News

                           

Photonics21 will hold a lunch debate on “The importance of KETs for fuelling innovation, economic growth and cohesion in Europe”, hosted by MEP Maria da Graça Carvalho in the European Parliament, on 9 October, 12.30 to 14.30. The lunch debate will be part of the 4th European Innovation Summit from “knowledge4innovation” which takes place on 9 and 10 October in the EU Parliament. Please find the programme and registration details for the Innovation Summit here.

You can read the full invitation to the lunch debate if you click here.

The BiophotonicsPlus Website www.biophotonicsplus.eu offers a partner search facility where you can offer your company’s/ institute's expertise, present your project idea or search for project partners to set up a project proposal.

You can check profiles of interested parties or – after registering - post your own profile if you click here.

The BiophotonicsPlus website http://www.biophotonicsplus.eu has been launched today. The website will provide you any information on the BiophotonicsPlus European Competition for collaborative R&D funding such as the tentative call timeline,  information on events where the call will be presented as well as the contact details of the participating countries and regions. Furthermore, the BiophotonicsPlus website offers you the opportunity to provide your organization's profile and to search for potential project partners if you click here.

The National Research Council of the National Academies has released the new study "Optics and Photonics, Essential Technologies for Our Nation". The report updates the "Harnessing Light" study and examines the current state of optics, photonics, and optical engineering in the United States.
It estimates that more than $500 billion in revenues and 1.5 million jobs in the United States are directly related to or enabled by optics and photonics technologies.

The report focuses especially on opportunities in following market fields as photonics technologies already play an important role in these areas:

• Communications, information processing and data storage

• Defense and national security

• Energy

• Health and medicine

• Advanced manufacturing

• Advanced photonic measurements and applications

• Strategic materials for optics

• Displays

You can read a summary report of the study if you click here. (9,5 MB)

To download the full report, please go to following website:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13491

Research and innovation in the field of photonics represents a sizable tranche of the EU’s overall R&D budget. Given the enormous range of applications the technology affords, there is little wonder why. Thomas Skordas of Directorate A, DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission, offers a fascinating insight.

To begin, what is the history and the function of your Unit?

The Photonics Unit is part of the European Commission’s Communications Networks, Content and Technology Directorate General (DG CONNECT). It was created in January 2007 at the start
of FP7. The mission of the Unit is to support the vision of making photonics the innovating technology of the 21st Century in Europe. The Unit acts as a driving force for photonics research: it promotes
excellence in the fi eld and helps translate research results into real innovation. The Unit works very closely with the photonics community, mainly through the Photonics21 European Technology Platform. It brings together the key photonics research stakeholders from industry and academia as well as end-users in EU-funded, multi-partner collaborative research projects.
...

to read the full article - click here:

p12-14_Exclusive_Photonics.pdf

The Factories of the Future Call 2013 has been published and foresees an over budget of €230 million with €160 million from Theme 4 – Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials & New Production Technologies and €70 million from Theme 3 – Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The call opened on the 10 July 2012 and will close on the 4 December 2012.

The Factories of the Future call also relates to photonics topics. The relevant call objective is Objective FoF-ICT-2013.7.2 Equipment assessment for sensor and laser based applications. Under this objective section b) on innovative laser applications in manufacturing corresponds to photonics technologies and addresses the photonics community to submit project proposals.

You can find any further information as well as the link to the Cordis website if you click here.

Invest in Photonics is an event where early stage companies can find the latest market information, and the newest technological developments, which together, creates a unique opportunity to network with investors and potential partners.

Take the opportunity to participate in the Invest in Photonics conference which will be held for the third time in Bordeaux. The event will provide a round table with Chief Technology Officers of end user companies, market analysts, later stage company CEOs and VCs. The conference should bring market inputs for investors and SMEs. During the entire two days conference one-on-one company-VC business meetings are organized.

Furthermore, the event will provide key information on the leading investment areas in the photonics industry such as: Cleantech, Health, Consumer Products and the Asian market.

Meet venture capitalists across Europe and beyond in panel discussions and further develop your business network.

SMEs which would like to participate in the Invest in Photonics Conference can apply for the conference from the 1 July to the end of September 2012.

Any further details on the application can be found in the Invest in Photonics Newsletter if you click here:

http://investinphotonics.createsend1.com/t/ViewEmail/r/FC6206C26ECF6FF4

You can find any further information about the event on the conference website if you click here.

The schedule for the event can be found here.

The Welsh Opto-Electronics Forum has recently published a strategic document outlining the photonics enabled innovation strategy for Wales. The document aims to convince the Welsh Government's development of a Regional Innovation Strategy and to re-enforce and promote the role of photonics as an important Key Enabling Technology for Wales and within Europe.

You can read the full document if you click here.

Call 10 of the ICT Work Programme 2013 which foresees an overall budget of € 705.5 million has now been published. The call has opened on the 10 July 2012 and will close on the 15 January at 17:00 Brussels time.

Objective 3.3 Heterogenous Integration of Key Enabling Technologies and Objective 3.4 Advanced Computing cover photonics-related topics.

You will find any further detailed information on the call and the call topics in the following presentation if you click here.

The Cordis Website offers you any further details if you follow this link:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/cooperation?callIdentifier=FP7-ICT-2013-10

Call 11 will open on the 18 September. Closing date will be the 16 April 2013. Objective 3.2 Photonics will focus on photonics topics and will be relevant for the photonics community.

The photonics related call topics are based on the Photonics21 recommmendations which have been worked out by the different Photonics21 Work Groups and which have been provided as expert input to the European Commission.

Any further information on Call 11 will be provided within the next time.

As part of the Digital Agenda for Europe the European Commission has published the results of the public consultation on the future of LED-based lighting in Europe, which was held from 15 December 2011 to 29 February 2012. The consultation was based on the Green Paper "Lighting the Future", in which the Commission proposed measures to speed up the deployment of innovative and eco-friendly LED lighting in the European Union and to foster the position of the European lighting industry. 125 interested parties submitted their views on existing challenges for a wider market uptake of LED-based lighting solutions and how to overcome them.

Amongst the main findings of the report major concerns raised by respondents include the risk of buying products of unproven or insufficient quality, the lack of information for consumers and professional end users, and high initial purchase costs.

Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes, responsible for the Digital Agenda for Europe, thanks all respondents for their contributions, which will be taken into account to further develop a European strategy in this field.

The full report on the results of the consultation on the SSL Green Paper "Lighting the Future" can be downloaded from the consultation website if you click here: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/actions/ssl-consultation/index_en.htm.

Furthermore, the press release is available on the Digital Agenda for Europe newsroom: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/dae/item-detail-dae.cfm?item_id=8273

A Digital Agenda for Europe blog has been started at: http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/how-to-accelerate-the-deployment-of-led-lighting-in-europe-results-of-the-public-consultation-now-available-online/