Home
About us
- Photonics21
  
  Photonics21
  The European Technology Platform Photonics21 unites the majority of the leading photonics industries and relevant R&D stakeholders along the whole economic value chain throughout Europe. Today, ...
  
  Read more...about Photonics21
- Photonics Partnership
  
  Photonics Partnership
  The Photonics21 association is an international non-profit association with scientific purpose governed by the provisions of Title 3 of the Belgium Law of twenty-seventh of June nineteen hundred ...
  
  Read more...about Photonics Partnership
  
  Research & Innovation Priorities
  
  Research & Innovation Priorities
  Setting photonics research and innovation Prorities for the Horizon Europe Work Programmes lies in the heart of the Photonics Partnership tasks.
  
  Read more...about Research & Innovation Priorities
  
  Structures, Processes and Statutes
  
  Structures, Processes and Statutes
  The Photonics Partnership acts as a "mouthpiece" of the European Technology Platform Photonics21 (and its more than 4,000 members) towards the European Commission.
  
  Read more...about Structures, Processes and Statutes
- Structure
  
  Structure
  Photonics21 is composed of several bodies. You can find more information on the structure of the platform in the following sections.
  
  Read more...about Structure
  
  Board of Stakeholders
  
  Board of Stakeholders
  The Board of Stakeholders (BoS) is the main decision-making body of the platform. In particular, the BoS bears responsibility for:
  
  Read more...about Board of Stakeholders
  
  Executive Board
  
  Executive Board
  The Executive Board (EB) is the managing body of the platform. The EB is responsible for the coordination and execution of the platform operations, for the preparation and the implementation of the ...
  
  Read more...about Executive Board
  
  Work Groups
  
  Work Groups
  The Photonics21 Work Groups (WGs) are the main centres of activities within Photonics21. They focus on the development of the work group specific research and innovation priorites and the update of ...
  
  Read more...about Work Groups
  
  Work Group 1
  Digital Infrastructure
  
  Work Group 1
  Early 2020, with the onset of COVID-19, digital infrastructure became an even more essential part of our personal and professional lives, acting as a 'lifeblood' the likes of which we have never seen ...
  
  Read more...about Work Group 1
  
  Work Group 2
  Manufacturing
  
  Work Group 2
  The Grand Challenges facing European research are well-documented. Digitisation, and a sustainable and circular approach for manufacturing and materials, will be the basis for a competitive, ...
  
  Read more...about Work Group 2
  
  Work Group 3
  Health
  
  Work Group 3
  The European population is ageing increasingly: the number of people today older than 65 relative to those in the working-age is assumed to double by 2045. Since age is a major factor for a higher ...
  
  Read more...about Work Group 3
  
  Work Group 4
  Climate, Mobility & Energy
  
  Work Group 4
  Photonics plays a role in the targets of Decarbonisation towards Zero Emission Road Transport, Clean Energy Transition, the Industrial Battery Value Chain, Renewable Energy with photovoltaics, energy ...
  
  Read more...about Work Group 4
  
  Work Group 5
  Safety, Security, Space & Defense
  
  Work Group 5
  A key responsibility of government is to keep its citizens protected and to make them feel safe. This can be accomplished on three levels: (1) Civilian empowerment, (2) Law enforcement and public ...
  
  Read more...about Work Group 5
  
  Work Group 6
  Agriculture & Food
  
  Work Group 6
  By 2030, the technology to feed a world population of 10 billion, push back food-borne illness, and reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture needs to be in place. ...
  
  Read more...about Work Group 6
  
  Work Group 7
  Core Photonics
  
  Work Group 7
  Photonics will play a vital role in addressing the key socio-economic challenges facing Europe in the 21st century. As examples, we may note the following:
  
  Read more...about Work Group 7
  
  Mirror Group
  
  Mirror Group
  The Mirror Group constitutes the public complement to the industry-led Photonics21 Board of Stakeholders. It supports and reflects ("mirrors") the activities of Photonics21 at policy level and from a ...
  
  Read more...about Mirror Group
Photonics21
The European Technology Platform Photonics21 unites the majority of the leading photonics industries and relevant R&D stakeholders along the whole economic value chain throughout Europe. Today, ...

Read more...about Photonics21

Photonics Partnership
The Photonics21 association is an international non-profit association with scientific purpose governed by the provisions of Title 3 of the Belgium Law of twenty-seventh of June nineteen hundred ...

Read more...about Photonics Partnership

Structure
Photonics21 is composed of several bodies. You can find more information on the structure of the platform in the following sections.

