Developing and implementing the Next European Photonics21 industrial PPP Strategy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NextPho21 (Developing and implementing the Next European Photonics21 industrial PPP Strategy)

Okres sprawozdawczy: 2019-07-01 do 2020-12-31

NextPho21 provides the support to the Horizon 2020 Photonics Public Private Partnership in developing and implementing the European Photonics21 Strategy. It addresses the very heart of the Horizon 2020 Photonics Public Private Partnership, since it provides the strategic support to the photonics community to develop and implement the European industrial strategy. In the subsequent NextPho21 proposal the Photonics21 secretariat teams up with 12 National Technology Platforms (NTP). These NTPs have been established to mirror the Photonics21 activities in the member states and to provide the strategic link to national and regional policy makers – more than 25 regional photonics clusters are involved.

To this end the NextPho21 Coordination and Support Action pursues following five main objectives:

1. to support the development of a European Industrial Photonics Strategy for 2021-2028
2. to support the implementation of the Horizon 2020 Photonics Public Private Partnership (PPP)
3. to re-inforce and build up new value chains between photonics and end-user industry
4. to increase access to finance for photonics start-ups and SMEs to commercialise photonics innovations
5. to initiate and coordinate cross-national and cross-regional public authority investments in photonics

Photonics PPP Strategy development – Photonics SRIA
The development of a Vision towards 2030 for European Photonics started in 2018 and involved the Photonics21 EB, the Work Groups, the BoS and external experts. As outcome of an extensive consultation process the European photonics community published the Photonics SRIA “Europe’s age of light! How photonics will power growth and innovation”. In preparation of the new European Partnership for Photonics under Horizon Europe the EC Photonics Unit asked the Photonics21 secretariat to update the Photonics SRIA. The update was provided to the EC on November 2020.

European Photonics21 Annual Meetings to advance the European photonics strategy and support of the EPVF
The event in 2018 and 2019 gathered more than 250 attendeess and marked the starting point for preparing the Photonics SRIA for Horizon Europe. Due to the Coronavirus crisis the Photonics PPP Annual Meeting 2020 was held as a virtual information session for all Photonics21 members to inform them on latest platform activities and the restructuring of the platforms towards a new European Photonics Partnership. The virtual event "Photonics21 towards Horizon Europe" was held on 5th November 2020 with more than 250 European photonics experts. The EPFV 2020 had to be held in a different style as well. Instead of having a 3 day physical event an interactive Photonic Programme was created. 30 pre-selected start-ups have the possibility to take part in this programme that consists of specifically created training courses which are beneficial for any start-up in that field. The whole programme has a length of 9 months in total.

Linking up the Horizon2020 Photonics PPP actions with member states and regions to maximize the impact of the Photonics PPP
In 2018-2019, All 13 national networks were very active in involving member states in the Photonics PPP through their own National circle. A joint call on “Photonics Advanced Manufacturing” was published in early 2019.

Linking up photonics and end user industries at national / regional level as well as promoting photonics open innovation
By end of 2020, 17 end user industry workshops were conducted with more than 300 experts from the end user industry and more than 1000 total persons attending the meeting. The goal of 15 workshops with 200 industry experts was achieved.

Access to financing for photonics industry targeting start-ups and SMEs
NextPho21 compiled information about European Venture and Corporate Venture Capital Funds with Seed, Early Stage and Later Stage investments in hardware start-ups and also collected information about photonics start-ups. The list of VC funds was completed, identifying a total of 248 VC funds investing in hardware, of which 57 are European VC funds investing in photonics. The final list of venture-backed photonics companies across Europe totals 165. Due to Covid-19 all financing events were held online, e.g. the EPVF 2020 and the 2 bootcamps jointly conducted with the EIB. Almost 50% of the selected 30 photonics start-ups at the EPVF were able to raise investments. More than 120 participants took part in the Photonics21 bootcamps with the EIB. In addition webinars were held with the EIB: "European Investment Bank products for photonics start-ups and SMEs". The second seminar on 6 October 2020 provided a deeper insight into the EIB's venture debt product.

Photonics PPP project impact stories reflected in over 790 articles
NextPho21 offers a central PR and dissemination service for the Photonics PPP projects to a. foster the deployment of photonics in end-user industry and b. disseminate the impact of photonics to the general public. The campaign resulted in over 300 articles in newspapers, magazines, and websites, representing an advertising value in excess of around €578K. With an estimated readership of over 23 million people so far, the PR campaign helped applied photonics research groups industry across Europe promote the value and potential uses of photonics as well as raising awareness with the public. The campaign of the second period resulted in over 490 articles in newspapers, magazines, and websites, representing an advertising value in excess of around 1,795,400 €.

Promoting the visibility of Photonics and of the Photonics21 Platform in social media
In the first project period Photonics21 constantly communicated latest photonics news, impact stories and event via twitter and LinkedIn. Relevant information on Photonics was communicated using the hashtag #PhotonicsPPP. Nextpho21 issued about 800 tweets. To further increase the level of engagement of photonics experts and inform about Photonics PPP activities and projects, the Photonics21/PPP Linkedin account created in 2016 got further updated. In the final project period Photonics21 further continued its communication activities. By the end of December 2020 Photonics21 had 4002 followers on its twitter account and about 5300 tweets. To further increase the engagement of photonics experts and inform about Photonics PPP activities and projects, Photonics21 communicated latest information, news and events on Photonics21 Linkedin which currently has 1007 follower.

Current photonics industrial strategies are focussing on technologies needed for current markets whereas successful strategies for the future should forecast the growth potential of new markets. In order to drive the industrial revolution instead of reacting to it, the European photonics community, companies and research organisations alike, need to change the way strategies are developed and implemented. This requires even closer cooperation with end-user industries and new disciplines like man-machine-interaction or cybersecurity to jointly develop integrated end-to-end solutions and new value chains. In this respect, leaving the current comfort zone is a substantial requirement rather than an option for the European photonics industry to withstand the ever-growing competition from Asia attacking more and more markets traditionally dominated by European industry.

Photo Annual Meeting 2018

Photo Annual Meeting 2019

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NextPho21 (Developing and implementing the Next European Photonics21 industrial PPP Strategy)

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