Fusion IP (AIM: FIP), the university commercialisation company which turns university research into business, is pleased to announce that Sheffield based, Phase Focus Ltd ("Phase Focus"), the portfolio company that is revolutionising microscopy and imaging with its lens-free Phase Focus Virtual Lens® technology, has announced that it has entered into an Licencing Agreement with Gatan, Inc. ("Gatan").  Gatan is the world's leading manufacturer of instrumentation and software used to enhance and extend the operation and performance of electron microscopes.

The Licensing Agreement provides for joint development of a range of products, including a Phase Focus Virtual Lens "add-on" product for existing electron microscopes. Once fully-developed, the product will be marketed by Gatan through its world-wide sales and distribution network. The financial terms of the agreement are undisclosed.

The Phase Focus Virtual Lens is a digital replacement for the conventional image-forming optics used in imaging and microscopy. As well as eliminating the limitations and aberrations of conventional lens-based instruments, it can be exploited to visualise and quantify numerous specimen attributes such as surface topography, thickness and refractive index variations, or electric and magnetic field phenomena.

Fusion holds a 34% shareholding in Phase Focus.

Dr. Sander Gubbens, Gatan's Chief Operating Officer, said, "Gatan has always been at the forefront of developing and delivering the most advanced and high-performance products into the electron microscopy market. We are confident that the Phase Focus Virtual Lens will provide a new dimension of information not otherwise available to users, and ultimately provide atomic-scale resolution beyond the current limits accessible by conventional electromagnetic lens technologies."

Dr. Ian Pykett, Phase Focus's CEO, said, "We are delighted to have entered into this Licensing Agreement with Gatan, an internationally-respected developer of products that are sold both to end-users and to almost every electron microscope manufacturer. Gatan's unmatched market reach will ensure rapid and widespread penetration of our Virtual Lens technology into the marketplace. It is especially pleasing to see that Gatan has fully shared our vision of what our disruptive lens-free technology can offer to the electron microscopy community, and we look forward to seeing that vision translated into reality over the coming months and years."

David Baynes, CEO of Fusion, said

"We are delighted that the world's leading manufacturer of accessory components for electron microscopes has adopted our technology and is going take it to market. Gatan is clearly the best placed company in the world to launch what we believe will be a disruptive technology into the significant electron microscope market."

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