Towards 2020 – Photonics driving economic growth in Europe

20 Towards 2020 – Photonics driving economic growth in Europe
Optical fibres drive the
global network. © Fotolia
A major challenge is
the development of
high-bandwidth, low energy
consumption optical
interconnects at low cost.
opportunities for solving the bandwidth limitation
of data interconnects at rack, board and chip level.
A major challenge for the coming years will be
the development of high-bandwidth, low energy
consumption optical interconnects at low cost. New
services, such as cloud computing require significant
improvements in the network architecture and
high-speed (fibre-based) access to the customer.
Efficient production of photonic systems and
photonic integrated circuits (PICs) is a major need.
Significantly more bandwidth is required for nextgeneration
applications in computing and storage,
in communication infrastructure, and in the access
market. By integrating programmable electronic and
photonic circuits in a single package, such optical
ASIC or FPGA technology can break through the
reach, power, port density, cost, and circuit board
complexity limitations of conventional solutions. In
this context, an efficient production of PICs will be
essential. Photonic integration will play a key role
in reducing cost, space and power consumption,
and improving flexibility and reliability. Additionally,
development of simple and robust on-chip test
capabilities and generic packaging and assembly
options will be required for achieving cost efficient
production processes.
Overall, it is evident that the development and
product introduction of advanced photonic technologies
will require significantly more financial
resources than in the past, thereby exacerbating
the risk that, if Europe is unable to raise sufficient
budgets, such technologies will move to APAC.
Involvement of value chain partners
The involvement of end-users is extremely important
for developing bespoke photonic solutions,
which match to the end-users’ specific needs. This
is especially important, for example, when building
new networks such as smart power grids, which
are expected to incorporate new technologies and
end users, and will be managed and controlled by
advanced photonic communication technologies.