INTERVIEW: ENTREPRENEURSHIP
‘If you don’t have a positive attitude right from the start, it’s not going to work’
Carlos Lee, Epic’s director general, talks to Francois Coursaget, general manager of New Imaging Technologies, a French producer of advanced InGaAs and CMOS sensors and cameras
What led to you becoming general manager at NIT? After studying a BSc in Engineering at the National School of Arts and Crafts (ENSAM-ParisTech) in Paris, in 2021, I went to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, US, to do an MSc in materials science. On my return to France, I was hired by Safran, an international high-tech group, in the aviation, defence and space markets. When you go into the photonics field, you never want to leave it. I stayed at Safran for 13 years. I started as a project manager for cooled infrared modules and electro-optical imagers, then two years as lead buyer for sensors and optical assemblies. In 2010 I became R&D manager for electro-optic equipment and two years later, I was promoted to electro-optic technologies development unit manager, responsible for the development of electro-optical advanced technologies and portable optronics. In my last few years at
Safran, I became increasingly impressed with the innovative aspects of image sensors supplied by New Imaging Technologies (NIT), a French company producing high dynamic range response sensors and cameras. Business with NIT gradually increased, not only for military but for civil applications. In 2015, Pierre Potet, NIT’s CEO, invited me to join his company as COO.
How has the firm developed? NIT was founded in 2007
46 Electro Optics July 2021
as a spin-off of the French National Institute for Telecommunications, by Professor Yang Ni, a pioneer in IC design and innovative logarithmic pixels. The initial aim was to develop this technology for fingerprint sensing sensors for the consumer smartphone market. Shortly after, Pierre Potet joined the company as CEO with the mission of helping to find venture capital, not only to develop the fingerprint technology but to move into CMOS imaging sensors and cameras for machine vision and industrial applications. Through a European-funded
project, NIT entered the short- wave infrared region (swir) InGaAs market and developed over the years swir sensors and cameras for applications such as semiconductor inspection, solar panel inspection, welding and additive manufacturing, thermography, security and surveillance, laser communications and microscopy and life sciences. I was in charge of operations and business development for the three main areas of automotive, fingerprints and smartphones, and in 2017 I was appointed general manager. By 2019 it was apparent, due to the need to make investments to keep the consumer market within the company, it would be more profitable to concentrate on NIT’s high-end activities, involving InGaAs sensors and CMOS sensors for high-end
Francois Coursaget
welding and other industrial applications. We’ve become a world leader in these markets, partly because of the innovative logarithmic pixel technology, but also our industrial path is based not on defence applications but high volume consumer electronics, which has helped us introduce technologies and provide breakthrough solutions.
What challenges do you see in the next three years? Having designed Europe’s first InGaAs megapixel sensor, our next challenge is to move into even higher resolutions and smaller pitch. This is the natural trend, and it will hopefully enable us to break into markets such as industrial surveillance and space. We’re building for this in terms of resources and products and in the next three years our aim is to transition to become a major European player in the field.
“When you go into the photonics field you never want to leave it”
Our approach has been critical in allowing us to sell into difficult markets. For example, we sell more than 30 products globally, including the US, a market which already has a number of companies providing a similar technology. We are able to do this because of the differentiating aspects of our technology. In the beginning the main InGaAs markets were in the US and Asia, but now demand is starting to grow in Europe. We will also continue to work on our supply chain
and how we manufacture and design sensors, to try to improve cost efficiency. We know the trend is for lower costs and we intend to have a technology that will enable us to be price aggressive. If you have an excellent product at a competitive price, everything comes naturally afterwards. We still need to make commercial efforts in marketing and sales, and working with distributors throughout the world, but it’s a great help if you have a nice product at a good price.
What advice do you have for the next entrepreneurs? First, a CEO needs to think positively; if you don’t have a positive attitude, it’s not going to work. As our president says: ‘the worst is never certain’. Secondly, when you’re a CEO in a growing high-tech company, one of your main jobs is to secure funding. To do this, you need to know where the money is and how to obtain it. You can’t just go to an investor and say: ‘believe in our technology’ – you will have to convince them in terms of markets and the technology. While most venture capitalists understand markets, they usually employ experts to advise them on technology. They may not have in-depth knowledge of technology niches, but will know enough to make a judgement on the viability of your business plan. Thirdly, in small firms teams need to interact very strongly and efficiently, especially in the early stages when plans are being formulated. A CEO has to implement an effective management system and provide strong leadership to give direction to teams and avoid confusion. If employees remain confused or unconvinced about the company’s future, they will become demotivated and look for another job. This will create high staff turnover and the need to start with new people who need training, which is expensive and time consuming. For this reason, it’s crucial to keep the initial teams motivated and working well together. EO
@electrooptics |
www.electrooptics.com
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