European Commission President José Manuel Barroso unveiled the EU executive's new line-up last Friday. In the future Neelie Kroes (Netherlands) will be responsible for the Photonics unit.

Learn more about the new EU-Commission

NMP National Contact Point (NCP) Network is the main provider of guidance, practical information and individual assistance on aspects of participation in the thematic “Nanoscience, nanotechnologies, Materials & new Production technologies” of FP7 comprising the National Contact Points in all 27 EU member states and associated states as well as NMP third country contacts.

The NMP TeAm project aims at an improved NMP NCP service across Euroope to the benefit of its clients through closer collaboration between the NMP NCP’s and normalisation of the differences in knowledge and quality of provided services across the NCP Network in Europe and beyond. To this effect the project objectives are to:
-   Create an interactive partner search system and website open to all its clients
-  Maximise networking opportunities for its clients through brokerage events, joint stands and joint awareness campaigns
-   Standardise the Network skills and provided services through documentation as well as through training actions
-   Forge stronger links with all NMP related platforms, networks and EU initiatives in Europe

More information

Since the beginning of November a new topic “Photonics landscape Europe” has been implemented on the Photonics21 website.  The photonics landscape Europe offers information about the state of the art in research and economy of photonics in the most active European countries. Detailed information of other European countries will be made available within the next year.

Besides the economic impact of the country and the research situation, as well important photonics associations and clusters are presented.

To get information, please visit the website and choose the country you are interested in: Photonics Landscape Europe.

The European Technology Platform (ETP) Conference which has been held on the 13 October 2009 in Brussels has concentrated on the grand challenges of the Lund Declaration for the European society. This declaration calls on the European institutions and Member States to focus European research on the major societal challenges.

During the first plenary session in the morning, the conference was dedicated to an overview of EU initiatives. It was followed by a session on the future role of the ETPs where the ETP expert group presented its findings of a report on ETPs which will be published in November. According to their recommendations the ETPs activities should focus on the potential solutions for the EUs societal challenges and they should consider the fact that the complete innovation chain needs to be involved in solving the grand societal challenges.

The participants then came together in four parallel workshops to address the societal challenges such as climate change and clean energy, sustainable transport, sustainable consumption and production as well as the challenge for the European society related to public health.

On behalf of Photonics21, Dr. Katarina Svanberg, Professor of Oncology at the Lund University Hospital and member of work group 3 participated as speaker in the session on public health. She focussed in her presentation entitled “Gearing R&I to address societal challenges” on photonic solutions in medicine to face the challenge of an ageing European society. In the following discussion it was stated that it is important to focus on health and on the disease with regard to the future health system.

The final plenary discussion presented the outcomes of each workshop. It was stated that the collaboration between the platforms should be increased and that an integrated approach of research and innovation starting from the societal challenge would be necessary. Furthermore, there has been a proposal to cluster the ETPs around societal challenges and to create so called societal challenges platforms, but keeping the existing ETPs. 

The report of the ETP expert group will be available in November 2009 on the Cordis-website.

The next two day event will take place on the 11 and 12 May 2010 in Brussels.

Further information about the ETP conference can be found here.

As announced by the European Commission DG INFSO the mandate of the Photonics unit was enlarged with the inclusion of the Organic and Large Area Electronics (OLAE) area. The two communities that the unit will be serving, namely Photonics and OLAE, have already been sharing common topics and had a lot of synergies. Especially Photonics21 work group 4 on Lighting and Displays was significantly involved in the preparation of the OLAE Strategic Research Agenda (SRA).

The SRA is a joint effort of a large number of European stakeholders, from industry, research and the academia. The title “Towards Green Electronics in Europe” indicates that the OLAE technology is expected to contribute to a lower CO2 footprint of electronics in general, and to a new class of applications and products with integrated enhanced functionalities. It will take however continued efforts of research, development and engineering to make this a reality and continued public funding to reach the indicated objectives.

The first OLAE Strategic Research Agenda will be handed over to the European Commission at the next Photonics21 Annual Meeting in January 2010.

