Just a year ago, the photonics ecosystem was supported with a 1.1 billion injection from public and private funding in the Netherlands. Now, 200 million of that amount has already landed in the ecosystem. Support went to start-ups, research, and strategic investments.
In 2022, much of the PIC Summit was about seeking collaboration. It was about building a community and turning that collaboration into a European strategy for integrated photonics, backed up by industry, knowledge partners, and investors. Since that moment, a lot has changed, but collaboration is still a central theme, as became clear during the whole 2-day event that was, again, held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Taking off
Ewit Roos, PhotonDelta’s departing CEO, already saw proof of this collaboration by looking at this year’s attendees list. “We have more than 500 participants in the conference, coming from all over the world. Ten years ago, a conference like this would be for academics only. Not anymore. We have industrials, companies, government representatives, politicians, academics, investors, and many start-ups and SMEs. The composition of the audience is explanatory for this technology that’s on the edge of taking off.”
In 2023, the added value of the integrated photonics ecosystem has become more and more well-known to large semicon corporates. Many of them are announcing their roadmaps for integrating photonics, and now it’s up to the industry to look at their needs and start serving them based on those roadmaps.
Integrated photonics is and will be even more critical in many applications. It is a strategic technology for many industries. Therefore, from a geopolitical perspective, the industry understands that it has to ensure the security of supply within the European borders. To reach that goal, industrialization is key. It is a precondition to play the global game, and industrialization will also lead to the realization of the next tech giant in the photonic industry. And therefore, collaboration remains the most important basic need throughout the photonics value chain.
Make or break
According to Roos, it’s the European value chain that’s going to make or break the success of the photonics industry. ”We can only become a global player if we act on a European level. For this to come true, the first thing to do is optimize our assets to ensure the value chain is excellent. Europe is damn good in photonics. We can exploit that if we do it in a proper way, with the support of government. We can exploit that if we work together.”
Although PhotonDelta is located in the Netherlands, Ewit Roos sees the organization as truly European. “Our ambition is not only to make the Netherlands great in integrated photonics because that’s not enough to make things happen. No, PhotonDelta’s core task is to ensure that we organize collaboration by looking at each other’s strengths and seeing how we can all participate in that. I’m convinced that this will be the case and that Europe will be looking after this technology so we can all flourish and benefit from it – from a strategic and security point of view, but also in view of a geopolitical world that is definitely changing.”
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