By Andrew Karp: Group Editor, Lenses + Technology


 

  SeeFront’s patented SeeFront 3D technology allows the user to view 3D content without special 3D glasses.
HAMBURG, Germany—SeeFront GmbH recently won the German Innovation Award 2013. The Hamburg-based company’s glasses-free 3D display technology convinced the jury members, among them physicist and Nobel laureate Professor Dr. Gerd Binnig and Cornelia Rudloff-Schaeffer, president of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office. The winners in the three categories Large Enterprises, Medium-sized Enterprises and Small Enterprises and Start-ups were announced at a black-tie event in Munich on April 26 in the presence of the patron, Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Dr. Philipp Roesler.

“The German Innovation Award is an incredible achievement for SeeFront. To join the ranks of companies like BMW and Bosch on the short list in itself was an honor for us. To actually win the award lends added support to our growth plans,” said SeeFront’s founder and CEO Christoph Grossmann.

SeeFront’s patented SeeFront 3D technology allows the user to view 3D content without special 3D glasses. An integrated eye-tracking system detects the user’s position and transmits it to the 3D engine. This engine combines the images for the left and right eyes in a special way and in real time. An optical filter in front of the display generates a brilliant, compelling 3D impression. As the 3D image is continuously adjusted according to the user’s position, the user enjoys freedom of movement in all directions. The SeeFront 3D technology is designed for entertainment or professional use by a single viewer with a laptop computer, a mobile device or any other LCD display.

This year, SeeFront is taking the strategic leap from a technology provider and licensor role to becoming a 3D display manufacturer. Additionally, SeeFront is seeking external funding to expand its international business to new markets and to bring its own 3D monitor product to the market.

Jury member Dr. Klaus Engel, CEO of Evonik Industries AG, remarked, “3D displays known today have a crucial weakness: Users can view videos and images in high quality only with cumbersome special eyewear. SeeFront has found a convincing answer for this. The possibility of retrofitting displays of different sizes with this technology opens up a range of applications for this invention.” ■