Photonics Driving Economic Growth in Europe - Photonics21

84 Towards 2020 – Photonics driving economic growth in Europe
n strengthening the cooperation with industry,
both to better match their knowledge and skills
needs in third and fourth-level education pro-
grams, and to offer life-long learning programs
and vocational training.
Involvement of value chain partners
The inherent pervasiveness of photonics and its
interdisciplinary nature require the broad involve-
ment of many value chain partners, both as directly
cooperating partners for RD&I, and as potential
end-users. When dealing with advanced research,
it is clear that interaction with all the other Key
Enabling Technologies and related platforms will
be essential, so as to exploit synergies and achieve
higher levels of innovation. In terms of end-users,
all industries developing photonic components
and systems need end-users to be involved at the
earliest stage, to ensure that research roadmaps
address their specific needs in terms of properties
and functionalities. Present and future societal
needs should also be considered when defining
medium and long term research goals.
The various value chain partners will each have a
role in the education and training system actions:
n primary and high-school teachers need to be
involved for effective outreach programs aimed
at young students
n science and technology museums have to be targeted
to set up exhibitions for the general public
n communication experts and scientific journalists
need to participate in communication projects
based on conventional and new media
n photonics ‘users’ will provide essential perspective
for promoting interdisciplinary education,
embracing photonics and its cross-fertilisation
with other technologies for new applications
n the technical management and HR of photo -
nics-based or photonics-enabled industries,
together with both local and European political
authorities, need to be involved in the definition
of life-long learning and vocational training
programs.
n regional and national clusters will support local
smart specialisation strategies.
Major photonics research and innovation
challenges
During the preparation of Photonic21’s second
strategic research agenda and the photonics vision
paper, an extensive analysis has been performed
to identify the areas of major potential impact
on medium-long term societal challenges and on
future European industrial competitiveness, thereby
ensuring that advanced research can be defined
effectively.
Building on this analysis, the major challenges
for research, education and training were identified,
and actions defined to be undertaken within
Horizon 2020.
Research
Adopting a medium-long term perspective, ad-
vanced research must consider as the driving force
of future innovation, pushing beyond the currently
foreseen applications. A number of critical aspects
should be considered:
n Working with industry to identify what new
photonics properties and functionalities will be
needed to improve present components and
systems, that they do not yet know how to
achieve. This can be used to construct targeted
roadmaps, identifying directions and actions re-
quired to achieve specific goals. With many new
fields being explored, a wide range of possible
solutions must be studied to identify the optimal
ones, with greatest potential for industrial
applications with acceptable time to market.
n Ensuring that disruptive research is not overlooked.
Many new photonics applications currently
cannot be predicted, so there must be
room for exploring the unexpected.
n An open innovation approach involving the
close cooperation between universities, public
research institutions and industries is becoming
essential in our knowledge-based society, and