Photonics: Industrial innovation and cooperation

Photonics are of paramount importance for Europe. Hence, a public-private partnership (PPP) was set up under Horizon 2020 to enhance the sector. The main objective of the PPP is to maintain and increase Europe's industrial leadership in photonics by fostering photonics manufacturing and accelerating Europe’s innovation process.

Cementing Europe's industrial leadership in photonics will in turn lower the timing to market for products, allowing for an overall benefit in terms of jobs creation and growth in Europe.

In particular, the aim is to:

• stimulate investment into private sector research, development and innovation;
• promote research and innovation with a business driven agenda;
• accelerate the development of photonic technologies.

The PPP will address the whole research and innovation value chain from advanced materials, to manufacturing, to products and services. It will also address advanced research, pilot lines and markets. The PPP will focus on market sectors where the European photonics industry is particularly strong, like lighting, medical photonics and optical components and systems.

At European level, other forms of cooperation projects exist already. Photonics Regional Clusters, national technology platforms, and the European Technology Platform Photonics21 are some successful examples.