The #next.photonics_forum entitled "Winning Europe's future - Europe's age of light" will be held on 8th and 9th March 2018 in the Museum of Fine Arts/Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts and the Bluepoint Conference Centre in Brussels.

The annual event continues the further strategy development of the Photonics Public Private Partnership in preparation of the new EU framework programme. On the second event day the European photonics community will launch the strategy process for a new photonics multiannual roadmap for the next 10 years. As inspiration for this strategy process the symposium on the first day will cover some high level ignite talks providing a global view on European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ecoysystems, Digitisation and Internet of Things as well as a lively debate between the new and old economy.

Online Registration
Benefit of the early bird rate and register now via the online registration.

Event Locations
The symposium and networking dinner on 8th March 2018 will be held in the Museum of Fine Arts:

Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Rue de la Régence 3, 1000 Brussels

The workshops sessions on 9th March 2018 will be held in the conference centre Bluepoint Brussels:

Bluepoint Brussels, Boulevard Auguste Reyers 80, 1030 Brussels

Download an overview how to get to the event locations .

Become a sponsor
Increase your visibility to the photonics community and the political representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament and support the most influential European photonics network! All sponsors will be provided a prominent presence at the event and related communication activities.

You will find any further details in the sponsoring package.

So far following sponsors support the event:

Photonics21 would like to thank them for their support!

Further information
Any further information will be published on the Photonics21 website www.photonics21.org within the next weeks.

Photonics21 Vision Paper “Europe’s Age of Light! How photonics will power growth and innovation” published

The Photonics21 Vision Paper "Europe's Age of Light! How photonics will power growth and innovation" presents the vision of the European photonics community for 2030. The report was prepared as outcome of 8 thematic strategy workshops with the European photonics community and outlines the great challenges facing Europe and the world. 8 missions present a vision of how photonics technologies which are already in the innovation pipeline today can solve these challenges by 2030 and beyond to turn this vision into reality.

 

European leadership in photonics will deliver these benefits in 2030:

● Instant diagnosis of major diseases
● Quality food from farm to fork
● Accident and congestion-free road transport
● A truly circular economy
● A million new jobs
● 10% higher productivity
● Zero downtime in a terabit economy
● Photonics as a flagship science for innovation

 

The Photonics21 vision document serves as input to the preparation of the ninth EU framework programme. Photonics21 Executive Board Member Dr. Thomas Rettich, Head of Research Coordination TRUMPF, presented the Photonics21 vision document to MEPs and representatives of the European Commission on 28th November 2017 in the European Parliament alongside a Photonics21 breakfast session entitled "Europe's age of light! How photonics will power growth and innovation". The breakfast session was hosted by MEP Lieve Wirinck. Photonics21 Executive Board member Dr. Bernd Schulte, President and Executive Board Member AIXTRON, further presented the photonics impact 2017 and demonstrated the economic potential of photonics technologies.

You can download the pdf version of the Photonics21 Vision Paper.

If you would like to receive one or more hard copies of the Photonics21 vision document please write us an e-mail to secretariat@photonics21.org by indicating your postal address and the amount of copies you would like to receive.

Results of the Photonics21 Board of Stakeholder Election 2017

The Photonics21 Board of Stakeholder Online Election 2017 was held from 23rd October to 6th November 2017. There were 22 open seats, 28 candidates and 292 registered voters. By the closing date 224 voters had casted their votes which is a quite successful rate of 76,7 %.
Following candidates were elected into the Photonics21 Board of Stakeholders:

 

Affiliation	Name	Surname	Country
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering	Andreas	Tünnermann	Germany
Thales Research & Technology	Eric	Lallier	France
PhotonicSweden	Pierre-Yves	Fonjallaz	Sweden
Photonics Austria/TU Wien	Gottfried	Strasser	Austria
SCHOTT AG	Ulrich	Fotheringham	Germany
Università degli Studi di Padova	Paolo	Villoresi	Italy
Vigo	Adam	Piotrowski	Poland
AIT	Bernhard	Schrenk	Austria
LIMO GmbH	Guido	Bonati	Germany
Philips Lighting B.V	Ronald	Maandonks	Netherlands
Filarete srl	Andrea	Melloni	Italy
University of West Bohemia	Jiri	Martan	Czech Republic
Opticsvalley	Karl	Gedda	France
OPTITEC	Delphine	Lapray	France
Coriant R&D GmbH	Harald	Bock	Germany
VALEO	Eneka	Idiart-Barsoum	France
EdgeWave GmbH	Keming	Du	Germany
Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration	Rafael	Jordan	Germany
Technobis Group BV	Pim	Kat	Netherlands
V-Research GmbH	Heinz	Seyringer	Austria
LDI Innovation OÜ	Segey	Babichenko	Estonia
SAVIMEX	Laurent	Coyon	France

 

 The new composition of the Board of Stakeholder looks as follows:

Photonics21 would like to congratulate all newly elected Board of Stakeholder representatives and welcomes them in their new position!

