IOT says its Light-Form Technology can form a personalized progressive lens in seconds using a single flash of light. Lenses made with the process are already on sale to consumers, bringing the Spanish ophthalmic technology company’s approach beyond the development lab.
The process eliminates the generating and polishing steps used in conventional lens surfacing. It also avoids a layer-by-layer build: light cures the whole lens volume in one pass, followed by finishing operations before the lens is complete.
A seconds-long forming step, followed by finishing
Light-Form Technology uses stabilized frontal photopolymerization to create the lens. After forming, unused resin is recovered, the surface is hardened, and the lens is mapped.
The seconds-long claim applies to the forming stage. Those subsequent operations remain part of the production workflow.
For prescription optics, accurately reproducing the intended optical design is central to making the process useful. IOT says Light-Form meets commercial optical quality requirements while retaining the design freedom of digital manufacturing, opening possibilities for individualized lenses and future optical architectures.
“Light-Form demonstrates how scientific research can change the way ophthalmic lenses are made.”
José Alonso, Co-founder and CINO of IOT
Alonso also sees the combination of optical precision and a different production method as a way for optical partners to develop personalized products and operate more flexible manufacturing systems.
Lower resource use within manufacturing
IOT reports three resource reductions compared with conventional lens production:
- No water used in manufacturing.
- 90% less energy consumed.
- 76% less waste produced.
These figures cover the manufacturing stage only. Resin recovery is part of the workflow, allowing unused material to be collected after the lens has formed.
The company connects those resource savings to a broader rethink of production equipment and location. Larger installations could combine several printing heads to increase output within a compact footprint. Optical laboratories could then organize capacity around demand in their area, with less reliance on centralized surfacing infrastructure.
Compact machines could bring production into optical stores
Further ahead, IOT envisages compact machines producing custom lenses inside optical stores. That would place manufacturing alongside the customer and reduce the need to hold stock, with faster access to personalized lenses as the intended benefit for wearers.
“Resin recovery and lower water and energy requirements address how resources are used, while compact equipment could support production closer to consumers.”
Carolina Gago, COO of IOT
In-store production remains a future possibility. IOT says it is working to turn these capabilities into practical manufacturing options, with optical partners retaining their central role in vision correction and customer service.
Smart-glasses optics join an established field of research
IOT is also developing ways to print prescription optics directly onto waveguides and flat substrates used in smart glasses and augmented reality headsets. The proposed approach could help make those devices thinner and lighter. Custom optical shapes are another potential avenue for virtual reality.
Earlier work by Luxexcel used material jetting to build prescription lenses layer by layer, including single-vision, freeform and multifocal progressive designs. It also embedded waveguides into prescription lenses for smart glasses. Meta later acquired Luxexcel as part of its augmented reality technology efforts.
A separate project at the University of Waterloo targets contact lenses at the point of care. Its system 3D prints custom contact lenses in roughly 20 minutes, raising the prospect of measurement, design and fitting during one clinic visit. The work earned a Gold Medal at the Shanghai International Exhibition of Inventions in June 2026.
For IOT, consumer lens sales are already underway. Scaling laboratory output, bringing machines into optical stores and adding prescription optics to smart-glasses components represent the next stages of its Light-Form plans.
