Introduction

The birth of the laser 50 years ago unleashed a revolution in the world of photonics. Today photonics
technologies are everywhere around us: from communications and health, to materials processing in
production, to lighting and photovoltaics and to everyday products like DVD players and mobile
phones.
Europe has a long tradition in optics research and has now developed a high level of expertise in
photonic technologies with many high-quality research groups in universities and public research
centres and many strong industries. Overall, there are more than 5000 companies, mostly SMEs,
employing almost 300,000 people. The European photonics industry is market leader in several key
photonics sectors, such as communications, biophotonics, lighting, photovoltaics, industrial laser
technologies, and safety and security, with market shares ranging from 20% to 45% (according to [1],
the global production volume in photonics was 270 billion in 2008).
Many European photonics players are clustered around so-called photonics regional innovation
clusters and national technology platforms. These clusters are usually industry-academia partnerships
which aim to tackle market fragmentation by combining and focusing R&D, education and training
resources at regional or at national level. They have the necessary critical mass in terms of size and
range of activities and a sort of political recognition to act on behalf of their members. Today, there are
more than 30 photonic clusters developed in many countries of the European Union (EU), in particular
Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the
UK. For an overview, see [2].
In order to overcome the regional and
national barriers and to establish Europe as a
leader in photonic technologies, in 2006, the
majority of the leading industries, universities
and research centres founded Photonics21, the
European Technology Platform (ETP) in
photonics [1]. The mission of Photonics21 is to
establish strategic links, co-ordinate common
efforts in photonics R&D in Europe, and
transform knowledge into leading-edge
technologies and products which are
competitive on a global scale. Photonics21 plays
a key role in the definition of national priorities
in photonics and optics related research
programmes in several EU countries. The
platform has defined medium to long-term R&D
Figure 1. Geographical distribution of recognized photonic
innovation clusters (open stars) and national technology
platforms (blue stars) in Europe.

objectives and recommendations for photonics in

Europe in its strategic research agenda [3]. This

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