Worcester Business Journal

20 2022 Economic Forecast • Worcester Business Journal • www.wbjournal.com CELEBRATING HALF A CENTURY OF INNOVATION, COLLABORATION, AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Charlton, MA-based INCOM, Inc., the world's largest supplier of glass and polymer fused fiber optic solutions, is celebrating 50 notable years of continuous growth, product innovation and business accomplishments. Since launching in 1971, INCOM has grown from a fledgling startup with an entrepreneurial spirit into a world-class leader in fused fiber optics at the forefront of technology. Driven by a passion for innovation and excellence, INCOM today has a loyal customer base spanning diverse markets, from genetics to the military. INCOM's track record of achievements throughout its 50 years proves that a tenacious drive for excellence reaps results. A Storied Background INCOM successfully manufactured its first fiber optic faceplate in 1973. A Fiberoptic faceplate is a fused array of millions of optical fibers aligned in order to transfer images. By 1978, INCOM's technology enabled new products to emerge with state-of-the-art technological developments, including a fiber optic faceplate used for contact printing that allowed its customers to dominate the early stages of automated phototypesetting of newspapers, books and magazines. A 2006 Small Business Innovation Research grant (SBIR) from the National Science Foundation facilitated the development of Microcapillary and Microwell fiber optic faceplates, which allowed for high speed, high density sampling. INCOM had developed a platform that is, in essence, a 3-D "laboratory on a chip" that exponentially increased the speed of human genome mapping. INCOM acquired Paradigm Optics in 2012, which represented its continued investment and commitment to providing the most advanced fused fiber optic technology available. Paradigm's next generation waveguide called Nanoguide supports three times the resolution of any glass fiber optic ever produced, a technology that is paving the future for military and commercial optics. Looking Ahead "As INCOM prepares to celebrate its 50th Anniversary in November, we continue to embrace innovation with the energy and spirit of a startup company," said Michael A. Detarando, President and CEO. "Our newest Nanoguide technology, used in conjunction with our legacy microwell products, will bring about new imaging platforms for next generation virus testing. The future for INCOM and its customers is very bright. While we are incredibly proud of our long history of contributing to next generation technologies, we continue to strive for new opportunities to leave our mark in the areas of science and medicine. As a world leader in commercial fused fiber optics, we move forward into the next 50 years with unbridled passion by exploring, discovering, and manufacturing products that will impact ordinary people in extraordinary ways." BEING PART OF OUR TEAM There have been so many factors that have contributed to our success over the past 50 years, but the one that stands apart has been our people. While no company can ever claim to do everything perfectly, we have a long history of working together toward a purpose greater than ourselves, laser focused on the success of our customers while advancing technologies that impact ordinary people in extraordinary ways. When you work at Incom, it's a quick transition from learner to contributor to driver of progress, shaping the nature of who we are and where we are going. While we love the team we have, our search to add talented people eager to be part of our journey is continuous. While we like to think of ourselves as one large family, we are actually a family of families and understand that in order to perform at the highest levels professionally, work-life balance is critical. For more information about joining the Incom team go to incomusa.com/careers Partnering with Incom to develop the atomic layer deposition microchannel plate (ALD-MCP) has been fruitful and rewarding. It has been a wonderful experience collaborating with Incom and this development would not have been possible without them. Congratulations on your 50th anniversary, and I hope this partnership continues for many years to come. - Dr. Jeffrey W. Elam PhD, Argonne National Laboratory 50 years A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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