The following is a sampling of Sarnoff ventures and spin-offs.
[1]
Lamina Ceramics [2] designs and manufactures low temperature co-fired ceramic on metal (LTCC-M) packages for modules and boards used in the telecommunications industry. The product offered will initially focus on integrated packages and substrates for electronics and optoelectronics applications in wired and wireless networks. Venture Funding: Morganthaler Ventures.
[3]
Lightscape Materials, Inc. [4] develops and supplies
novel high performance photo-luminescent phosphors designed for use by
the LED industry to enable new lighting products. Lightscape Materials
will provide the industry with a variety of phosphor materials options
to expand the adoption of LEDs into hundreds of application-specific
high brightness LED product applications.
[5]
Locus [6] uses proprietary computational algorithms and supercomputer technology for drug discovery. Given only the 3D structure of a protein, these algorithms will identify the biologically relevant binding site, and design a comprehensive list of drug compounds that will bind with high affinity to that site. The Locus technology has the potential to greatly reduce the cost and time required for drug discovery while significantly increasing its success rate. Venture Funding: Prism Ventures. Partner: Hoechst Marion Roussel.
[7]
Orchid BioSciences, Inc. (now Orchid CellMark, Inc. [8]) is fulfilling unmet medical needs through its proprietary pharmacogenetics and microfluidics platform technologies. Orchid’s business strategy is to rapidly commercialize a wide range of products and services for genetic diversity analysis while creating value in single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, to improve existing pharmaceuticals and develop better pharmaceuticals and targets. Corporate Partners: Advanced BioAnalytical Services, Beckman Coulter, Dynal A.S., Genomica, Motorola, NEN Life Science Products, SmithKline Beecham, and The SNP Consortium Ltd. Orchid went public in May, 2000 and trades on NASDAQ (ORCH).
Pyramid Vision, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sarnoff Corporation, designs and manufactures real-time computer vision systems that use ultra-fast pyramid processing techniques to stabilize and enhance video images, and generate large mosaic images from video in real time. Applications include law enforcement, vehicle-based vision systems including UAV's, security and surveillance, and aerial intelligence.
[9]
Secure Products [10] develops anti-counterfeiting and anti-diversion systems based on unique material marking and recognition technology. Its electronic detectors reveal otherwise invisible marks for both manual and high-speed authentication of currency, bank checks, and other products. Its trade secret materials are compatible with all printing processes and can be incorporated into paper, plastic, textiles, etc. The materials can also be applied by ink-jet for authentication or as invisible bar codes, which carry variable data.
[11]
Songbird [12] manufactures and markets the world's first disposable digital hearing aid for the millions of Americans with mild to moderate hearing loss who have chosen to forgo the commitment and expense of traditionalhearing aids. Invented at Sarnoff, Songbird was created according to a belief that a high-quality hearing device shouldn't need to be expensive and difficult to purchase or maintain. Songbird can be purchased online or by phone at 1-800-SONGBIRD.