Photonics Driving Economic Growth in Europe - Photonics21

2. Photonics Research and Innovation Challenges
This also applies to applications such as the Internet
of Things for ambient assisted living or health care
services, and in smart city environments. Involvement
of the end-users allows for enhanced testing and
the creation of new applications and services
at early stage. The tight coupling of information
and communication technologies in end-user
solutions will illustrate effectively the leveraging
effect that photonics communication technologies
bring to Europe. Focusing on the development of
customised end-to-end solutions has the potential
of anchoring technology develop ment, growth,
and jobs in Europe. It creates additional business
opportunities for eco-system partners, focusing
on the adaptation of such solutions to varying
regional requirements.
Stimulating interaction between research in-
stitutes, universities and industry is required
to identify applications and related R&D, where
photonics can bring unique advantages. Creation
of open innovation centres can help to foster this
collaboration. Moreover, Europe needs to invest in
education and science for developing people and
their ideas. Education and advanced training of
engineers and scientists is required at a high level
to increase the level of innovation in optical communication
components, sub-systems, systems and
networks. A number of successful European projects
have already been instigated in this direction,
such as ePIXnet, ACTMOST, and EUROFOS.
Institutionalising such interactions within the Work
Groups of Photonics21 could provide a sustainable,
open, transparent and European-wide collaboration
involving all the major stakeholders.
Current approaches could be beneficially extended
to include direct interaction between the stakeholders,
such as concertation, consultation and
roadmapping for new research and innovation
activities, establishing ad hoc collaborations between
members, and exchanges of people and
resources. The scope and structure of Work Groups
must be sufficiently dynamic to allow for new
developments and the incorporation of new
stakeholders as photonics evolves and new paradigms
appear on the horizon, whether they be in
technology, business models, or the value chain.
An effective venture capital culture, similar to
that in US that allows a rapid ramp up of innovations
towards the market, should be established
for European photonics SMEs, who provide the
engine for industrial growth in our high-tech society,
and who need access to capital in order to
capture the economic value of innovations. In this
respect, the provision of funds for facilitating access
to capital for photonic start-ups could leverage
private-sector investments. Stronger stimulation of
photonic product development, pilot production,
system engineering and product commercialisation
is required. Europe has to support SMEs in gaining
access to established and emerging markets worldwide,
such as USA, China, Russia, India and Brazil.
An entrepreneurship for photonic innovations has
to be established in Europe at all levels. The challenge
for Europe is both to lead in technology, and
also to exploit related results through a successful
transfer to market. As well as this, these companies
still need to access the oxygen for growth necessary
for securing their local market and consolidating
with other European companies.
Effective standardisation processes for shortening
time to market. Research projects provide relevant
solutions for their targeted application fields.
However, the translation from research to market
commercialisation can be a slow and difficult
path, which often fails to complete unfortunately.
Standardisation is a key for the industrialisation of
research solutions, but frequently takes too much
time and money, hindering research solutions in
reaching a global market. Therefore standardisation
processes need to be addressed to achieve
simplification and so improve effectiveness.
Fostering synergies along the entire value
chain is pivotal for aligning the efforts of all the
players involved. As the network evolves to an
The tight coupling of
ICT technologies in end-
user solutions illustrates
clearly the leveraging effect
that photonics communi-
cation technologies bring
to Europe.
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