Periodic Reporting for period 1 - 360 CARLA (360 Photonics Career Launch Programs)
Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31
The 360 CARLA project aims to address this critical shortage of qualified professionals in deep tech areas in Europe's photonics workforce by fostering career development either in industry, academia or beyond, entrepreneurship, and industry readiness among STEM university students and early-stage researchers. This is targeted by creating tailored career development programs focused on four key verticals: Health, Quantum, Energy, and Industry. Through symposiums, mentorship, innovation and entrepreneurship experiences, and training sessions, the project fosters a multidisciplinary workforce crucial for maintaining Europe's leadership in photonics.
During the first reporting period, the project successfully laid the foundation for these programs, establishing advisory boards, implementing career development protocols, and organizing initial training sessions and experiences. These efforts have already demonstrated impact, with high participant satisfaction rates and increased interest in pursuing photonics-related careers. Beyond these activities, 360 CARLA actively collaborates with European and local initiatives to enhance outreach, knowledge exchange, and the sustainability of the program. Collaborating with over 130 initiatives, preparing dedicated communication campaigns, and participating in key events have increased the project's visibility and engagement across the photonics ecosystem and the social media channels. The commitment of 360 CARLA project to diversity and inclusion is also central, ensuring representation across various STEM backgrounds and demographics.
A key outcome of the project is the creation of structured programs that will also lead to the development of guidelines for future replication, ensuring long-term impact beyond the project’s duration. The ongoing success of CARLA camps and CARLA capsules, even beyond the initial project funding, further showcases the sustainability of the project within the European photonics ecosystem. With an anticipation of more than 2,500 participants (in/person and online) across Europe and beyond, 360 CARLA’s impact extends further than in-person events. The majority of the symposiums will also be streamed online, ensuring accessibility to a wider audience. With a robust roadmap in place, 360 CARLA remains on track to meet its targets, implement the planned activities and enhance the connections and collaborations with EU initiatives expanding networking opportunities.
During the first reporting period, the project successfully laid the foundation for these programs, establishing advisory boards, implementing career development protocols, and organizing initial training sessions and experiences. These efforts have already demonstrated impact, with high participant satisfaction rates and increased interest in pursuing photonics-related careers. Beyond these activities, 360 CARLA actively collaborates with European and local initiatives to enhance outreach, knowledge exchange, and the sustainability of the program. Collaborating with over 130 initiatives, preparing dedicated communication campaigns, and participating in key events have increased the project's visibility and engagement across the photonics ecosystem and the social media channels. The commitment of 360 CARLA project to diversity and inclusion is also central, ensuring representation across various STEM backgrounds and demographics.
A key outcome of the project is the creation of structured programs that will also lead to the development of guidelines for future replication, ensuring long-term impact beyond the project’s duration. The ongoing success of CARLA camps and CARLA capsules, even beyond the initial project funding, further showcases the sustainability of the project within the European photonics ecosystem. With an anticipation of more than 2,500 participants (in/person and online) across Europe and beyond, 360 CARLA’s impact extends further than in-person events. The majority of the symposiums will also be streamed online, ensuring accessibility to a wider audience. With a robust roadmap in place, 360 CARLA remains on track to meet its targets, implement the planned activities and enhance the connections and collaborations with EU initiatives expanding networking opportunities.
Overall, during the first period, the focus was primarily on defining and planning the core programs underlying the upcoming symposiums, training sessions, and experiences. As part of these efforts, four advisory boards were set up and four 360 CARLA programs were successfully created serving as initial guidelines to implement the 360 CARLA activities. In addition, a complete framework of dissemination campaigns was prepared. Between M8-M12 two activities were implemented and a report has been created by the relevant partners. The average overall rating of these two activities was 4.9/5 with excellent comments from the participants.
The project has successfully completed the proposed tasks, and the remaining activities are aligned with a roadmap to ensure their timely completion and implementation.
The project has successfully completed the proposed tasks, and the remaining activities are aligned with a roadmap to ensure their timely completion and implementation.
360 CARLA builds upon existing efforts to attract talent to photonics but goes beyond the state of the art by providing structured, multidisciplinary career development programs tailored to four key application verticals: Health, Quantum, Energy, and Industry. The project combines traditional career guidance with experiences (visits to organizations), training sessions, and mentorship and networking opportunities. 360 CARLA establishes a replicable and sustainable framework that ensures a long-lasting impact. Furthermore, by streaming symposiums and integrating EU collaborations, the initiative expands its reach beyond in-person participation, making photonics career opportunities more accessible across Europe and beyond.