Read more...about Structure
Services
- Photonics for Finance
  
  Photonics for Finance
  The financing of innovative photonics companies in their different growth phases is a serious problem in Europe. Thats why Photonics21 strives to improve the access to financing for European photonics ...
  
  Read more...about Photonics for Finance
- Photonics for Industry
  
  Photonics for Industry
  Several European pilot lines, which help companies take photonics technologies from lab into market, have been launched by the Photonics Partnership. The pilot lines mean that companies will be able ...
  
  Read more...about Photonics for Industry
- Photonics for Education
  
  Photonics for Education
  The Photonics Partnership supports various projects with the aim of bringing photonics into the education system of Europe. In this sector we dive a bit deeper into this projects.
  
  Read more...about Photonics for Education
- European Calls
  
  European Calls
  There are regular Photonics Calls for Proposals published by the European Commission. The Photonics21 community is the dedicated body to define the European call topics for photonics.
  
  Read more...about European Calls
- Photonics Downloads
  
  Photonics Downloads
  The most relevant and recent publications from Photonics21 and the Photonics PPP can be found and downloaded in this section.
  
  Read more...about Photonics Downloads
Photonics for Education
The Photonics Partnership supports various projects with the aim of bringing photonics into the education system of Europe. In this sector we dive a bit deeper into this projects.

Read more...about Photonics for Education

Photonics for Finance
The financing of innovative photonics companies in their different growth phases is a serious problem in Europe. Thats why Photonics21 strives to improve the access to financing for European photonics ...

Read more...about Photonics for Finance

Photonics for Industry
Several European pilot lines, which help companies take photonics technologies from lab into market, have been launched by the Photonics Partnership. The pilot lines mean that companies will be able ...

Read more...about Photonics for Industry
Projects
- Projects
  
  VISUAL
  The VISUAL project aims to strengthen the leadership of industrial UL manufacturing partners in the scientific, medical, and industrial application fields. This will be achieved through a novel ...
  
  Read more...about VISUAL
  
  DYNAMOS
  DYNAMOS develops fast (1 ns) and widely tunable (>110 nm) lasers, energy-efficient (~ fJ/bit), broadband (100 GHz) electro-optic modulators, and high-speed (1 ns) broadcast-and-select packet ...
  
  Read more...about DYNAMOS
  
  OCTAPUS
  OCTAPUS aims to deliver an agile, low-cost and energy-efficient PIC technology framework that will re-architect the NGCO ecosystem, transparently upgrading its capacity to 51.2Tb/s and beyond, through ...
  
  Read more...about OCTAPUS
VISUAL
The VISUAL project aims to strengthen the leadership of industrial UL manufacturing partners in the scientific, medical, and industrial application fields. This will be achieved through a novel ...

Read more...about VISUAL

DYNAMOS
DYNAMOS develops fast (1 ns) and widely tunable (>110 nm) lasers, energy-efficient (~ fJ/bit), broadband (100 GHz) electro-optic modulators, and high-speed (1 ns) broadcast-and-select packet ...

Read more...about DYNAMOS

OCTAPUS
OCTAPUS aims to deliver an agile, low-cost and energy-efficient PIC technology framework that will re-architect the NGCO ecosystem, transparently upgrading its capacity to 51.2Tb/s and beyond, through ...

Read more...about OCTAPUS
News
- News Archive
  
  Register for our workshops to set up the new Photonics Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda
  Photonics21 is organising a workshop series to set up the new Photonics Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda.
  
  Read more...about Register for our workshops to set up the new Photonics Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda
  
  Photonics in the press: Industry calls for EUR 2 bil photonics programme in future Horizon Europe
  Photonics21 is pleased to see its Joint Statement, endorsed by leading European photonics industry representatives, featured in Science|Business. The article highlights the strategic priorities for ...
  
  Read more...about Photonics in the press: Industry calls for EUR 2 bil photonics programme in future Horizon Europe
  
  Bosch, Volkswagen, Nokia and Europe’s Tech Giants Unite to Secure Photonics Future in FP10
  Some of Europe’s biggest industrial names, including Bosch, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Nokia Bell Labs, ZEISS, TRUMPF, and EssilorLuxottica, have joined forces to urge the European Commission to place ...
  
  Read more...about Bosch, Volkswagen, Nokia and Europe’s Tech Giants Unite to Secure Photonics Future in FP10
Register for our workshops to set up the new Photonics Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda
Photonics21 is organising a workshop series to set up the new Photonics Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda.

Read more...about Register for our workshops to set up the new Photonics Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda

Photonics in the press: Industry calls for EUR 2 bil photonics programme in future Horizon Europe
Photonics21 is pleased to see its Joint Statement, endorsed by leading European photonics industry representatives, featured in Science|Business. The article highlights the strategic priorities for ...

