News

European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, and Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič have inaugurated "Shapes of Light", a 12-month long lighting installation that relies on advanced LED technology, which will be displayed in the entrance hall of the Commission's headquarters in Brussels.

Read the entire press release.

Watch a video by the EC on the inauguration.

The third edition of Invest in Photonics held on the 12 and 13 December 2012 in Bordeaux focused exclusively on photonics Venture Capital investment and attracted European investors searching for the most innovative and profitable photonics business ventures.

As chairman of Invest in Photonics, Photonics21 Vice-President Giorgio Anania opened the event and provided the keynote introduction. As only high-level investor partnering photonics conference Invest in Photonics hosted 12 presentations from high-profile industry leaders such as Philips Lighting, Samsung, Carl Zeiss, First Solar, etc. on important fast-growth markets such as healthcare, cleantech and consumer goods. Each session was followed by a roundtable discussion to gain further insights about the photonics potential for these growth markets. A fourth session highlighted developments and trends of the photonics industry in Asia. The conference was accompanied by one-to-one business meetings and provided photonics companies the opportunity to present their projects for achieving critical mass by expanding production, developing a new product or increasing sales volume. Invest in Photonics contributed to raise € 37 million in funding since 2008.

You can read the full press release of the event.

The future Irish, Lithuanian and Greek Presidencies which cover the period January 2013 to June 2014 have prepared an 18-month Council work programme. Reaching an agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework which is the basis for Horizon 2020 will be a key priority for 2013.
Main priorities of the 18-month Council work programme are following pillars:

The EU budget
Regulations of the Multiannual Financial Framework should outline the detailed spending priorities and modalities in a wide range of sectors directly related to the jobs and growth agenda, including networks (Connecting Europe Facility), research and innovation (Horizon 2020), support for SMEs (COSME) and student mobility (Erasmus for All). Furthermore, Cohesion Policy will remain an important instrument for further stimulating growth across the Union and thus reducing disparities between the different developments of European regions.

Industrial policy
Innovation, improved market conditions as well as access to finance and skills are the main pillars to support the re-industrialization within Europe. The Council will concentrate on improving the competitiveness of the European industry, especially with regard to SMEs which are the backbone of the European economy.

Competitiveness
The future Presidencies will pay attention to the Single Market Acts I and II, to achieve a Single Energy Market by 2014 and Digital Single Market by 2015 as well as to adopt Horizon 2020 and COSME in 2013 and to finalize the European Research Area by 2014.

Key Enabling Technologies (KETs)
The three future Presidencies will dedicate continuous attention to implement the European strategy for KETs. The Council will also continue its work to realise the full potential of KETs.

Clusters
Clusters are important players for innovation as they link researchers and enterprises to create new products and services and to increase the regional strength. The future Presidencies aim to foster trans-national cluster cooperation and to encourage the building-up of world-class competitive clusters within Europe which will strengthen industrial competitiveness and innovation in Europe. In addition to this, the Presidencies will follow up the European Commission’s call for new policy measures to foster a faster uptake of innovations and establish a better environment to create innovations.

SMEs
Adopting the regulation to establish a programme (COSME) fostering the competitiveness of enterprises and SMEs will be another important priority. COSME will contribute to address the market failures facing SMEs including the access to finance and to new markets.

Research and Innovation
One of the top priorities for the new Presidencies is to conclude the Horizon2020 proposal so that the new research programme can start from the beginning of 2014. Furthermore, the adoption of the proposals which relate to the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is another key issue. With regard to the European Research Area (ERA) which should be completed by 2014 the future Presidencies  aim to improve the mobility and career prospects of researchers, the mobility of graduate students as well as the attractiveness of Europe for foreign researchers. In addition to this, the future Presidencies has identified a need to engage more strategically in science, technology and innovation cooperation with third countries.

The three Presidencies Ireland, Lithuania and Greece will make every effort to contribute to reach an agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework at the beginning of 2013.

Take the opportunity to join several Photonics groups on the social business network LinkedIn to exchange information among the photonics community. Joining the photonics groups is free of charge and provides you the opportunity to post questions and participate in discussions and might help you to expand your personal photonics network.

If you want to subscribe to some of the most relevant photonics groups you can follow these links:

Photonics Education and Training: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Photonics-Education-Training-4606620

Photonics Jobs in Europe: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Photonics-Jobs-in-Europe-4672908

PhotonicsResearchFunding in Europe: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Photonics-Funding-in-Europe-4660030

Photonics Clusters: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Photonics-Clusters-4551103

Photonics Market Statistics and Data: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Photonics-Market-Statistics-Data-4746469

Photonics Sensors: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Photonics-Sensors-4217955

Photonics: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Photonics-110741

EPIC: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/EPIC-European-Photonics-Industry-Consortium-2955260

In the near future, EU inventors can apply for a unitary patent cutting the cost of an EU patent by up to 80 %. The European Parliament approved the EU patent package which relates to a unitary patent, language regime and unified patent court. The unitary EU patent also makes it more competitive in comparison to the United States and Japan. It will be and also more effective than current systems in protecting inventions. In addition to this, the new EU patent will allow for automatic unitary patent protection in all 25 participating member states. According to the European Commission an EU patent under the new regime may only cost 4725 € in comparison to an average of 36 000 € today.

In future any inventor can apply to the European Patent Organisation for an EU unitary patent which is valid in all 25 EU member states that take part in the new regime. Translation costs will be fully reimbursed for SMEs, non-profit organisations, universities and public research organisation based in the EU.

