Serstech employee wins prestigious award

On November 28, Serstech Senior Optical Engineer Katja Szybek will receive the prestigious award “Technical Person of the Year 2019” (In Swedish: “Årets Tekniker 2019”) from the Swedish Chamber of Commerce at an event in Malmö, Sweden.

Katja is awarded the prize for her many contributions to the Serstech product and patent portfolios, with one patent approved and another applied for over the last 18 months. 

The first invention is an autofocus solution, without any moving parts, for Raman instruments. Serstech provides a handheld Raman spectrometer, which is used by security customers to identify hazardous chemicals, such as explosives, narcotics and chemical warfare agents. Since the instruments are used in the field and need to meet military and first responder requirements, their robustness and durability are of utmost importance.  This has in the past made an autofocus feature impossible, due to the common use of sensitive and moving optical elements. With Katja’s invention, the robustness of the instrument can be maintained while introducing an industry-first autofocus solution.

Katja’s second invention, patent still pending, is a solution for identification of substances that are hard to identify for any Raman instrument, due to the physical properties of the molecules of the substances. The invention utilizes SERS technology (Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy) to create resonance in nano-coated silicon wafers. The resonance dramatically amplifies the Raman signal and makes it easily readable by Serstech’s Raman instrument, even in the case of traditionally very difficult substances, such as heroin.

”I am very happy and grateful to accept this award. It seems impossible, but then again, anything is possible when you work at Serstech. Serstech has a great team of highly competent, creative and fun colleagues. A team where you can be yourself, express yourself freely and create”, says Katja Szybek. 

 “We are proud and happy to have Katja in the Serstech team and her extraordinary contributions go way beyond the technical aspects of what we do. Her inventions help make the world a safer place and her positive spirit makes her a joy to be around”, says Serstech CEO Stefan Sandor.

For further information, please contact:
Stefan Sandor,
CEO, Serstech AB
tel: +46 739 606067
email: ss@serstech.com

Thomas Pileby,
Chairman of the Board, Serstech AB
tel: +46 702 072643
email: tp@serstech.com 
Company website: www.serstech.com

The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above at 12.00 CET on November 27, 2019.

Certified advisor to Serstech is Västra Hamnen Corporate Finance AB, phone: 040-20 02 50, e-mail: ca@vhcorp.se

About Serstech
Serstech delivers solutions for chemical identification and has customers across the world, mainly in the safety and security industry. Typical customers are customs, police authorities, security organizations and first responders. The solutions and technology are however not limited to security applications and potentially any industry using chemicals of some kind could be addressed by Serstech’s solution. 

Serstech is traded at Nasdaq First North Growth Market and more information about the company can be found at www.serstech.com

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