The Future Is Now: Dr John C C Fan Of Kopin On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Like every transformative technology, there could be negative effects or consequences if the technology is not used correctly. In an advanced Metaverse world, the physical and digital worlds could be indistinguishable. The cognitive impacts to a user could be so profound that needs to be understood.
As a part of our series about cutting-edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. John C.C. Fan.
Dr. John C.C. Fan is Founder, Chairman, CEO and President of Kopin Corporation, a NASDAQ public company and leading provider of components and technologies for mobile and wearable devices. He is currently pioneering the latest innovative technologies that are foundational to closing that gap and making the potential of the Metaverse a reality.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
It all started when I decided to go to Berkeley to pursue my electrical engineering degree. After graduating at the top of my class, I went to Harvard for my graduate program in applied physics. I learned a lot during my studies at these two great universities. As you can imagine, the best of the best study at Harvard, so this was a big lesson that had a lasting impression on my career. At Harvard, I was no longer at the top of my class. In fact, I told my professor advisor that I contemplated dropping out since I wasn’t the best with the tests and homework assignments. This particular professor told me that different people have different talents and, in fact, that the world needed more people of my talents. Between his motivational advice and talking with my father, I was convinced to continue my Ph.D. program, which ultimately brought me to my days at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
When I started to work at MIT, I knew I was not the best guy with my hands, so MIT Lincoln Laboratory hired technicians to turn knobs for me. In fact, in the early days, some of my inventions happened because of accidents or mishaps by the technical assistants. They made a mistake, and something strange happened, and I looked at it and then figured out why, and then it’s from “why” to then “how,” and eventually to innovations and patents. So, many of my important inventions were caused by some accidental mistakes. I really learned to look at things from different perspectives, and not be afraid of bold experimentation. If I had stayed at Berkeley for my graduate studies, I probably would be on a different track. I might be doing more engineering-like things, such as semiconductor development, process development, rather than trying to create something — trying to radically change something. At that time, at Harvard, everybody was thinking about radically changing things. It’s a different philosophy that helped to shape my career path.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I really enjoyed my years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. In the early days at MIT, I was encouraged to pursue research topics of my interests. I was then interested in developing solar and heat insulating coatings on windowpanes. We were investigating silver coatings which are very reflective and shining to solar radiation. One day, one of my technicians came to show me some silver coatings on glass that were not shining at all and, in fact, were clear and transparent. He thought he had not deposited the silver coating at all. I examined the experimental procedures and was convinced that the silver coating was indeed deposited. The difference was that we did deposit, on the top of the silver coating, a clear protective layer. Wow, the protective layer made the silver coating clear and transparent. Upon thinking this through, this accidental invention created not only papers and patents, it created a new scientific area — transparent heat mirrors, which are now to insulate thermal windows all over the world.
Can you tell us about the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
Metaverse has been a huge topic of conversation recently, but there is a gap between the products available today and the vision of what the Metaverse can be. As President and CEO of Kopin Corporation, I have been pioneering the latest innovative technologies that are foundational to closing that gap and making the potential of the Metaverse a reality. In fact, currently software developments are ahead of hardware developments. For Metaverse to take off, we require advances in displays and optics.
Kopin Corporation developed a unique all-plastic Pancake® Optics for its new-generation 1.3” 2.6K x 2.6K super organic light emitting diode (OLED) micro display to be used for Metaverse (VR) applications. The small high-resolution display, plus the ultra-compact, lightweight design of the Pancake Optics enable smaller, more stylish, and lighter weight designs for VR glasses, that are comfortable for extended hours.
The Pancake Optics provide an extremely sharp, immersive field-of-view (FOV) image — and are thinner and lighter. The patent-pending two-element Pancake Optics Design allows for aspherical plastic lenses with virtually no birefringence but provide an increased image quality than previously available.
The new generation OLED display is designed with patented backplane architecture in a Display on a Chip (SoC) that reduces power consumption and delivers high frame rates up to 120 Hz (for super smooth motion) and rich color control up to 10 bits. With a human-first approach — meaning if it is not comfortable to wear and simple to use for the consumer, the technology does not matter, the combined OLED display and Pancake Optics provide a comfortable immersive experience for Metaverse users.
How do you think this might change the world?
