Providing national leadership

| National leadership

Centre: Professor Graham Reed, SPIE Photonics West

As national leaders, our role is to increase awareness of how photonics manufacturing research tackles Grand Challenges, improves people’s lives and boosts productivity. We provide a ‘go-to’ source of expertise which helps industry innovate, and we advocate strategic investment in photonics manufacturing research to drive social and economic impact.

Raising awareness

Getting out to conferences and trade shows is a powerful way to interact with stakeholders and represent the community on a global stage. Since 2016, we have participated in 97 conferences, trade shows and workshops around the world, giving invited talks, presenting papers and exhibiting technology demonstrators.

In 2019, we took our research to some of the largest and best-known international conferences.

Hub Co-Investigator Professor Graham Reed chaired the prestigious OPTO Symposium at SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco, one of the world’s largest photonics conferences with 23,000 attendees. There was a strong presence from the Hub across the conference and we achieved an impressive 11 papers accepted to the programme. We also travelled with our technology demonstrations to SPIE Defence and Commercial Sensing in Baltimore and Laser World of Photonics Munich, where, as part of the UK Pavilion, we showcased the UK photonics manufacturing capability to the exhibition’s 34,000 visitors.

In addition to our physical presence, we have a growing voice online and in the media. Through social channels, newsletters and the press, we are initiating discussions and providing thought leadership on contemporary issues, such as UK investment in R&D and diversity in the technology sector. In June, we released updated figures quantifying the size and economic impact of the UK photonics industry. These have since been widely referenced in the trade press and used by academics and industry alike. In October, we supported the Royal Society’s ‘Transforming our Future: Photonics’ scientific meeting in Cardiff by providing all delegates with copies of our latest market report.

| National leadership

Increasing engagement

We act as a beacon for the UK photonics manufacturing and enduser communities by organising events and meetings which stimulate research collaborations.

In June, our Deputy Director Professor Jon Heffernan, and Industrial Liaison Manager, Dr John Lincoln, co-chaired the first unclassified day of the Electronic Warfare Technology Conference in Shrivenham, a key meeting of major stakeholders in UK defence. The programme of speakers, drawn from across UK academia, reviewed the manufacturing readiness of the latest photonics innovations with potential impact in the defence sector.

Our 2019 industry day was held in Sheffield, co-organised with the annual UK Semiconductors Conference. 280 delegates and 70 exhibitors participated in the two day event, which featured a technical programme of major research developments, forthcoming funding opportunities and a review of the UK photonics manufacturing industry landscape.

Throughout the year, we targeted increasing research income to the UK academic community. We launched our Innovation Fund at Photonex in October and worked with the Knowledge and Transfer Network (KTN) to host a national briefing and consortium building event in preparation for forthcoming Horizon 2020 ICT calls.

Championing photonics

As recognised leaders in our field, we ensure photonics is positioned within the wider debate on UK manufacturing and the economy. We use our high profile and expertise to demonstrate the potential for advances in photonics to generate significant social and economic impact and to articulate its alignment with issues of strategic national importance.

In April, Professor Sir David Payne delivered a keynote address on The Future of Photonics at the Annual General Meeting of the European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC). He provided commentary and insight into challenges and opportunities for the sector, raising the profile of UK photonics manufacturing research to 200 industry representatives from 20 countries. Sir David was also a panel member for the Royal Society’s ‘Transforming our Future’ scientific meeting series, participating in the discussion on new directions and applications of photonic technologies. This event is just one example of our continuing work to shape and encourage the dialogue around horizon-scanning.

We joined the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Photonics, Westminster Showcase in July and met with over 30 MPs and parliamentary aides to raise awareness of the UK’s strong photonics manufacturing industry and its potential to drive economic growth. Following from the event, APPG Chair Dr Carol Monaghan MP gave the plenary presentation at our ‘Silicon Photonics: Academia and Industry Working Together’ conference in October.