Read the OLAE SRA

The ICO Topical Meeting on Emerging trends and Novel Materials in Photonics took place in Delphi from the 7 to the 9 October 2009. On behalf of Photonics21, Roberta Ramponi, member of the Board of Stakeholders and of work group 7, gave a presentation about the significance of the Photonics21 platform and its role on the European level. Her presentation was held in the session on "European Research Policy in Photonics” and was well attended.
One of the main objectives of the conference was to outline recent significant results in photonics and to bring together optical and materials oriented communities in order to establish a common scientific vision. The conference covered topics such as
 
•    Novel Photonic Materials,
•    Functional Photonic Structures,
•    Strong Field, Quantum and Ultrafast Effects in Photonic Materials and Structures,
•    Biophotonics and
•    Technology Trends in Photonics.

The European Technology Platform Photonics21 would like to better match the skills and knowledge of young students with the needs of the photonics industry, and would like to ensure that a highly trained work force will be available for the photonics industry.

To this extent, Photonics21 is carrying out a survey on the experience of companies/institutes with students in the context of internships.
The purpose of this questionnaire is to acquire information on the experience which companies and institutes have gained concerning the knowledge and skills of students in the field of photonics.

http://www.photonics21education.org/

Filling in this questionnaire will take you about 10 minutes. The survey will be open until the 11th of December 2009.

For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact:
Petra Bindig
on behalf of the Photonics21 secretariat
European Optical Society
Hollerithallee 8
30419 Hannover
Phone: + 49 511-2788-155
Fax: +49 511-2788-119
Email: education@photonics21.org

In a recent Communication of the European Commission Photonics is identified as one of the Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) for Europe - next to nanotechnology, micro- and nanoelectronics, advanced materials, biotechnology.

The European Commission states that although the EU has very good research and development capacities in some key enabling technology areas it is not as successful in commercialising research results through manufactured goods and services. Improving this situation requires a more strategic approach to research, innovation and capitalisation. 

Moreover, until now, there has been no shared understanding within the EU on exactly what should be considered to be a KET.  And there is no coherent strategy on a European level on how these technologies can be better brought to industrial deployment.

The Commission proposes to develop short and longer term competitiveness strategies for key enabling technologies. 

It will set up a high-level expert group tasked with developing a shared longer term strategy and well co-ordinated concrete actions at European level, according to the specific maturity level of each technology.  Based on this work, the Commission will report back to the Council by end of 2010.

“The EU needs a strong innovative drive to equip itself with the means needed to secure our future competiveness and address the major societal challenges of this century. Mastering nanotechnology, micro- and nanoelectronics, biotechnology, new materials and photonics means being at the cutting edge – in the benefit of citizens." emphasises Vice-President Günter Verheugen, Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry.

Photonics21 president Martin Goetzeler welcomes the initiative of the European Commission: “It is an important step forward since for the first time Photonics is not only acknowledged as an important research area, but also becomes a major part of the European industry policy. As stated by the European Commission, Photonics deserve immediate actions and a comprehensive strategy including R&D but also subsequent commercialisation will be the key. Industry and politics need to team up to tap the full potential of Photonics. The Commission has also recognised that the Technology Platforms play an important role in supporting these actions. The industry driven European Technology platform Photonics21 is ready to take its responsibility and actively contribute to this process“.

Read more

Representing more than 1.400 members from industry, research and politics the Photonics21 Annual Meeting has become the major event to the European Photonics community.

All attendees are kindly invited to join the annual meetings evening reception on 14th January, 19.00 - 22.30, at the conference hotel. The informal get together offers you the opportunity to share information, discuss strategies or even to set the starting point for future cooperation.

Download agenda

14 January 2010: 

- Executive Board Meeting, 10.00 - 12.00 (by invitation only)

- Board of Stakeholderts Meeting, 13.00 - 18.00 (by invitation only)

- Evening reception, 19.00 - 22.30

15 January 2010:

- Photonics21 Annual Meeting, 09.00 - 17.00

Topics of this years’ event are
 
•    Presentation and handing over of the 2nd Photonics21 Strategic Research Agenda to Rudolf Strohmeier, Rudolf Strohmeier, Head of Cabinet, Information Society and Media - European Commission
•    First hand information on Photonics in the FP7 work programme 2011-13
•   Green Photonics - US perspective and investments, Eugene Arthurs, CEO, SPIE 

•   Photonics in Canada - national innovation strategy, Robert Corriveau, President & CEO, Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations
•    Harmonization and coordination of member state funding activities in Photonics
•    Research strategy for photonics in Europe - the platform reviews 2009 activities and decides on action items for 2010

Registration

The registration fee has been set at 130 Euro (incl. 21% VAT) covering entrance to all sessions, lunch, coffee breaks and the evening reception.