Read more...about Photonics in the press: Industry calls for EUR 2 bil photonics programme in future Horizon Europe

Bosch, Volkswagen, Nokia and Europe’s Tech Giants Unite to Secure Photonics Future in FP10
Some of Europe’s biggest industrial names, including Bosch, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Nokia Bell Labs, ZEISS, TRUMPF, and EssilorLuxottica, have joined forces to urge the European Commission to place ...

Read more...about Bosch, Volkswagen, Nokia and Europe’s Tech Giants Unite to Secure Photonics Future in FP10
Events
- Upcoming
  
  12 November 2025
  
  Photonics21 WG7 "Core Photonics" Workshop: Photonics Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda
  Read more...about Photonics21 WG7 "Core Photonics" Workshop: Photonics Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda
  
  19–20 November 2025
  
  DVN Frankfurt Sensing & Applications Conference
  Read more...about DVN Frankfurt Sensing & Applications Conference
  
  19 November 2025
  
  Photonics21 WG5 "Safety, Security, Space & Defence" Workshop: Photonics Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda
  Read more...about Photonics21 WG5 "Safety, Security, Space & Defence" Workshop: Photonics Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda
- Archive
  
  23 October 2025
  
  Photonics21 WG2 "Manufacturing" Workshop: Photonics Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda
  Read more...about Photonics21 WG2 "Manufacturing" Workshop: Photonics Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda
  
  22 October 2025
  
  Photonics 4 Quality Monitoring: Smart solutions driving the food industry forward
  Read more...about Photonics 4 Quality Monitoring: Smart solutions driving the food industry forward
  
  21 October 2025
  
  Photonics & Electronics 4 Defence
  Read more...about Photonics & Electronics 4 Defence
12 November 2025

Photonics21 WG7 "Core Photonics" Workshop: Photonics Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda
Read more...about Photonics21 WG7 "Core Photonics" Workshop: Photonics Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda

18 November 2025

Minalogic Innovation talks - Photonics for quantum
Read more...about Minalogic Innovation talks - Photonics for quantum

19–20 November 2025

DVN Frankfurt Sensing & Applications Conference
Read more...about DVN Frankfurt Sensing & Applications Conference
Membership

The 3rd International Conference on AI Sensors and Transducers (AIS 2026)

© Rzoog – Fotolia.com

2026 02–07 August

The much-anticipated 3rd International Conference on AI Sensors and Transducers (AIS 2026) will be held from 2–7 August 2026 in Jeju, Korea. The AIS 2026 offers all researchers with sensors-related research to showcase their findings and innovations to fellow peers, senior professors, and industry experts. If you have relevant research in areas such as optoelectronics, optomechanics and AI-enhanced optical sensors, don’t miss this chance to submit an abstract, present your findings and showcase your poster at an international conference. Find out more about the AIS 2026 conference here:

Open event website

Upcoming Events & Workshops

12 November 2025
Online

Photonics21 WG7 "Core Photonics" Workshop: Photonics Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda

The next Photonics21 Work Group 7 “Core Photonics” workshop is scheduled to take place on 12 November 2025, starting at 10:00 CET. The workshop will be held online. Work Group leader Mike Wale warmly ...

Read more...

18 November 2025
Lyon, France

Minalogic Innovation talks - Photonics for quantum

The convergence between photonics and quantum technologies is opening up unprecedented opportunities for industrial innovation today. To help you move from observation to action, Minalogic invites you ...

Read more...

19–20 November 2025
Dorint Pallas Wiesbaden, Auguste-Viktoria-Straße 15 , 65185 Wiesbaden, Germany

DVN Frankfurt Sensing & Applications Conference

DVN Frankfurt Sensing & Applications Conference – November 19-20, 2025 The theme is “Emerging Markets: L2+ & Robotaxis”. The 8th DVN Sensing & Applications Conference will take place on ...

Read more...

View all events & workshops

Post a Photonics event

Fill in the form to get your event published on the Photonics21 website.

Post your event

Latest news about Photonics21

Photonics21
Tuesday, 28 October 2025

Register for our workshops to set up the new Photonics Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda

Read more...

Photonics in the press
Monday, 27 October 2025

Photonics in the press: Industry calls for EUR 2 bil photonics programme in future Horizon Europe

Read more...

Photonics21
Thursday, 09 October 2025

Bosch, Volkswagen, Nokia and Europe’s Tech Giants Unite to Secure Photonics Future in FP10

Read more...

Stay informed!

We can keep you posted on upcoming events,
publication and reports that matter to you.

Register to our Newsletter Register as a Member