The Photonics21 Annual Meeting 2015 entitled “Photonics solutions for the European society” took place on the 28 & 29 May 2015 at the Le Plaza Hotel in Brussels. The Annual Meeting was the community event highlighting for the new Photonics Public Private Partnership in Europe, gathering more than 250 photonics experts from industry, research organisations and politics.
The PPP-cooperation model fosters photonics research and innovation under Horizon2020 by implementing the Photonics Multiannual Strategic Roadmap. Furthermore the event focused on photonics solutions for the societal challenges of Europe such as energy-efficiency, the secure society and health to strengthen future research and innovation in Europe.
Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger opened the General Assembly on the 29th May 2015 by his keynote speech “Photonics: digitalising industry, driving jobs and growth in Europe” and honoured the three winners of the Photonics21 Student Innovation Award 2015 Burak Guzelturk, Tobias Schwab and Fabian Stutzki for their excellent industrial-related photonics research works.
Further topics included:
- The Photonics Public Private Partnership - Strengthening the European Economic Backbone (Michael Mertin, Photonics21 President & CEO JENOPTIK)
- The Photonics Strategy in Europe in a Changing Landscape (Wolfgang Boch, Head of the Photonics Unit, DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission)
- The US National Photonics Initiative – Light Innovating the Future (Eugene Arthurs, Photonics21 Board of Stakeholders member & CEO SPIE)
- Photonics Venture Capital Initiatives in Europe (Giorgio Anania, Photonics21 Executive Board member & CEO ALEDIA)
At the end of the General Assembly Michael Mertin introduced the Photonics21members to the following thematic sessions “Photonics for the Societal Challenges of Europe”. Subjects of the four sessions were “Photonics for smart cities and buildings”, “Photonics for the secure society”, “Photonics for resource-efficiency” and smart transport” and “Photonics for health and food security”.