Optiswiss and Luxexcel announce cooperation for 3D printed smart eyewear
Optiswiss, a leading Swiss lens manufacturer with distribution throughout Europe, has partnered with Luxexcel to bring commercial 3D printed lenses to market for use in regular eyewear and smart glasses. Under the partnership, Luxexcel will provide its 3D printing lens technology, and Optiswiss will 3D print prescription lenses for the smart eyewear market. Optiswiss will also implement the newly released Luxexcel VisionPlatform™ 7 at its industrial facility in Basel, Switzerland. This shared strategy will accelerate the delivery of “Swiss-made” prescription lenses that are ideal for smart eyewear devices.
As one of Europe’s largest ophthalmic laboratories, Optiswiss will use VisionPlatform 7 to provide a production facility for customers, to manufacture prescription lenses and accelerate the launch of their smart eyewear devices. The platform 3D prints a variety of prescription smart lens solutions for Augmented Reality smartglasses and switchable sunglasses in a form factor similar to traditional eyewear.
Samuel Frei, CEO at Optiswiss said, “We’re excited to join Luxexcel in their journey to deliver prescription lenses for smart eyewear. After several years of cooperation with Luxexcel, it was time for us to bring the new VisionPlatform™ 7 to our production plant. We now have a digital manufacturing platform to combine prescription lenses with smart technology today, including a clear path towards large volume manufacturing of prescription smart glasses. At Optiswiss we are innovators and always at the forefront of technology. Together with Luxexcel we will develop pioneering products and bring them to market quickly. By adopting innovative technologies such as VisionPlatform™ 7, we can provide our customers with solutions for prescription smart eyewear, giving them an edge over the competition.”
Optiswiss chose VisionPlatform™ 7 because of the high-quality ophthalmic lenses that the platform produces. Another reason is the operational simplicity that the platform provides, as it replaces many process steps of traditional lens manufacturing with a one-step process. The platform provides further efficiencies such as 3D printing the hard-coating as part of the printing process.
Fabio Esposito, CEO at Luxexcel said, “We found a partner in Optiswiss that shares our vision to be at the forefront of innovation in the smart eyewear industry. The combination of our technology and the experience of Optiswiss as a lens manufacturer ensures that smart eyewear producers can bring to market smart devices that addresses the needs of those with prescriptions.”
A pioneer in 3D printed lens technology, Luxexcel specifically developed VisionPlatform™ 7 to fulfill a need in the smart eyewear industry for a digital technology solution to manufacture prescription smart lenses on a mass scale. VisionPlatform™ 7 consists of patented hardware, software, materials, processes, and support – all the components required to ensure mass production and distribution of prescription smart lenses.