of Photonics Technologies: the European Perspective The Leverage Effect

The Leverage Effect of Photonics Technologies: the European Perspective
3.8
Conclusions for the value chain
analysis
The first overall conclusion that can be drawn is that the photonics industry
is in a constant state of flux; new products are emerging, semiold
ones are disappearing. This highly dynamic product portfolio requires
a constant adjustment of manufacturing systems, often based on
photonics technologies. This is in line with one of the strengths of the
European research and industry, but needs to be supported (both research
and industry). Although these new markets are highly dynamic,
with high uncertainty on what the winners are, the underlying manufacturing
systems are usually more stable. An example is the production
of solar cells, where an enormous increase in demand and production is
seen. But although production experiences uncertain markets, and several
alternative technologies, the underlying laser based manufacturing
systems are in strong demand and are being applied to all the solar
cell technologies. This need for manufacturing systems can be seen as a
strength of the European industry, connected to an extensive European
knowledge base and experiencing high profit margins.
The second conclusion is that in several value chains, especially the European
industrial linkages are limited. The overall industry has a strong
global character and shows limited interdependencies. However, the
vertical value chain with research organisations is often more crucial,
as the availability of highly skilled and innovative personnel is crucial
to the industry and supplied by research organisations. This pipeline is
of high importance to the competitiveness of the European photonics
industry.
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In the coming decade, it is expected that the dependency of the European
economy on photonics to their competitiveness will only increase.
All value chains assessed show this increase across the border, although
some chains show more increase than others. The overall increase in
dependency of the final markets is in average higher than the enabled
manufacturing industries, which leads to the conclusion that market demand
can be expected to grow and show new emerging markets.