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Dr. Velko Tzolov

Velko Tzolov

  • Academic, Industry leader
  • Years active: 19XX — present
  • Background

    The Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre (CPFC) is the only end-to-end pure play indium phosphide wafer fabrication facility in North America. It conducts R&D, new product introduction and volume manufacturing, reducing non-recurring engineering costs and speeding up the timeline from concept to production. CPFC specializes in custom photonics components and photonic integrated circuits for various applications, including AI, high-performance computing, low energy consumption data centres, telecom, sensing, quantum and more.
  • Dr. Velko Tzolov,
  • Director General,
  • Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre
  • Ottawa
  • , ON

Dr. Velko Tzolov joined the NRC in 2010, and is currently the director general of the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre. He was the director general of the Advanced Electronics and Photonics Research Centre from March 2021 to December 2022. Prior to this, Dr. Tzolov was Ottawa’s regional director of the NRC’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), managing a significant portfolio of small and medium-sized enterprises developing innovative technologies, and key IRAP innovation ecosystem initiatives. He was also an industrial technology advisor with IRAP, and a business development officer with the Energy, Mining and Environment portfolio, which focussed on clean energy, and on-grid energy storage solutions in Vancouver.

Between 1995 and 2010, Dr. Tzolov was the founder and senior-level executive of several Canadian technology firms such as: Optiwave Systems, Peleton Photonics Systems and Palladium 7 Corporation. During these years, he was involved in managing industrial technology development and commercialization. He was also very instrumental in major business transactions such as: securing venture capital / debt financing, mergers and acquisitions, and IP asset transactions. Dr. Tzolov also managed sizeable technology deals and partnerships via multinational business development teams to over 50 countries worldwide.

In 1993, Dr. Tzolov was awarded a two-year postdoctoral fellowship by the Université du Québec en Outaouais in the field of fiber optics.

Dr. Tzolov has a PhD in Physics, and a Master’s degree in Engineering Physics from Sofia University in Bulgaria. He also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Ottawa’s Telfer School of Business. Dr. Tzolov is an adjunct professor at the Innovation Technology Management program at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business.

  • Current as of: September 11, 2024 8:46 am