The international agreement creating a unified patent court will enter into force on the 1 January 2014 or after thirteen contracting states will ratify the agreement, provided that UK, France and Germany are among them.

You can find any further information about the new patent regime here:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20121210IPR04506/html/Parliament-approves-EU-unitary-patent-rules

A European Photonics Database which provides you information on photonics companies, research institutes and universities in Europe has now been published on the Photonics21 website. The database allows you to search for photonics companies, research institutes and universities in Europe and to inform about their product groups or research areas. Furthermore, the database provides you the contact address and the external website link to the corresponding photonics organisation you are looking for.

You can find the link to the European photonics database here:
http://www.photonics21.org/organisation_list.php

If your company or research institute/university is not shown in the European Photonics Database so far and should be included or if you would like to make any changes to your company's research institute's entry, we would kindly ask you to fill in the corresponding form and send it back via e-mail to secretariat@photonics21.org.

Download Company Form
Download Research Institute/University Form

For the fifth time the European Technology Platform Photonics21 announces the Photonics21 Student Innovation Award. The prize will be handed over at the evening reception of the Photonics21 Annual Meeting 2013 on the 29 April 2013.

The Research, Education and Training work group of Photonics21 (Work Group 7) has established a prize for students in the field of photonics in order to promote research in photonics especially related to R&D with a significant industrial impact.

Any person under 35 and active in the field of optics and photonics may apply for the Photonics21 Student Innovation Award. The award consists of a certificate, a trophy as well as a cash prize of € 5,000.

Applicants must submit the following documents:

• The completed application form,
• One letter of support (by a supervisor or mentor),
• A short (2 page) biography/CV
• A list of peer reviewed publications
• A description of the innovative R&D work (not exceeding 4 pages of A4, 12 point text), making clear the
  • Nature of innovation &
    
  • Potential impact to industry

The application deadline for participating in the Photonics21 Student Innovation Award 2013 is the 20th February 2013.

Applications can be sent via e-mail to education@photonics21.org .

Download: application form Photonics21 Student Innovation Award 2013
Download: Rules Photonics21 Student Innovation Award

The Photonics21 Student Innovation Award is kindly sponsored by:


Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Website
Hamamatsu Photonics Website
JENOPTIK Website
SPIE Europe Website

Sponsoring
If you want to become a sponsor of the Photonics21 Student Innovation Award or the Photonics21 Annual Meeting 2013 you can contact the Photonics21 secretariat for further information via an e-mail to secretariat@photonics21.org or via phone: +49 (0) 211 62 14-338 .

Download any further information on the sponsoring packages .

The proceedings of the workshop on Biophotonics are now available to the photonics community. This thematic workshop was organizedy by EPIC and held on the 25 October 2012.

To access the folder, please follow this link: 

https://sharing.oodrive.com/easyshare/fwd/link=W7cbZogtRCrf_glDRXEj4C

In order to download the whole folder in one operation, mark the empty case in front of the folder name (without opening it) and click on “download files” in the toolbar.

The workshop goal was to determine the opportunities and challenges for biophotonics business development for the next 5 years with a specific focus in the break-out groups on the exploitation of Raman-based and SPR and related evanescent-field sensors.

The programme included presentations of roadmaps, markets and end-user requirements by key-speakers:

• Dennis Matthews, University of California, Davis, USA "Market Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges for Biophotonics"

• Ruth Geiger, Horiba Jobin-Yvon, Bensheim, Germany "Biophotonic Solutions to Explore the Bio World - Industrial Feedback"

• Jürgen Popp, IPHT –Jena, Germany "Biophotonics activities on the European level"

• Bruno de Vandière, Flowgene, Saint-Beauzire, France “Deep-UV Raman Spectroscopy: an alternative to Mass-Spectrometry for Analytical Chemistry?"

• Benjamin Roussel, YoleDéveloppement, Lyon, and Jacques Cochard, Tematys, Paris "Biophotonic label-free technologies: Opportunities in consumers and industrial emerging markets"

Specific technology solutions were given in 22 poster presentations of R&D, prototypes and products.

Breakout sessions were dedicated to formulate solutions, roadmap elements and R&D needs:

• Understanding biologist’s needs: the next challenges for technologies developers.

• Security for Food, Air and Water. How do Raman and SPR sensors stack up against Cytometry? 

• Is Biophotonics the key enabler for Personalized Medicine?

• OCT and photoacoustic imaging: hype or trend?

A market report based on the results of the break-out sessions will be published by Tematys, Yole Développement and EPIC  in the next few months, and will be offered to the public.

During the last Photonics21 Board of Stakeholders Meeting which was held on the 13 November 2012, Khalil Rouhana, Director Components & Systems of DG CONNECT provided latest information on the new Framework Programme Horizon 2020.

You can find any further information in the presentation if you click here.

DG CONNECT's Stakeholder Survey has been launched and remains open until 2 December.

The aim of the survey is to learn more about individuals, groups, organisations and entities who are involved in, or have views on, shaping Digital Agenda for Europe.

We seek more information on the areas stakeholders are interested in as well as rating the importance and level of satisfaction of certain aspects of interaction, for example easy access to information and the importance of timely and accurate feedback.

The survey will take from 5 to 10 minutes to complete. Answers will remain anonymous.

In January 2013 the main findings of the survey will be published on the Digital Agenda for Europe website.

If you would like to participate in the survey please follow this link:

http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=stakeholder2012