According to the results of a current survey by the German industry association Spectaris and the OptecNet innovation network under the joint umbrella of "Photonics Germany", 75 percent of companies in the photonics industry expect sales to increase in 2021, which is on average up to 14 percent above the result of the, albeit weak, previous year could be. The turnover of around 1,000 German companies would thus approach the 46 billion mark. For the domestic market, growth of a little more than nine percent and thus a value of 12.3 billion euros is expected in the current year.

The prospects for international business are rated even better. Accordingly, foreign sales could climb by almost 16 percent to 33.4 billion euros. This would increase the export quota to 73 percent. In line with sales expectations, the employment trend is also positive, and an increase of around four percent to 167,600 employees is expected.

After the weak Corona year 2020, this recovery phase is important. Almost half of all companies recorded a decline in sales in 2020 due to the pandemic, and short-time working was used in many cases. Spectaris managing director Jörg Mayer sees the focus of the economic effects on medium-sized companies: “Smaller companies in particular suffered from the consequences of the pandemic in the past year and often had to cope with significant, sometimes double-digit sales declines. It is now more important than ever to promote the medium-sized foundation of the German photonics industry.

" An explanation for the fact that the industry survived the crisis in 2020 with a slight minus of one percent and a total turnover of 39.8 billion euros overall better than other industries is provided by Mayer: “A number of photonics applications have been instrumental in combating the pandemic or contributed to vaccine development. At the same time, they flank the digital change, which has gained massive momentum again due to the Corona crisis. ”These include products from analysis, biotechnology and laboratory technology to online data storage and communication technology.

Video conferences would also not be possible without photonics. Other fields of application, on the other hand, were negatively affected by the consequences of the corona crisis, such as aviation or the automotive sector. The prospects for photonics in Germany, which accounts for 40 percent of European and more than six percent of global production, are positive for the coming years. According to the market research company Tematys, an average annual growth of around six percent and total sales of almost 60 billion euros are expected by 2025.