Look at Canada — we’ve built real expertise in Imaging. (Category: Imaging, Vision)
- Nicholas Gagnon
- Apr 8
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 9
I needed to review some characteristics of imaging applications, and it struck me how active the Canadian’s expertise is in this field.
Like a wise person once told me: If you truly want to understand something, start by looking at it. Vision comes before interpretation.
Credit: Luqia (INO) - https://www.ino.ca/en/solutions/hyperspectral/
Some companies in this list have been acquired by foreign companies, but what I see is that solid research and engineering work are still active where these companies have been founded, here in Canada!
Look at the list I built for you today:
Company | Location | Spectrum / Domain | Sensor Technology |
*Teledyne DALSA (acquired in 2011) | Waterloo, ON | UV → Visible → NIR → X-ray Industrial / Scientific | Proprietary CCD & CMOS (in-house fab) |
*Teledyne Lumenera (acquired from Roper Tech in 2018) | Ottawa, ON | Visible + NIR Industrial / Scientific / Microscopy | Sony CMOS (Pregius, Starvis) + Sony CCD |
*FLIR IIS (ex–Point Grey acquired in 2016) | Richmond, BC | Visible Machine vision / Robotics | Sony CMOS (Pregius IMX series) |
LUCID Vision Labs (founded in 2017) | Burnaby, BC | Vis + NIR + SWIR + 3D ToF + Event Industrial / Machine vision | Sony CMOS (IMX), Sony SenSWIR InGaAs, Gpixel CMOS, Sony/Prophesee EVS |
**Photon etc. | Montréal, QC | Vis → NIR → SWIR (400–2500 nm) Research / Materials / Life sciences | InGaAs (NIR/SWIR), MCT/HgCdTe (SWIR), Si CCD/CMOS (VIS) |
Nüvü Caméras | Montréal, QC | ~300–1100 nm (Vis/NIR) Astronomy / Biomedical / Quantum | Teledyne e2v EMCCD (CCD60, CCD97, CCD201, CCD282) |
Optina Diagnostics | Montreal, QC | ~450–905 nm, with 92 discrete spectral bands (Vis/NIR) Medical / Alzheimer's diagnostics | high-speed, 16-bit monochromatic camera—often paired with a CMOS sensor |
Telops (acquired by Photonis (EXOSENS) in 2023) | Québec City, QC | SWIR → MWIR → LWIR (1.5–12 µm) Defence / Scientific / Industrial | InSb (MWIR), SLS superlattice (LWIR), MCT, FTIR interferometry |
Zilia | Quebec City, QC | Not fully disclosed, visible/near-infrared low-intensity light Medical / Ocular oximetry | Not fully disclosed, Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy |
Luqia (INO) | Quebec City & Montreal, QC, Hamilton, ON | Infrared (MWIR/LWIR) Defence / Aerospace / Satellite / Industrial | Cooled MCT (HgCdTe), uncooled microbolometers |
PATQER | Quebec City, QC | Vis/NIR/SWIR Industrial / Automotive / Biomedical / Lighting | Complement CMOS, other Imager (polarimetric info) Dynamic Beam Shaping (Lighting) |
Immervision | Montreal, QC | Vis/NIR/SWIR/ Multi-Hyperspectral Security / Drones - UAV / Defence / Automotive / Laptop - Mobile | CMOS, InGaAs, hybrid sensors. Design a tailored solution aligned with the customer’s specific requirements |
*Teledyne - completed its acquisition of FLIR on May 14, 2021 (Teledyne HQ: Thousand Oaks, CA, USA).
**Photon etc. - manufactures high-sensitivity infrared cameras and hyperspectral systems. Offers a complete range of customizable and modular equipment, in three sectors: Life Sciences, Advanced Materials, and Industrial.
Photon Etc. has spun off several companies, including Nüvü Caméras (EMCCD cameras) and Optina Diagnostics (retinal imaging).
Nüvü Cameras - manufactures camera solutions for low-light imaging, ground or space-based (EMCCD cameras).
OPTINA Diagnostics - Retinal imaging and AI platform for Age-Related Macular Degeneration diagnosis and other systemic diseases. The Optina-4C hyperspectral camera for imaging the retina (back of the eye).
Telops - manufactures imaging spectrometers and hyperspectral IR systems. They are one of the strongest Canadian players in high‑end optical/IR spectroscopy.
Zilia - Ocular camera is a non-invasive retinal imaging device that takes detailed images of the retina and uses advanced light technology and AI to measure oxygen levels directly in retinal tissue.
Luqia (INO) – Custom optical instrumentation and Infrared Cameras. INO collaborates with the industry; they do not aim to compete with the Canadian ecosystem. They are especially active in space and defence applications.
INO is also active in the Yb-doped Polarization Maintained (PM) fibre (1064 nm), amplifier solution, that can be used in semiconductor Inspection.
PATQER – develops liquid‑crystal–based dynamic beam‑shaping modules, polarimetric 3D‑imaging enhancers, and electro‑optic wavelength‑filtering solutions. Its elegant, patented technology allows most detection systems and VIS–NIR–SWIR cameras to extract additional, object‑specific information that would otherwise remain invisible.
Immervision - End-to-end camera and imaging expertise. Wide-angle and specialty camera module developments.
A Closing Thought
I doubt it will surprise anyone when I say that Canada is home to remarkable minds advancing Artificial Intelligence models and solutions. And you can probably see where I’m going with this: “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Images are dense, information‑rich data, which makes AI and imaging a natural power couple.
Let’s bring together these two areas of expertise we already excel at and build innovative solutions that resonate far beyond our borders.
This is not yet an exhaustive inventory. If you have additional suggestions, insights, or feedback, feel free to reach out: nicholas@aheadcurve.co
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