vertical Farming (AVF) in 2013, since then she is acting as the chairwoman of AVF. “Through AVF we are raising awareness and building a network of like-minded people, industry and science for the broad implementation of Vertical Farming around the world”.
Harald Aagaard Martens, born in 1946, holds an M.Sc. in engineering biochemistry obtained in 1971 and dr.tech. in Chemometrics (Multivariate calibration of multichannel instruments) earned in 1985, both from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. He has done research in multivariate data modelling at a number of universities and companies around the world, - as professor in six of these universities. He has also founded several companies. His research in multivariate data modelling has been cited more than 25 000 times (Google Scholar 2024) and he has received several international research prizes. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technical Sciences (NTVA).
Andres Cifuentes has worked as a research technician, optical engineer, and optics manager on projects ranging from thermal imaging, visual optics, illumination systems, anamorphic imaging lens or optical metrology systems, applied to markets such as medical, defense and security, automotive or industrial metrology. Currently, he runs ASE Optics Europe and has thrust the company into optical and photonic systems solutions for high-demanding applications such as fusion environments in low light optical systems, NewSpace imaging systems, OCT optical metrology, thermal systems for security or optical systems for medical applications, while leading a team of innovative scientists and engineers.
Dr. Marion O'Farrell works at SINTEF, a research institute in Norway. She is a research manager in the Smart Sensor Systems department in SINTEF. For almost 20 years, Marion has worked with the development of optical measurement systems for industrial applications, with specific focus on inline food applications. She has published over 50 articles and has two patents related to measurement of food “Food Monitoring System” (IE20040383) and Measurement of properties of organic material (201580021396). She has contributed to the development of Tomra's inline NIR spectral imaging system QVision. Marion's research is focussed on measurement system design using a multi-disciplinary approach that is based on first principles. She believes that high quality physical data, from robust sensors, can unlock the true potential for digitalisation in industry.
Dr. Nicolas Cantale received his Ph.D. in Physics in 2014 from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). His research interests include image processing, hyper-spectral imaging, super-resolution and astrophysics. Prior to his current position, he worked in the software development industry as manager on development projects. He joined CSEM in 2018 and is currently a senior project manager in the Edge AI & Vision group. He is leading multiple vision projects with a focus on spectral imaging for smart low-cost sensors for a broad range of industrial and innovation applications.
Steffen Piecha completed his degree in chemistry at Goethe University Frankfurt. He began his career as Sales Engineer at Perstorp Analytical followed by roles at different spectrometer manufacturers. He joined tec5 in 2000 and has been heading up sales since 2011. For over two decades, he has been deeply involved in process analytical technologies, covering optical methods from UV to NIR as well as Raman spectroscopy for industrial applications
Hugues Tariel, an experienced glass industry executive, is CEO and co-founder of DIAFIR. He has held several key positions (sales, operations, finance) within large corporations of the glass industry, serving markets with strong regulatory requirement such as medical and nuclear. Prior co-founding DIAFIR, Mr Tariel successfully managed a research center focused on infrared optic. He holds an Engineer degree from Arts et Métiers, France and a MBA from HEC business school, France.
Henrik Madsen started SPIO Systems in 2020 as CEO devoted to commercialising the new manufacturing technology SPIO that enables new applications previous not possible with traditional optical engine designs. Henrik Madsen has a master’s degree in optics and mechanical engineering from Aalborg University and has worked more than 30 years in optical industry both within classical optics but as well micro-optics on wafer level the recent 15 years. He worked for 8 years at Ibsen Photonics with R&D in diffractive optics and another 10 years at Kaleido Technology in product development and management in ultraprecision optics and wafer level glass moulding. Henrik co-founded Millpond Optics as CTO which produces custom optics and tooling.
Mie Magelund has a background in Earth and Space engineering from the Technical University of Denmark. Despite a background in space technology, by being an application specialist at Ibsen Photonics she gets to discover new worlds on a daily basis. She finds great joy in learning about new ways of using spectroscopy, from solving everyday problems, to providing the healthcare sector with diagnostics tools, to help manufacturers become more sustainable. She would love to hear more about your application and support you in finding the best solution for you.
