The University of Southampton

Industry Day success for Future Photonics Hub

Published: 20 September 2016

The Future Photonics Hub’s inaugural industry day was hailed a resounding success by delegates and exhibitors alike.

Held on Tuesday 13th, with some 150 attendees participating from industry sectors such as: manufacturing, photonics, aerospace, defence, advanced materials, electronics, telecoms and healthcare, the event drew together industry representatives, leaders and researchers to share the latest in advanced materials technology and photonics.

Hub Deputy Director, Professor Jon Heffernan said: "Our first industry day was a tremendous success and we are delighted that a large number of new opportunities for collaborative projects have been identified as a result. We were particularly pleased with the strong endorsement of our vision for the Hub and the recognition by industry of the powerful combination of capabilities that our two institutions bring to photonics manufacturing research"

The keynote speech was from renowned entrepreneur, Dr Andrew Rickman, OBE CEO and Chairman of Rockley Photonics – an inspirational leader in commercialisation of photonics based research.

The day-long event included an exhibition featuring 30 exhibitors run by our event partner XMark Media. Clean room tours and speed networking allowed delegates the opportunity of exploring our amazing laboratory facilities and to meet prospective future partners; with over 50 individual meetings held with key Hub contacts.

Innovation was the order of the day and our PhD student poster competition delivered, inspiring much discussion. The winning poster, ‘High contrast chalcogenide waveguides for mid-IR biomedical sensing applications’, was produced by Vinita Mittal.

The event ran in parallel to the Optoelectronics Research Centre’s Student Industry Day, organised by the Optical Society's student chapter. The event was followed by the Association of Industrial Laser User’s (AILU) workshop in Southampton on Wednesday 14 September. The combined events created a focal point for industry nationwide to understand the remarkable capability the Hub offers, as well as the potential for new collaboration opportunities.

One of the highlights of the Hub’s industry day was the announcement of the new Innovation Fund. Professor Sir David Payne said, "Our industry day is an opportunity to share key breakthroughs in photonics research, and to engage industry in the development of next-generation photonics manufacturing processes to provide lower-cost, higher-performing integrated sensors, lasers and sub-systems.

"The new Innovation Fund is designed to stimulate engagement with industry as project partners to demonstrate a pathway to manufacturing and exploitation. The Fund enables inclusion of academic partners who bring additional value to the Future Photonics Hub programme, specifically the development of new photonics manufacturing processes, in collaboration with our industry partners."

Find out more about the Future Photonics Hub's Innovation Fund.

If you missed the event, but would like to see the presentations, they are available for download now. 

To book a one to one with our Hub representatives to discuss an opportunity, please get in touch at: contact@photonicshubuk.org.

Visit the Future Photonics Hub website to find out more about our activities.

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