Elizabeth Downing
CEO
3D Technology Laboratories

Elizabeth Downing is President, CEO and founder of 3D Technology Labs in Sunnyvale, California.  Winner of Technology and Innovation awards from Discover Magazine, Industry Week Magazine, and Saatchi & Saatchi, and recently featured along with Hillary Rodham Clinton, Madeleine K. Albright, and Sandra Day O’Connor in Feminine Fortunes – Women of the New Millennium, Elizabeth Downing is well known for her contributions to the field of volumetric visualization and display technology.  Holder of more than a dozen patents on optical and laser-based instrumentation, Downing has not only developed a paradigm shifting technology, but has worked to channel it into key initial markets where time-critical visualization of volumetric data can mean the difference between life and death.  A mechanical engineer specializing in systems integration by training, Downing not only conceived of the basic concepts, but has worked to develop the material processing capabilities and has integrated the optical systems to create the world’s first 360-degree walk-around three-dimensional display.  Founded in 1996 with the help of key technical and business experts, her company, 3D Technology Labs has meticulously pushed the performance envelope of a challenging new visualization frontier. 

In a business climate where IPO mania has often replaced common business sense, 3DTL has methodically used government funding (NIST-ATP, DARPA-BAA, SBIRs), to mitigate technical risk, ensuring that key technical barriers to commercialization could be successfully addressed.  As a result, 3DTL is ready to embark on the next round of challenges, namely transition, to begin tailoring, testing, and evaluating crossed-beam volumetric displays for the Department of Defense. 

Since 1996, Elizabeth Downing has been invited to speak as an expert in her field by the National Academy of Sciences, the Optical Society of America, SIGGRAPH, and the U.S. Display Consortium.  In addition, she continues to push the boundaries of field, and is the author of several innovative scientific publications relating to three-dimensional display, nonlinear optics, non-oxide glasses and their applications.