Stuttgart, Germany – At LASYS I renewed the acquaintance of Berthold Richerzhagen, CEO of Synova S.A., who I had first met when he introduced his laser water jet system for hole drilling at the Laser Munich show years ago. I had spotted this system as an innovation that could find a solid niche in industrial laser material processing. It took a few years – new technology innovations usually do – but Synova has had recent successes that have established the laser water jet as a viable processing tool.

Aachen, Germany – The Innovation Award Laser Technology 2010, initiated by the associations Arbeitskreis Lasertechnik e.V.  and the European Laser Institute, was conferred on Dr. rer. nat. Keming Du, managing director of EdgeWave GmbH, Würselen, Germany, on May 5 in Aachen, Germany's town hall. Du won with his innovative proposal, "Q-switched INNOSLAB lasers for high quality micro-processing." Two other awards, for 2nd and 3rd place, were also conferred.