Sofradir and its subsidiary Ulis have merged to become one company called Lynred.
Lynred was created to streamline operations across Sofradir's and Ulis's range of infrared products. The aim is to accelerate delivery of new technologies and shorten time-to-market of new products.
Jean-François Delepau, chairman of Lynred, commented: ‘Lynred gives us more punching weight in R&D and increased visibility within the infrared ecosystem.’
The combined entity has 1,000 staff and its infrared products serve the aerospace, defence, industrial and consumer markets.
It has recently made a €150 million investment over five years in the Nano2022 project to develop the next generation of infrared detectors. These infrared devices will be designed to address trends in autonomous systems for smart buildings (workspace management, energy savings), road safety, and in-cabin comfort of vehicles.
Developments also include the very large dimension infrared detectors needed for space and astronomy observations, as well as compact and light infrared detectors that can be used in portable devices and on drones.
According to data from Yole Développement, the market for infrared cameras for industrial and consumer applications has the potential to increase from $2.9 billion to $4.1 billion by 2023.
