On the Rise

Maui

Engineers Dan O’Connell and Terry Born are bringing new light to solar technology.

O’Connell and Born founded Hnu Photonics, a Wailuku-based startup that looks to improve existing technologies and bring them to market. Begun in February 2006, Hnu Photonics (pronounced “H-New”) already has developed a prototype for a high-efficiency solar cell that the duo says uses less material but produces more energy than current technology.

“We feel that this can change the face of solar energy so it’s much more widely adopted worldwide,” O’Connell says.

But energy technology is only one of its divisions. Hnu Photonics also has laboratories for developing medical and defense technology as well as a small-scale manufacturing facility.

The company today employs 14 people, plus four interns.

Also noteworthy, Hnu Photonics’ medical division has patent-pending technology. “We’re developing a medical device that will enable individuals to do a lot of tests that they would normally have to go to a hospital or a doctor,” O’Connell says. “They’ll be able to do it in the privacy of their homes.” Equipment that takes up a whole room in a hospital will be brought down to the size of a laptop, he says. What kinds of tests? O’Connell was reluctant to reveal too much at this stage, but offered biopsies as an example.

With a number of high-profile clients already on board, including Textron, Boeing and Trex, the company is expanding from 2,000 square feet to a 6,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. It also acquired Tucson Optical Research Corp., an optical fabrication company in Arizona that makes lenses for such things as scientific telescopes. “Our goal is to be the largest manufacturer [in Hawaii of] state-of-the-art, optical fabrication of optics and coatings,” O’Connell says.

The company reported revenue of $1 million in 2007, and expects that to climb to the $4 million to $6 million range in 2008.

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