RESEARCH FRONTIERS INC
Research Frontiers Incorporated operates in the light-control technology sector, developing and licensing its patented Suspended Particle Device (SPD-Smart) technology to manufacturers worldwide. The company generates revenue primarily through license fees and royalties paid by licensees rather than through direct… From the company’s description.
Margins and return on equity change in ; everything else in percent. Fewer shares and less debt are shown plainly, not as bad news — it depends what you make of buybacks. Dotted labels explain each measure. is shown separately from the annual figures.
What RESEARCH FRONTIERS INC does
In the company’s own words
Research Frontiers Incorporated operates in the light-control technology sector, developing and licensing its patented Suspended Particle Device (SPD-Smart) technology to manufacturers worldwide. The company generates revenue primarily through license fees and royalties paid by licensees rather than through direct manufacturing of finished products. Research Frontiers maintains a lean operational structure with five full-time employees as of March 2026, focusing on technology development, licensing, and market support activities.
The SPD-Smart technology enables electronically dimmable glazing products that control light transmission through microscopic nanoparticles suspended within a film. When electrical voltage is applied, particles align to allow light passage; when voltage is removed, particles disperse to block light. This technology finds application across five major markets: aerospace, architectural, automotive, marine, and display products. The company holds hundreds of patents and patent applications worldwide protecting its intellectual property position.
Research Frontiers' licensees operate across the supply chain, including emulsion manufacturers, film producers, lamination service providers, and end-product manufacturers. End-product licensees typically pay royalties ranging from ten to fifteen percent of net sales. During fiscal 2025, five licensees accounted for the majority of fee income, representing twenty-one, twenty, twenty, nineteen, and thirteen percent respectively.
The company's trademarks include SPD-Smart, SPD-SmartGlass, VaryFast, and Powered by SPD, among others. Notable commercial deployments include Mercedes-Benz MAGIC SKY CONTROL panoramic roofs, General Motors' Cadillac CELESTIQ multi-zone electronically dimmable roof system, Ferrari Purosangue sunroofs, and SPD-Smart windows on over forty aircraft models across commercial, business, and specialty aviation segments. The company also maintains an SPD-SmartGlass Design Center in Woodbury, New York, where stakeholders evaluate the technology alongside competing dynamic glazing solutions.
Research Frontiers was incorporated in New York in 1965 to continue early light-control research and was reincorporated in Delaware in 1989. The company website is located at SmartGlass.com.
Company details
- Sector
- Financials
- Industry
- Holding & Investment
- Headquarters
- WOODBURY, NY
- Fiscal year end
- December
- CIK
- 793524
- SIC
- 6794
Financial performance, year by year
Fiscal 2013–2025 · USDThe full income statement, balance sheet and cash flow for each of these years — every figure traceable to its filing — is on the Financials tab with a free account.
Who owns RESEARCH FRONTIERS INC — and what changed
Funds as of 2026Q2 · superinvestors as of 2026-06-30
Largest fund holders · RESEARCH FRONTIERS INC’s weight in each
Fund ownership is a floor, not a census — pensions, insurers and people holding shares directly are not visible here.
Fund ownership counts N-PORT filers only, so it is a floor rather than a census — pensions, insurers and direct holders are not visible here, and the remainder is not “held by individuals”.
Could not be determined for this company: bond issues.
Every fund and institutional holder, quarter by quarter, is on the Ownership tab with a free account.
Recent filings
All filings →Each filing opens into its own statements and disclosures here.
Put this business in context.
Compare this company with peers, find it in your funds and follow its financial history with your connected AI:
- “How do RESEARCH FRONTIERS INC and its peers compare on margins and cash generation over ten years?”
- “Where did five years of RESEARCH FRONTIERS INC's earnings go — cash, debt, buybacks, reinvestment?”
- “What changed in RESEARCH FRONTIERS INC's last four quarterly filings that the numbers alone won't show?”