EU launches three photonic pilot lines
The EU's Photonics Public Private Partnership (PPP) has launched three manufacturing pilot lines designed to help SMEs take photonics technologies from lab to market
The idea is that thousands of high tech SMEs in Europe - who often lack access to advanced, cost-intensive infrastructures and expertise needed to manufacture new and innovative products - will be able to take their good ideas, scale-them up and validate them with the first customers for commercial production.
The European Commission has invested €35 million in these projects to boost Europe's industrial competitiveness. This is part of the Commission's €700 million investment in the Photonics Public Private Partnership over the seven years of Horizon 2020.
"With these Pilot Lines Europe will position itself at the forefront of innovation in photonics. Our companies, and in particular the manufacturing sector, will have access to support for innovation and the facilities needed to get ahead in global markets. Photonics is a crucial component for the successful digitalisation of European industry and the economy," said European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Guenther H. Oettinger.
The three manufacturing Pilot Lines are PIX4LIFE, MIRPHAB and PI-SCALE.
PIX4Life is a pilot for a state-of-the-art photonics platform for health applications. Recently, a promising SiN photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology was researched to make compact, low cost detection and imaging systems in the visible range and the TriPleX and BioPIX platforms were developed. PIX4Life will scale up these platforms in order to bring SiN based systems towards commercial production and industrial take up. The aim is to open a multibillion market of products including biosensors, cytometers, DNA sequencers, gas sensors, microscopes, medical imagers and more. The project brings together 15 leading organisations from seven European countries and is coordinated by IMEC, Belgium.
MIRPHAB is a pilot line for prototyping and production of innovative sources and sensors in the Mid-IR range, for the detection of chemicals in gas and liquids. MIRPHAB platform is based on miniaturized laser systems and will allow the manufacturing of compact, low cost and low power consumption sensing devices which can be used for safety, security and environmental applications. The project brings together 18 leading organisations from nine European countries and is coordinated by CEA-Leti, France.
PI-SCALE is a pilot line providing open access services to a wide range of external users in order to accelerate the commercial adoption of flexible Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs). PI-SCALE brings together 14 expert partners, from five European countries and is coordinated by Holst Centre, the Netherlands.
The Photonics PPP, launched in December 2013, links up the European industry (large players and SMEs), researchers, academia and the European Commission to cooperate in research and innovation in photonics.
