School of ICT alumni awarded at Swedish business awards
Augustinas and Kristijonas Vizbaras from Lithuania took their Masters degree from the Nanotechnology program at School of ICT in 2009. Together with their brother Dominykas Vizabaras they started Brolis Semiconductors in 2011. Less than a year later they received the Young Entrepreneur of the year award at Swedish business awards in Vilnius. We have asked Augustinas Vizbaras a few questions about the prize and what he and his brothers are doing now.
Tell us about your company, Brolis Semiconductors
– Our company specializes on mid-infrared materials and optoelectronic devices. We serve as a Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) foundry for arsenide and antimonide materials and also produce room-temperature, continuous wave laser diodes for the spectral range 1800 nm- 4000 nm. The target markets include gas sensing, medicine, industrial process control, material processing, defense and homeland security.
How does it feel to get this award?
– It feels good that our effort did not get unnoticed. It is also a very big obligation for us to continue performing well, in order to justify the award. We did put in a lot of work and time not only to raise 4.5 Million Euros but also to use this money to build a state-of-the-art R&D facility from scratch in less than 9 months.
Why do you think that you got the award?
– In our opinion, the fact that we managed to raise money in less than 6 months, and building a new facility in less than 9 months should speak for itself. Behind our project stands a unique technological know how as well as a very dynamic and strong team which in fact did the job.
I also hope that our story can serve as an inspirational example to any grad student or researcher in the technical field, that even what sometimes might seem impossible is in fact possible if there is adequate effort given. For example, semiconductor technology is known to be probably the most cost intensive technology in the world as well as the one with the highest risk. Thus, it is usually treated with great care by venture capital funds or other investors making the task of finding money really challenging.
How is it to be a KTH alumnus outside of Sweden?
– We graduated from KTH as Master of Science in Physics from the Nanotechnology master’s programme in January 2009, which in fact was a great experience in terms of widening our scientific and cultural horizons. It was during the master study years when we have made a decision on which subject to pursue our PhDs in, which, in fact, played a crucial role for where we are now. KTH is definitely an international university, and this is one of the big advantages it offers: we made a lot of good connections worldwide during and after our time at KTH, which was and still is important for us and our business.
What will the future bring for your company?
– The future will definitely bring a lot of challenges for us, which we will need to face and cope with. Our nearest short-term goal is to bring our first R&D laser diode products to market by the end of February 2013. From then on, we have to work improving those products as well as expanding the portfolio in order to allow the growth and diversification of the mid-infrared market. So, definitely, a big job is ahead of us, but we would like to believe that we are ready to face the challenge.