3D displays firm Holoxica secures €1.3m cash injection
Holoxica, a University of Edinburgh spin-out company set up by EngD graduate Javid Khan to pioneer 3D display technology, has secured €1.28 million (£988,000) of European funding, reports The Scotsman.
The grant, from the European Commission’s €740m Horizon2020 SME instrument programme, will help the firm develop its medical imaging technology, which use holographic video displays in a bid to improve surgical procedures.
Holoxica founder and chief executive Dr Javid Khan [who studied at the Edinburgh-based Centre for Optics and Photonics, now the CDT in Applied Photonics] said the funding will be used to build a prototype display for use in computerised tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound scanning. The market for medical imaging 3D display is tipped to be worth an estimated $4.3 billion (£3bn) by 2020.
“We see holographic video displays completely transforming the field of medical imaging,” Khan said.
“In recent years, there has certainly been improvements in the clarity and detail of datasets produced by ultrasound, CT, positron emission tomography and MRI scanners, but whilst these machines generate 3D volumetric imagery as a series of 2D ‘slices’ scanned through the body using radiation, we can present the scans as wholly 3D images via holographic volume displays.”
When built, the display will be tested in three pilot scenarios for medical training and also for live surgery. Holoxica will carry out initial testing at the Clinical Research Imaging Centre at the University of Edinburgh and Kings College and St Thomas’s Hospital in London. The firm said that Siemens Healthcare, the largest provider of medical equipment in Europe, is keen to trial the technology once it is ready for clinical use.
Holoxica, which is planning a move from Edinburgh University’s Scottish Microelectronics Centre to the city’s CodeBase technology incubator, is now seeking further investment from angel investors and venture capital funds to further develop its prototype.
