News

Take the opportunity to join, meet, inform and network at the upcoming Photonics21 Annual Meeting 2012 which will be held on the 27 and 28 March 2012 in the hotel HUSA President Park in Brussels!

With more than 300 photonics experts from industry, academia and politics, the Photonics21 Annual Meeting has become the major event for the European photonics community!

In her letter to Photonics21 Commissioner Neelie Kroes defined the upcoming Photonics21 Annual Meeting 2012 as milestone event in the process to establish a Photonics Public Private Partnership in the upcoming Framework Programme Horizon 2020 and agreed to provide the keynote speech.

The future development towards a Public Private Partnership for Photonics will be the main focus of the Photonics21 Annual Meeting 2012 and the General Assembly on the 28 March 2012 which will be followed by the Photonics21 work group sessions in the afternoon.

A further highlight of the event will be the presentation of the fourth Photonics21 Student Innovation Award in the frame of the evening reception on the 27 March 2011. The award honors excellent industrial-related photonics research in Europe.

You can find the draft agenda for the event here.

Registration and payment:

The online registration to the Annual Meeting is now open. The registration has been set at 180 €, including VAT and covering entrance to all sessions, lunch, coffee breaks as well as the evening reception.

The amount of 180 €will automatically be debited from your credit card. Payment may be either made by VISA, MasterCard or American Express. Payment will be processed by a professional payment service provider (COMPUTOP GmbH) which is verified by above mentioned credit card companies. The payment process is encrypted by SSL to keep your credit card data strictly confidential.

Here is the link to the online registration for the Photonics21 Annual Meeting 2012:

http://photonics21.org/registration_annual_meeting.php

Please note thata cancellation of your registration and reimbursement of the registration fee is only possible until the 28 February 2012.

Meeting venue:

The Photonics21 Annual Meeting 2012 will take place in the Hotel HUSA President Park.

HUSA President Park                                                                                                         

Boulevard du Roi Albert II 44, 1000 Bruxelles

We invite you to get a first impression of the meeting venue here:

http://www.husapresidentpark.com/default-en.html

Hotel accommodation:

In the hotel HUSA President Park 100 rooms have been provisionally blocked for 160 € per night, breakfast included. The corresponding booking code is: PHOTONICS21

If you would like to reserve a hotel room, we kindly ask you to make your reservation directly with the hotel HUSA President Park by filling in the reservation form which can find here.

You can then make your reservation by sending back the reservation form either via

fax to: (+32) 2 203 24 40 or via

e-mail to: info.president@husa.es

Please note that this option is only valid until the 20 February 2012.

Other hotel accommodations nearby the meeting venue:

You can find some further information about other hotels which are in walking distance of the hotel HUSA President Park here.

How to get to the meeting venue:

Directions from the airport

In the Brussels Airport passenger terminal, take the lift to -1 and buy the Airport City Express train ticket (5.20 € one way) at the desk of the train station. For Brussels, you take any train at platform 2 or 3. Trains depart approximatively every 10-20 minutes and run from 5am to midnight. At North Station take the Simon Bolivard exit and walk to the roundabount. Turn on your right towards Boulevard Roi Albert II and walk until end of the street. Follow the signs for Husa President Park.

Directions from Midi station (Thalys)

Take the train until the North Station. There are trains towards Brussels Nord every 5 minutes. You can also take the tram, line 4 till the Brussels Nord (see schedule). At the station take the Simon Bolivard exit and walk to the roundabount. Turn on your right towards Boulevard Roi Albert II and walk until end of the street. Follow the signs for Husa President Park.

You can find any further information here: http://www.husapresidentpark.com/location-en.html

Photonics21 member Efstratios Kehayashave and Leontios Stampoulidis been selected by European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes as part of her young advisors for the Digital Agenda. The first meeting was held on the 6 February 2012 where both contributed towards entrepreneurship, broadband and innovation in Europe. The representation of a photonics company in the advisory board provides the opportunity to further bring forwardthe inovative aspects of photonics as a Key Enabling Technology of Europe.

You can read some further information about the meeting if you click here.

Moreover, you will find some more details in the blog of Commissioner Neelie Kroes if you click here.

NEXPRESSO is a project funded under the European 7th Framework Programme which purchases pre-market components from companies and places them in the hands of Researchers in order to conduct R&D projects.

You can read the latest newsletter if you click here.

You can find any further information about the project on the following website:

http://www.nexpresso.eu/about-nexpresso

Major highlights comprise a Keynote Speech by Commissioner Neelie Kroes and a High Level Panel debate with representatives from Parliament, Commission, Industry and Science on future funding concepts and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in the area of research and innovation

The way forward towards the future EU Framework Programme “Horizon 2020” and the founding of a Photonics Public Private Partnership (PPP) will be in the focus of the 6. Annual Meeting of the European Technology Platform Photonics21, which will take place on March 27 & 28, 2012 in the Hotel Husa President Park in Brussels, Belgium.

The agenda will put special emphasis on future research and innovation concepts and the European photonics strategy as a Key Enabling Technology (KET) to enhance the competitiveness of European industry and contribute to solve the societal challenges in Europe such as aging society, sustainability and energy efficiency or security.

To read the full press release go the the following link

Photonics21 has provided its input to the Public Consultation on the Green Paper on Solid State Lighting which was launched by the European Commission. The Public Consultation addresses the views of all interested individuals and organisations on the relevant issues involved by collecting replies on specific questions which have been set out in the Green Paper, e.g. how to overcome the challenges for the wider market penetration of Solid State Lighting Technologies in Europe.

The Public Consultation is open until the 29 February 2012. You will find any further information about the Public Consultation if you follow this link:

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/actions/ssl-consultation/index_en.htm 

To read the Photonics21 response to the Public Consultation, you can download the corresponding document here. 

The European Commission Photonics Unit has recently published the latest Photonics and Organic Electronics Newsletter which provides you information on current photonics activities within Europe.

You can download the pdf version here.

To stimulate and support innovative entrepreneurship in the domain of photonics, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel organizes the third edition of its “Intensive Training on Entrepreneurship in Photonics”. The training targets researchers of universities and research institutes, young professionals, employees of photonics-related companies, lawyers, business angels, consultants and therefore everybody who is involved or interested in entrepreneurship in photonics.

The training, held in Brussels from Monday 5 March 2012 till Wednesday 14 March 2012, has a modular concept. It builds on the expertise and the educational program developed at the institution over the years, in close collaboration between the Business Economics Department (BEDR) and the Department of Photonics and Applied Physics (B-PHOT/TONA).

You can find the preliminary programme here. (6MB)

Any further information as well as registration forms and testimonials of previous participants can be found on the following link:

http://www.b-phot.org/www/Events/Intensive-Training-on-Entrepreneurship-in-Photonics-3rd-edition

Are you interested in the training or do you have further questions regarding this intensive course, please send an e-mail to Tom Guldemont, the coordinator of this training (tom.guldemont@b-phot.org) or to Bernadette Callebaut at bernadette.callebaut@b-phot.org