OCTLIGHT APS

Their core work

OCTLIGHT APS is a Danish deep-tech SME built around Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) — a non-invasive imaging technique that produces high-resolution 3D cross-sections of biological tissue, most commonly the retina. Their work spans two layers of the OCT ecosystem: on one side, automated software for diagnosing eye diseases from 3D scan data; on the other, the photonic hardware itself — specifically the swept-source laser that is the optical heart of next-generation OCT instruments. Based in Lyngby, home to the Technical University of Denmark, the company is almost certainly a university spin-off translating photonics research into commercial OCT products. They are technology developers, not service providers — their output is components and diagnostic software, not clinical services.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

OCTLIGHT's two projects trace a path from the application layer to the component layer of OCT technology. Their 2017 project (EASED3D) operated at the clinical output end — taking 3D OCT scans and applying automated analysis to detect eye diseases early, a software and algorithms challenge. By 2019 (ISSO), they had moved deeper into the stack, working on the swept-source laser that generates the light inside OCT devices — a photonics engineering and manufacturing challenge. This trajectory suggests a company that initially validated market demand through a diagnostic application, then recognized that the real commercial opportunity lies in supplying the optical components to OCT device manufacturers worldwide.

OCTLIGHT appears to be pivoting from end-user diagnostic applications toward becoming a B2B photonic component supplier for OCT device manufacturers — a smaller but more defensible and scalable position in the value chain.

How they like to work

Both of OCTLIGHT's H2020 projects were funded under the SME Instrument Phase 1, a solo instrument designed for individual companies — there are no recorded consortium partners. This tells us they are comfortable operating independently and have the internal capability to drive a project from concept to feasibility without academic or industrial partners. It does not tell us how they behave in multi-partner consortia, since they have not participated in one under H2020. For anyone considering them as a consortium partner, expect a self-directed, technically confident team that is accustomed to owning the agenda.

OCTLIGHT has no recorded consortium partners from their H2020 participation — both projects were solo SME Instrument applications. Their formal European research network, as visible from this data, is effectively zero, though their location in the DTU ecosystem in Lyngby implies informal academic ties that do not appear in project records.

What sets them apart

OCTLIGHT occupies a narrow but highly specific niche: OCT technology at both the component and application level, in a country (Denmark) with strong photonics and medtech industries. Very few European SMEs combine swept-source laser engineering with clinical imaging software in a single company — most players are either pure photonics hardware firms or pure medical software firms. For a consortium building an OCT-based diagnostic device, OCTLIGHT could function as a one-stop technical partner covering both the light source and the image interpretation layer.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ISSO
  Targets the swept-source laser — the single most technically demanding component in next-generation OCT devices — positioning OCTLIGHT as a potential component supplier to the global OCT instrument market.
• EASED3D
  Combines 3D OCT imaging with automated disease screening at a time when AI-assisted diagnostics in ophthalmology was an emerging clinical need, showing the company's ability to work across hardware and software simultaneously.