Please note that the Registration process has been completed now.

Register now


Venue

The Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Brussels will again serve as the conference host site.

Radisson Blu
Royal Hotel Brussels *****
Wolvengracht 47
Rue du Fossé aux Loups
B-1000 Brussels

Web:           http://www.radissonblu.com/booking-entrance
Virtual Tour: http://www.photowebeu.com/radisson-blu/royal-hotel-brussels/


How to book a room online 


Book your room now


Other accommodations


Public transport:
From the airport:
The train is the fastest way to get to the hotel. Trains depart every 15 minutes and take only 20 minutes to reach Central station (Gare Centrale). From there the hotel is only a few hundred meters away and can be reached easily by walking.

From South Station (Gare de Midi):
From South station the trams depart every 10 minutes and take just 15 minutes to reach Brouckère. Take Tram 55 (direction Bordet) or tram 4 (direction Esplanade). You can also take the metro to Central Station or De Brouckère. The rest can be walked in a couple of minutes.

Parking
Parking at the hotel is available on a first come first served basis.


Helpful links

www.stib.be
www.taxi.irisnet.be
www.eurostar.com
 

This event is sponsored by:

As announced by the European Commission DG INFSO the mandate of the Photonics unit was enlarged with the inclusion of the Organic and Large Area Electronics (OLAE) area. The two communities that the unit will be serving, namely Photonics and OLAE, have already been sharing common topics and had a lot of synergies. Especially Photonics21 work group 4 on Lighting and Displays was significantly involved in the preparation of the OLAE Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) which is now available and downloadable at the following link: http://opera-project.eu/uploads/OLAE%20SRA%20FINAL%20VS%204%2091509.pdf .

The SRA is a joint effort of a large number of European stakeholders, from industry, research and the academia. The title “Towards a Green Electronics in Europe” indicates that the OLAE technology, is expected to contribute to a lower CO2 footprint of electronics in general, and to a new class of applications and products with integrated enhanced functionalities. It will take however continued efforts of research, development and engineering to make this a reality and continued public funding to reach the indicated objectives.

Organic and Large Area Electronics (OLAE) has a huge potential to give answers to many questions in our society on the future of energy, environment, information and communication, mobility, health and others. OLAE covers 5 important topics which have all a similar disruptive technology in common:

- Lighting
- Organic Photovoltaics
- Displays
- Electronics
- Integrated Smart Systems

For these 5 topics so far several technology platforms and organizations are involved:

- Photonics21
- OE-A (Organic Electronics Association)
- EPoSS (European Technology Platform on Smart System Integration)
- OPERA (Organic/Plastic Electronics Research Alliance)

Organic and Large Area Electronics has a large market potential of $ 300 Bio. in 2027 according to market research institutes. As OLAE addresses 4 important application areas and industries (lighting, photovoltaics, displays and electronics) it has to coordinate and focus on a European as well as national level the resources in industry and academia. In addition OLAE will have significant impact on additional large markets such as printing and packaging, health care and chemical industry. The diversity of the applications requires a clustered approach with one roadmap. Therefore, as an industry-led initiative, around 70 companies and institutes from 15 European countries contributed in the 5 topic areas to the preparation of the first OLAE Strategic Research Agenda towards a green electronics in Europe , which was prepared from February to September 2009.

In view of the complexity of the area, the synergies between the topics and the economic and the societal impact a coordinated European funding is suggested with an R&D budget of more than EUR 500 Mio. for 2011 to 2015. With this increased funding Europe has a good chance to keep leading positions in the value chain.

The OLAE SRA editor group would very much like to receive your comments on the Strategic Research Agenda. If you would like to give feedback or if you have any questions, please email Dr Thomas Geelhaar on Thomas.Geelhaar@merck.de or Mr Ed van den Kieboom on d.vandenkieboom@plastic-electronics.org or on info@opera-project.eu until 18th October 2009.