Kjartan Kinch is a Senior Scientist at FOSS and an adjoint associate professor at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen. He holds a Ph.d. in physics from Aarhus University. He works on calibration and instrument development in Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy and Near-Infrared Transmission Spectroscopy on diverse agricultural products. He joined FOSS in 2021 after a 20-year career in Planetary Science where he worked on calibration and operation of cameras for NASA Mars missions, latest the Perseverance rover, where he is a Science Team Member and Co-investigator on the Mastcam-Z Camera team.
Julien Zichi graduated with a PhD in quantum nano-photonics from KTH – the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. His thesis focused on the deposition of superconducting thin films, and on the nanofabrication, integration, and measurements of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs). He has worked as a development engineer and sales engineer with SNSPDs and later on with optical fiber processing tools. He became Technical Sales Engineer at Hamamatsu Photonics Norden in 2022, covering the broad components portfolio of Hamamatsu for customers in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
Ugo Drieux received a Master’s degree in Applied Physics from the Denis Diderot Engineering School of the University of Paris in 2019. He is now part of OptoSigma’s team responsible for customer relationships and custom project handling. He is also a master’s intermittent professor at the University of Paris for Business and corporate integration.
Jacques Cochard founded in 2010 TEMATYS, a photonics dedicated market studies company. He is managing the activities of Market Exploration for new technologies and Technology Transfer into commercial ventures. Jacques is directly in charge of the Biophotonic activities at TEMATYS where he has advised many companies in their diversification from e.g. Telecom components to Biophotonics market. He is advisor for SMEs and large companies in their development into various application like Superresolution, Confocal as well as Raman imaging market and in Biomedical markets like medical lasers, Photoacoustic, OCT and diffuse optical tomography imaging. Since 10 years, Jacques is a member of the WorkGroup Biophotonic in the European platform Photonics21. He graduated from Ecole des Mines Nancy (Material science).
Boris Zimmermann is a researcher in the BioSPec Group at REALTEK/NMBU. His research is focused on development of spectroscopy techniques as standard tools in life sciences, with a strong emphasis on applied research. He has research expertise in organic and physical chemistry, spectroscopy and data analysis, as well as in conducting biospectroscopy studies involving biotechnology, biology, ecology, agrifood and medical research. He has been involved in more than 30 national, international and the EU research projects, including projects on development of novel photonic sensors for agrifood and medical sectors.
Julien Romann obtained his PhD in Physics in 2009. Mainly interested in nanostructures optics, he spent several years successively at the Harry Reid Center foe Environmental Studies (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA), at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, Trondheim, Norway), and at the Sorbonne University (Paris VI, Paris, France), where he contributed revealing and explaining the photonic properties of bio-nanostructures and the atypical optical response of 3D organized plasmonic nanostructures. From 2015, he began his journey at Photon Lines with the responsibility to develop what soon became the R&D activity of the company. Manager of the R&D team from 2018, he largely contributed to the development of innovative spectroscopy and spectral imaging solutions for the agrifood market. Today as R&D Coordinator, he still contributes to the development of Photon Lines and to the birth of its new activities as a photonics solutions manufacturer for various industry markets and academic research.
Maria Cardona Morales has a Sciences degree and a Master's degree in Food Quality and Safety. She is currently advancing her expertise through a PhD in Food Science, Technology, and Management. Her two decades of dedication to the company reflect a deep commitment to excellence and innovation in her field. Her academic pursuits and professional experience combine to position her as a leader in the science of food safety and quality.
Julio Pastrana founded Escarda Technologies GmbH, together with Prof. Dr Cyrill Stachniss and the Berlin Industrial Group. The goal of the company is to develop a marketable robotic laser-based weeding system. The advantage of this technology is that it provides a non-herbicide solution to weed control, making it attractive for the production of organic certified crops.