Take part in the Photonics21 #next_photonics. Prototype your idea contest

Prototype your idea is a competition for business ideas in an early stage. It is a prototypical startup competition. It can be a simple thought, an idea you cannot get out of your head or an idea that you have been working with for a while. Photonics21 aims to support talented students, who have a real interest in becoming entrepreneurs by combining creativity with photonics.

This is the competition for your idea since you will get feedback on your idea and exposure. Apart from this, you will have the opportunity to get a spot in the ACTPHAST EU programme to test your idea to potential customers that means, Access to prototyping infrastructure and hands on support will be provided by ActPhast 4.0 worth up to € 50,000 provided in kind by giving access to infrastructure. NextPho21 will cover travel costs and accommodation costs to allow the entrepreneur to visit the Photonics PPP Innovation Incubator for SMEs. The award also includes a meeting with an experienced photonics entrepreneur and as the case may be with potential first industry customers from Photonics21 membership.

In order to participate, you will have to send in a max. 5 minute video presenting your idea. This will be reviewed by an expert jury.

Any further details will be published on the Photonics21 website www.photonics21.org within the next weeks.

Photonics21 Board of Stakeholder member Lluis Torner and three further Spanish scientists have been recognised by Nature, the international weekly journal of science,for exemplary personal mentoring of other scientists. Nature has hosted these annual awards since 2005 to champion the importance of mentoring and inspiring a generation of young scientists.

At the ceremony held at the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences in Madrid, Sir Philip Campbell PhD, the Editor-in-Chief of Nature, presented the awards and congratulated the recipients on their laudable contributions.

The joint-recipients of the mid-career achievement prize are:

• Professor Lluís Torner, a physicist and founding Director of ICFO- The Institute of Photonic Sciences, in Barcelona
• Professor Carlos López-Otín, a molecular biologist from the University of Oviedo

The joint-recipients of the lifetime achievement award are:

• Professor Carlos Belmonte, founding Director of the Institute of Neuroscience of Alicante
• Professor Margarita Salas, former Director of the CSIC Centre for Molecular Biology Severo Ochoa in Madrid

Carmen Vela, the Spanish Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation commented on the importance of the awards: "Nature is an internationally renowed science journal in which researchers from around the world seek to publish their studies, so it is very important for us to recieve the 'Nature Mentoring Awards' here this year. Spain is a country full of talented scientists, and many of them have been guided by Margarita Salas, Carlos Belmonte, Carlos López-Otín and Lluis Torner, four great Spanish researchers. I would like to express my gratitude for their work over these years".

Through the Nature Awards for Mentoring in Science Nature recognises outstanding scientific mentors in different regions around the world. Each winner has received a prize of €5,000.

A team of European scientists has developed the world's first cancer scanner that detects blood vessels grown by a malignant melanoma with an infrared laser beam in 30 seconds.Current skin cancer diagnosis can last a number of weeks and be very upsetting.

Multiple stages can involve visiting a GP, being sent to a dermatologist for a skin biopsy, waiting for laboratory analysis, having a sentinel lymph node biopsy under general anaesthetic, and then having more tests if the cancer has spread.

However, a new imaging system developed by a group of European scientists could dramatically speed up the process and reduce the need for debilitating sentinel-lymph node biopsies by placing real-time diagnosis in the hands of a dermatologist.

Using a handheld laser, a specialist can actually see under your skin at depths of 1 mm by creating a 3D colour image of the microscopic blood vessels in a process that takes around 30 seconds.

Employing a new and advanced version of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), a photonics technique more commonly used in retina scans, the scanner captures 3D images of the micro structures under the skin with a harmless infrared laser beam.

Since melanomas need oxygen to grow and survive, they grow their own blood vessels. As the cancer develops and becomes more malignant, they become increasingly distorted and malformed, differing in appearance from healthy vessels.

Being able to detect and see these vessels in a suspicious lesion in real time has never been possible, until now, opening the possibility for dermatologists to make treatment decisions in an unrivalled timeframe.

To read the full story please go to: http://www.photonics21.org/News/index.php?id=38962#38962

Join – SPIE Photonics Europe 2018, 22nd -26th April 2018, Strasbourg

Present your research at the only European cross-disciplinary optics and photonics event covering the most significant photonics technologies—from digital optics to quantum technologies to attosecond science. Look for new topics in 2018, including 3D printed optics, photonic glasses, optical biopolymers, and unconventional optical imaging. The 2018 call for papers is now open. Alongside the conference an industry exhibition will present latest products and developments.

Any further information can be found at: http://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/photonics-europe