CGA Applied Metrology Lab's commercialisation efforts saw the birth of the Centre's newest spin-off, Forge Photonics. In a media release on 29/08/2024, the company announced it is aiming to disrupt the $A120 billion global market for autonomous vehicle navigation systems has launched with investment from IP Group and superannuation fund Hostplus.

The investment is being led by IP Group, a leading early-stage science investor with a track record for developing and supporting some of the world’s most exciting businesses in deeptech, life sciences and cleantech (led by Kiko Ventures).

Forge Photonics received a fresh injection of funding earlier this month when ANU was awarded a Federal Government Australia’s Economic Accelerator seed grant of $200,000 to assist its progress towards commercialisation.

Forge Photonics aims to dramatically reduce the cost of navigation systems for a range of markets including self-driving cars, marine vehicles, and defence. Dr Chathura Bandutunga, the CTO of the company and the leader of the CGA Applied Mtrology Lab said "Our work involves translating expert techniques for detecting gravitational waves – one of the hardest things to measure. We are applying high precision measurements to photonic navigation systems – those that use light waves - to drastically reduce their cost and complexity. We expect a rapid pathway to global scale if our system achieves the required performance in pilots.”

Canberra Times Article: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8744669/anus-new-affordable-tech-...