Our micro display and optics technologies are the most advanced on the market and will be critical enablers of the Metaverse experience. Let me give you a parallel example. Years ago, Kopin developed a sophisticated heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) that enabled analog phones to transform to smart phones. Users do not know it, but this enabling technology is used in over 10 billion mobile devices, in every smartphone today. I wish our Metaverse technology will have a similar great outcome.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Like every transformative technology, there could be negative effects or consequences if the technology is not used correctly. In an advanced Metaverse world, the physical and digital worlds could be indistinguishable. The cognitive impacts to a user could be so profound that needs to be understood.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
Two years ago, just before the pandemic lockdowns, I was in Asia in a test Metaverse cinema, with a lot of electronics and a special VR (Metaverse) headset. With that headset, I felt I was in an IMAX theater, sitting in a perfect location in the virtual theater, with virtual folks (virtual friends) sitting next to me. The headset was however still not too ready — images were not sharp enough and sound not too great, but one could see the future. If the headset was much better, we all could have enjoyed virtual IMAX experiences with our lockdown friends from all parts of the world inside a virtual Metaverse world. This day will come — perhaps only a few years away.
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
With the Metaverse being such a hot topic, it’s not such a difficult task to have everyone talking about it on a global level. The challenge lies in developing the latest and greatest technology possible and then making the best glasses on the market at an affordable price. It’s easy for everyone to talk about the Metaverse and its future potential, but without a realistic price point for the masses, it will be quite difficult to receive widespread adoption. Certainly, at the beginning, there were applications for industrial and enterprise applications.
What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?
We had our big debut at CES this year where we hosted a fireside chat that really showcased our journey through all our technology advancements and partnerships. These partnerships really help to tell our story to a broader audience by developing the finished products that incorporate our enabling technologies. We also had the opportunity to show off some of the latest technology, which is really our strongest tactic. Users really need to experience our optics firsthand to be part of this evolving immersive world, where sight and sound create this incredible out-of-this-world experience. We have some plans in the pipeline to really utilize experiential marketing to our benefit. Beyond that, I expect other technology companies with a stake in Metaverse, such as Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Google and others will promote Metaverse products and applications.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
That is a very good question. While I met many very smart individuals over the years, I am most grateful to my father. He was an entrepreneur himself, so I always had that entrepreneurial urge in the back of my mind. It stuck with me from my early years at Berkeley and on to Harvard. My father pushed me to always study hard and that helped me to get where I am today. In fact, at my Harvard graduation, which he flew in from Hong Kong, and remarked, “You got the degree from the school that I always wanted to get.” My father was very proud of the path I was headed down.
Funny story, he actually picked the name “Kopin.” Well, it so happened, Kopin is also close to the name of his own company, a chemical manufacturing company. “Ko” actually means “very high quality, high performance.” “Pin” means “very equitable, very flat, a fair price.” So, the name “Kopin” is actually two Chinese characters. It means a very high-quality product with a very equitable or fair price.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
It is not easy to answer this “goodness to the world” question! I am, however, proud of our heating insulating coatings inventions done at MIT, which are used in so many homes, including mine, and our HBT transistors done at Kopin, which are used in every smartphone, including mine.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
When one starts, do keep asking “why?, why?, why?, why?, why?”
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Be bold, keep dreaming, keep trying, and keep iterating”.
Some very well-known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
Are you interested in learning more about the Metaverse? This topic seems to be all the rage lately with a lot of big investors making some pretty bold statements and actions towards the trending topic. As humans we have five senses that play an important role in how we experience our daily life. Our “personal reality” is primarily shaped by sight and sound — and we are seeing big advances in technology in these two areas that will bring us deeper into the Metaverse. This is where the Kopin team and consumer electronics industry comes in. With more and more companies investing in tangible products designed to immerse users into this virtual world — we see a big opportunity for our industry emerging. We need to look at Metaverse technology, especially within sound and sight, as a continuum. We should expect new tech generations to come out yearly and anticipate consumers making frequent upgrades to experience the newest capabilities — similar to the current smartphone model. Think of the Metaverse as a journey that keeps evolving in an environment that is ever-expanding!
How can our readers follow you on social media?
I would encourage everyone to follow Kopin Corporation on LinkedIn, Facebook, and/or Twitter. Here you can see real-time updates of some of my latest information and have an inside look at how we’re impacting the Metaverse.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Readers can stay up to date on the following platforms:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/kopin-corporation/
https://www.facebook.com/KopinCorporation/
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
