Researching ultra-wideband technology

Jen, Eli, Bart and Jan were all conducting research into ultra-wideband technology at IDLab – the joint research centre of imec, Ghent University and the University of Antwerp – when they realized the business potential of this technology. The four of them therefore took part in Ghent University’s Expedition Do! in 2019 to turn their idea into reality. Lopos saw the light of day and quickly became one of the winners in the 2019 edition of the competition.

Preventing the coronavirus from spreading

Later that year, the budding start-up was accepted in imec’s business acceleration programme – imec.istart – where Peter Van Roosbroeck joined the team. While exploring different avenues to position and apply the technology, the coronavirus outbreak hit the world hard. As an agile start-up, Lopos was able to reroute its efforts and resources into developing a solution that could help prevent the disease from spreading. SafeDistance, now LoposAlert, was created to easily uphold social distance guidelines in just six short weeks. The wearable uses ultra-wideband technology to measure the distance between people and send sound, vibration or light warning signals when they get too close together.

Imec

Imec is a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. The combination of its widely acclaimed leadership in microchip technology and profound software and ICT expertise is what makes this research centre unique. It leverages its world-class infrastructure and local and global ecosystem of partners across a multitude of industries to create groundbreaking innovation in application domains such as healthcare, smart cities and mobility, logistics and manufacturing, energy and education.

Trusted partner for companies, start-ups and universities

As a trusted partner for companies, start-ups and universities, it brings together more than 4,000 brilliant minds from over 97 nationalities. Imec is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium and has distributed R&D groups at a number of universities in Flanders, the Netherlands, Taiwan and the US, and offices in China, India and Japan. In 2018, imec’s revenue (P&L) totalled €583 million.

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