Philippe Vannson, Head of the EC Photonics Unit, and his colleague Werner Steinhögl, Head of Sector Photonics – Laser based Technologies, recently visited key photonics stakeholders in the Eindhoven region of the Netherlands at the invitation of Photonics21.
The visit was hosted by Executive Board members Jaap Lombaers and Mike Wale and encompassed Philips Lighting and Philips Healthcare, no less than five smaller photonics companies, two research centres, Solliance and the Holst Centre, the Institute for Photonic Integration at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and the clean room facilities of Nanolab@TU/e. Ewit Roos, CEO of Photon Delta, joined the meeting to explain the role this organization plays in promoting photonics innovation in the Netherlands and beyond, and Bart Verbeek represented the Netherlands photonics portal, PhotonicsNL.
The strength of photonics in the Eindhoven region was clearly demonstrated by the presentations of the companies involved, which included eTulipa, Merck Window Technologies, Smart Photonics, Bright Photonics and Settels Savenije van Amelsvoort, as well as Philips. Among the highlights was a live outdoor demonstration of a reflective display by the SME eTulipa. Our visitors from the EC appreciated the broad range of photonics technologies that are being developed by numerous companies in the region, be it small or large, in collaboration with research institutes and universities.
The discussions were fruitful and all involved declared the visit to be a great success. We look forward to facilitate further visits of our EC colleagues to other key photonics regions in Europe.