John Fan - President & CEO, Kopin Corp. | Worcester Business Journal

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Hong Kong-born John Fan says the most important attribute to succeeding in technology innovation is being persistent and patient. “When doing something so new, you dream and try to realize that dream. It's always difficult; people may not agree with you — you almost have to be very stubborn about it.”

And certainly he should know. When Fan, the founder of Kopin Corp. of Westborough, began talking about wearable technology — which his company's been manufacturing for commercial and military clients since the 1990s — it may have sounded a bit “out there.” But 15 years ago, he points out, we couldn't imagine wi-fi, either. Now we get upset when we can't get a signal.

The company, which has over 100 employees at its MetroWest site, makes head-worn computing and display systems, and has shifted its focus toward consumer and enterprise markets, while still focusing on military and industry markets, in the past two years. Fan says consumer smart headsets are becoming more viable, and the company has invested in R&D to foster growth in this area. Kopin also has locations in California; Hong Kong; Korea and the U.K.

Kopin's Golden-i headset devices, which are operated via voice command and head movements, are part of the “heads-up” shift, says Fan, where people's faces won't be buried in their smartphones anymore. And the heads-up trend is really just a pattern we already see in progress, he said.

“We saw a revolution from desktop to PC and laptop and phones … things doing the same function but smaller and cheaper,” Fan said. “Now, everybody has a smartphone, which is a small computer. The next step is, it's on your eyeglasses, on your watch, on your clothing … Everywhere you walk (you'll be) connected to the world,” for better or worse, he said.

Kopin's revenue, meanwhile, is thriving amid this revolution. It jumped 39 percent in the 2014 fiscal year; in the first quarter of 2015, revenue jumped 83 percent to $8.6 million. The company attributed that large increase to strong demand from its military customers, but Fan said in a statement the company is also making good progress toward bringing consumer wearables products to market.

“We hear about Star Wars, Star Trek,” said Fan, who has a Ph.D. in applied physics from Harvard University. “Now this kind of technology is real.”

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10 to Watch - John Fan, Kopin Corp.