Towards 2020 – Photonics driving economic growth in Europe

0. Executive Summary
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environment, and lighting. The emphasis will
be on broader cooperation across the whole
research and innovation value chain and the
close involvement of end-users, including
citizen groups where appropriate.
n Disruptive technology breakthrough
advances in nanophotonics, quantum information,
extreme light sources, etc., will
be pursued, complementing the roadmapbased
research, and bringing the potential
for disruptive innovation in support of future
European leadership.
n Demonstration
Specific deployment programmes using photonic
innovations will be needed to demonstrate
social innovation and leverage EU infrastructure
to create jobs. Such infrastructural projects
could provide benefits to all 500 million people
in the EU, and not solely to those directly involved
in the photonics industry. Deployment
programmes would be focused on life cycle
and applications.
In this way, coordinated market pull/push
measures will seed and then accelerate market
penetration, ultimately leading to wider technology
adoption and consequent job creation.
Measures would include the launch of highvisibility,
demonstration projects that provide the
European photonics industry with a first-mover
advantage in the global market.
n Photonics Manufacturing Platforms
Underpinning all the proposed activities is the
objective of growing photonics manufacturing
in Europe and creating further high skill employment.
This will be achieved at two levels;
enabling the photonics products themselves
to be manufactured in Europe, and ensuring
that other key manufacturing sectors in Europe,
dependant on photonics technology, can remain
competitive. To this end the following measures
would be implemented:
n Improvement of the infrastructure for photonics
manufacturing in Europe. This involves
making full use of the existing manufacturing
excellence of research institutes for supporting
industry, especially innovative SMEs. The
creation of such generic photonic foundries,
based on public-private partnership, will
enable cost-effective and widespread deployment
of photonics technology in numerous
applications, and ultimately lead to volume
production.
n Establishment of pilot production facilities,
in which industry and research institutes can
jointly develop innovative photonics production
processes, targeting applications
relevant to societal challenges and economic
growth.
Since the value chains in specific photonics application
areas in Europe are fragmented across different
member states, demonstration activities and
manufacturing platforms are expected to reinforce
the innovation ecosystems at local (smart specialisation)
and European levels.
n Innovative photonics SMEs
SMEs lie at the very heart of the European photonics
industry, and play a major role in driving
innovation and economic growth. It is essential
for the future prosperity of the European
photonics industry, and thereby of European
society, that their competitiveness in the global
market is sustained and grown further. Take-up
of and RDI support for innovative photonics
technologies through ‘light touch’ open
schemes will be promoted. The emphasis will
be on strengthening the competitiveness of
European SMEs, and on the creation of new
business opportunities.
To this end, a fast-track funding vehicle for photonics
SMEs is envisaged within the Photonics
PPP. Further synergies with regional innovation
clusters will be established to promote SME