In the two days November 7 and 8, the European integrated photonics value chain – including academics, startups, policymakers, and the industry – assembled in the Netherlands to share their views and learn from each other.

CEO Ewit Roos of PhotonDelta, one of the initiative-takers of the event, looks back with joy: “It was everything we hoped for. Together with global stakeholders from the field, we were able to offer a diverse and compelling program that addressed the most important topics that need to be discussed. We are incredibly proud of the successful first edition of this international photonic chip conference and want to thank the amazing speakers, the large crowd, the sponsors, and our partners for making it possible.”

The program, which took place at High Tech Campus Eindhoven and the Eindhoven University of Technology, consisted of lectures, panel debates, workshops, and informal meetings. It also hosted the IPSR-I autumn meeting, co-organized with the distinguished MIT and the Tech Tour photonics & electronics, attracting important investors to the scene. The goal was to expand the community with other stakeholders that are needed to bring the industry forward, such as policy makers, semicon, investors and end-users, and get everyone up to speed about the recent developments, opportunities and challenges that have to be overcome.

Representatives of the European Commission, universities, the Dutch national government, and the industry shared their visions on themes like funding, ecosystem and technology development, the resilience of the European value chain, and the competition with China and the US. Also the semiconductor industry was represented through companies like Xfab, Nexperia, ASML, and Nvidia, the latter even provided an inspiring keynote presentation to share their views on this key enabling technology.

One of the conclusions of the summit is that the European value chain contains all the ingredients but needs to be built further to be able to keep playing a significant role on a global level. International collaboration with end-users and semiconductor companies is key for the European value-chain to succeed. “Europe needs to promote but also protect the integrated photonics ecosystem,” as Michiel Sweers from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs put it in his presentation, also highlighting how the Dutch government plays its part with the recently announced Dutch National Growth Fund. Much is expected in this regard from the new European Chips Act.

PIC Summit Europe 2022 is a new congress, one of two photonic chip conferences in Europe and will return annually. It is expected to take place again next year in November 2023. PhotonDelta is the one of the initiative-takers of the congress; the event co-hosted the IPSR-I autumn meeting and the Tech Tour investors meeting.