Photonics PPP projects: positive outlook with 5-fold leverage of EU investment

According to a new report, European Photonics PPP projects funded under Horizon 2020 have shown five-fold leverage on the money invested by the EU.

One hundred photonics projects from 2014 to 2018 were analysed, demonstrating positive growth on the amount initially pledged throughout the lifetime of each consortium and from the follow-up.

Executive Board member Roberta Ramponi, said:

“The 5-times leverage is impressive and shows light technologies are a good value for money.

“It’s clear that Europe is in a great position to develop its deep technologies that all depend on photonics, such as next-generation sensors for IoT, 3D vision, High-Performance Computing, Quantum Communication, Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, smart farming, 5G, personalized healthcare, and Quantum Computing.”

Published by Photonics21 and conducted by Tematys, the study Exploration of Photonics Markets analyzed 100 photonics-based consortia funded in part by the EU and private enterprises.

“For every €100 invested in photonics, the total leverage of investment by companies in the projects and the aftermath is €500 from follow-up investments in R&D, production, and commercial effort," said Ramponi. 

Over €445 million was committed to the photonics projects and are made up of 1017 participants, 275 of which are SMEs and 281 big companies.

About Photonics21

Photonics21 is the European Technology Platform (ETP) for photonics, a technology encompassing all of the products and processes around the emission, manipulation and detection of light. Photonics is integral to a wide range of industries that include the medical, healthcare, transport, manufacturing, and telecommunications sectors.

"Photonics21" was set up in December 2005 to bring the community of photonics researchers and industries together. The European Commission defined photonics as one of five European Key Enabling Technologies (KET's) in September 2009. Shortly after, the European Research & Innovation Program "Horizon 2020" invited Photonics21 to become a "Public-Private Partnership" (PPP). The "Photonics 21 Association", a legal entity under Belgium law, became the private contract partner in November 2013 in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in conjunction with the EU Commission.

Today Photonics21 represents more than 3000 personal members from across Europe and abroad. Our members are experts in the photonics industry, research organisations and universities who actively engage with us to develop a joint photonics strategy for future research and innovation in Europe.  

With the global photonics market growing from €350 Billion in 2011 to €447 Billion in 2015, Photonics remains a strong industry. The European photonics industry, estimated to be worth €70 billion, has considerable global leadership positions and employs over 300,000 people directly.

With positive growth forecast, current industry trends like digitalisation, resource efficiency, individual and zero failure production will drive the photonics industry further.

This communication was first published 13 August 2019 by Photonics21.