New Business is Second to Come From NYU’s Center for Advanced Technology
New York University today announced that another technology developed at its Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) will be the basis for a high-tech start-up company. The new venture, to be called NY3D, has licensed a three-dimensional autostereoscopic technology that was developed at the University by Professor Ken Perlin, an Oscar-winning computer scientist who is director of the CAT and NYU’s Media Research Lab.
The technology enables a computer user to see 3D images as if they were popping out of the screen without the use of special goggles or shutter glasses. In addition, the system uses eye-tracking techniques so that the object remains in the correct position when the observer’s head moves or turns in any direction. The University has applied for a patent on this technology.
This is the second start-up business to be developed around a technology created at NYU’s Center for Advanced Technology. In March, the University announced the formation of Improv Technologies, Inc., which will develop products based on the Improv Animation System developed at NYU.
The chairman and CEO of the new company will be Steve Tozzi. Mr. Tozzi has extensive experience with the management of very early stage high technology start-up companies. He is currently a Managing Director at Far East Capital, Inc. specializing in business development, arranging strategic partnerships and development funding for high tech startups. Prior to Far East Capital, he worked for Daiwa Securities, a Japanese investment bank, and Caltex Petroleum Corporation. Mr. Tozzi has an MBA in finance from Columbia University.
Mr. Tozzi said, “The trend from 2D to 3D in personal computing is inevitable; it is no different from the progress from black-and-white TV to color TV or from mono to stereo audio sound systems. This technology, developed in NYU’s lab, is capable of leading that transformation in a way that will mean reasonable costs for the consumer.
The new technology at the heart of NY3D works by improving upon the “parallax barrier” structured light method. NY3D aims to develop and commercialize a system of hardware and software which allows for the display of 3D objects that maintain perspective. The NY3D technology uses eye-tracking which compensates for movements of the viewers head or gaze. When the observer’s head moves or turns in any direction (up/down, left/right, front/back), and/or tilts to the side, the object appears to remain in the correct position, as would a real object.
NY3D will also be assisted by a scientific advisory board. The chairman of the advisory board will be Prof. Perlin, the inventor of the new technology. He is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and the director of the Media Research Lab in NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, as well as director of the Center for Advanced Technology. Also serving on the scientific advisory board will be Dr. Philip J. Bos. Dr. Bos has over 80 publications and over 15 patents. He is a member of the editorial board of “Liquid Crystals”; the scientific committee for the next International Liquid Crystal Conference; and the program committee of the Society for Information Display, and will be the General Chairman of the year 2000 International Display Research Conference. Dr. Bos received his Ph.D. degree in Physics from Kent State University in Ohio in 1978.
The NYU Center for Advanced Technology acts as a critical bridge between the new media industry and technologies developed in university laboratories. Funded by New York State’s Science and Technology Foundation, the CAT promotes industry growth and job creation by providing business assistance to new media companies - including research partnerships, technology licensing, and technical consulting - and supporting the development of emerging technologies through a close association with NYU’s Media Research Laboratory and other science and technology facilities at NYU.
In pursuit of these objectives, the CAT is assisted by NYU’s Office of Industrial Liaison, which has overall responsibility for the University’s technology transfer program and licensing activities. The Office assists the faculty of NYU in developing research collaborations with industry, secures patent protection for new inventions made by the faculty and negotiates research and licensing agreements with industry designed to ensure that new technologies emanating from NYU are developed and commercialized in an appropriate and timely manner.
New York University is one of the largest private universities in the U.S., and it has the largest population of international students of any U.S. college or university. Based in New York City’s historic Greenwich Village, NYU has some 13 colleges and schools that conduct cutting-edge research and provide education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, dentistry, business, nursing, education, the cinematic and performing arts, social work, and public service and administration, among other areas.