SPEAR advances and commercializes optical and optoacoustic technology that was developed and validated at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munich and the Technical University of Munich. The Company is immersed within the vibrant technology ecosystem of Munich and has developed strong partnerships with several national and international collaborators and customers, to advance its platform technologies and applications. In 2025, SPEAR acquired the assets of iThera Medical GmbH to strengthen its IP portfolio and product offerings. The Company is funded by the European Union (EU), the European Space Agency (ESA), the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) in synergy with tens of partners. Some exemplary projects are: 

 

Project MOSAIC (GA: 101186537) funds the development of a portable RSOM system and explainable artificial intelligence (xAI) for longitudinal diabetes monitoring, in collaboration with clinical leaders in diabetes care Prof. Francesco Giorgino, University of Bari (IT) and Prof. Thomas Pieber, University of Graz (AT). 

 

Project SWOPT (GA: 101046667) advances the development and the exploitation strategy of a novel way to improve the molecular sensitivity of optoacoustic imaging and sensing, by using light-modulated contrast in-vivo.

 

Project COMPASS (GA 101253264) is an EU Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) / Horizon Europe Joined Undertaking, led by King’s College London and GE Healthcare, whereby SPEAR participates to advance RSOM to cardiovascular applications.

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Project Q-MSOT is funded by the EU EIC Transition mechanism as a multi-partner consortium that will relaunch Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT) as a next generation, cost-effective portable scanner of unprecedented performance and quantification accuracy.

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Project OCCULTISM is funded by ESA and NASA to validate optoacoustics in space applications.