Ian Reilly holds a BSc in Physics from Nottingham University, UK. He has expertise in the design and manufacture of optical coatings using a number of different deposition technologies. Before starting Vortex, Ian worked for Pilkington Glass Ltd, Vinten Electro-Optics, Coherent Inc and CVI Infra-Red Optics, and during his career he has gained valuable experience taking ideas from development to successful full-scale production. He believes this is a very exciting time to be involved in the photonics industry which has a key role to play in solving many of the world’s current challenges.
Lars Rymell is an entrepreneur and business developer with a passion for optics and the possibilities it offers for product development. With 20 years of experience from technical consultancy and R&D he has established a unique network within Scandinavian industry and academia. Lars founded Eclipse in 2014 together with 4 colleagues. Lars holds a PhD in Physics from Lund University.
Anna Grazia Mignani serves as Research Director at CNR IFAC in Italy. With over 35 years of expertise, she specializes in research and development of advanced photonic sensors utilizing optical fibers and spectroscopy techniques. Since 2000, her focus has been on sensors designed for monitoring food quality and safety, particularly emphasizing multi-analyte non-destructive detection of nutraceutical indicators. She has contributed extensively to her field, authoring over 200 papers published in peer-reviewed journals, international conference proceedings, and books. Additionally, she holds nine patents in the USA and EU.
- Andrés Cifuentes , CEO at ASE Optics
- Anna Grazia Mignani , Research Director at CNR - IFAC
- Antonio Gimenez Morera, Doctor at Universitat Politècnica de València
- Boris Zimmermann , Research Professor at Norwegian University of Life Sciences
- Guillaume Huss , CEO at LEUKOS
- Guillaume Nseke , Consul General at Consulate of Norway
- Harald Martens , Professor emeritus, Department of Engineering Cybernetics at NTNU
- Henrik Madsen , CEO at SPIO Systems
- Hugues Tariel , CEO and Co-founder at DIAFIR
- Ian Reilly , Managing Director at VORTEX OPTICAL COATINGS
- Jacques Cochard , Partner at Tematys
- James Enang , Deputy General Manager at Cocoa Development Corporation, SODECAO
- Jens Petter Wold , Senior Research Scientist at DIAFIR
- Johanna Rühl, Application Support at inno-spec
- Julien Romann , R&D Coordinator, Spectral Imaging Engineer at PhotonLines
- Julien Zichi , Technical Sales Engineer at Hamamatsu Photonics
- Julio Hernandez , Hyperspectral Applications Manager at Hyspex
- Julio Pastrana , CEO and Co-founder at Escarda
- Kjartan Kinch , Senior Scientist in R&D Technology at FOSS
- Konstantinas Zakalskis , Sales Engineer at Light Conversion
- Lars Gidskehaug , Solution Manager at Hyspex
- Lars Rymell , CEO and Co-Founder at Eclipse Optics
- Liam Lewis , Centre Head at CAPPA
- Maarten Gerkes , Sales Manager Photonics Solutions at Ushio
- Marc Juarez , Innovation Director at Seoul Semiconductor
- Maria Cardona Morales , Corporate Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance at Familia Martínez
- Marion O'Farell , Research Manager at Sintef
- Mathias Mokube , Research Officer at Ministry of Finance
- Mathijs Kilsdonk , R&D Engineer at Imec - OnePlanet
- Michael Haverdings , Application Development Lead at PhotonFirst Technologies
- Mie Magelund , Application Specialist OEM Spectrometers at Ibsen Photonics
- Na Liu , Applications Specialist at Norsk Elektro Optikk
- Nazanin Shafiee, Director of Strategy & Business Development at Avantes
- Nicolas Cantale , Senior Project Manager at CSEM
- Nikolaus Petzold , CEO at tec5
- Oliver Pust , Head of Sales Industrial Sensing at m-u-t
- Poul Svensgaard , CEO at Delta Optical Thin Film
- Sören Meyer , Sales Manager Europe Electronic Segment at Ferrotec
- Steffen Piecha , Head of Sales at tec5
- Tharindu Madduma Hewage , Business Development Manager at Tunable
- Trond Løke , CEO at Norsk Elektro Optikk
- Ugo Drieux , Regional Salaes Manager at OptoSigma
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