Akonia uses holography to create transparent augmented reality display

Akonia Holographics, a startup in Longmont, Colorado, spent years trying to make holographic data storage work. It didn’t succeed, but now it found a new use for the same technology. The company now plans to use holography to make inexpensive transparent displays for augmented reality smartglasses.

Augmented reality is expected to be a $90 billion market by 2020, according to tech advisor Digi-Capital. And while big companies such as Microsoft, maker of the HoloLens AR smartglasses, could be rivals, Akonia hopes instead to be a component supplier, providing the designs and initial prototypes for holographic displays in AR smartglasses, said Ken Anderson, CEO of Akonia, in an interview with VentureBeat.