The main aim of the LANE conference series is the exchange of up-to-date scientific results and developments on the application of lasers in research and production, providing a platform for participants from both science and industry. After a plenary session with inspiring keynote talks and the ceremony for the Award of the German Scientific Laser Society (WLT), all aspects of laser material processing were presented and discussed in two hundred talks during four conference days. Beyond that, the conference participants enjoyed the evening events, which framed the conference’s lecture sessions. These events offered various options to chat with old friends and get to know new ones.

The accompanying industrial exhibition with booths of international companies gave conference delegates the chance to discuss their latest research results also from a technical point of view. With the intention to make the people behind the talks and their origin visible on the one hand and draw attention to the very important topic of diversity in science on the other hand, the social media campaign #people@lane was set up in the run-up to the conference. A people@lane lounge completed this new concept on-site.

Special highlights of LANE 2022 were certainly the presentations of different awards to scientists for their extraordinary achievements: Dr Anna Rosa Ziefuß from the University of Duisburg-Essen received the WLT Award 2022 for her outstanding research. Prof Reinhart Poprawe was ennobled as the new “Knight of Laser Technology”. Furthermore, Mirko Sinico (KU Leuven, Belgium) was the winner of the LANE 2022 Best Presentation Award, elected by the conference attendees, for his talk on “High speed Laser Powder Bed Fusion of M789 tool steel with an optimized 120 µm layer thickness approach”.

The 13th CIRP Conference on Photonic Technologies [LANE 2024] will take place again in Fürth from 15 – 19 September 2024. The call for papers will start in October 2023.