SPIE held an impactful and vibrant Photonics West last week at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, with 24,000-plus technical professionals registered from more than 70 countries across the international optics and photonics community. The largest annual photonics conference, which ran from 27 January to 1 February, hosted over 1,500 exhibitors, and featured over 5,000 technical presentations across an interactive and engaging week that included BiOS, LASE, OPTO, Quantum West, the BiOS Expo, the Photonics West exhibition, the Quantum West Expo, and the co-located AR|VR|MR conference and exhibition.

“Photonics West heralds the beginning of the optics and photonics calendar each year for good reason,” said SPIE CEO Kent Rochford. “The invigorating energy and high levels of enthusiasm throughout the Moscone Center characterized a truly exciting week. AR|VR|MR continues to grow by leaps and bounds, and the addition of a standalone exhibit to the Quantum West program reflects the growing impact of the technology. We were also delighted by the success of our brand-new SPIE Global Business Forum, a packed event that drew top industry executives together for high-level presentations and conversation. Altogether it was a pleasure to be part of the networking, research-sharing, and collaborative discussions among world-leading scientists, engineers, students, and businesspeople.”

As always, the dynamic week showcased the latest innovative technologies and discoveries stemming from a diverse and thriving optics and photonics community, bringing together researchers, innovators, engineers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders from across the globe. Over a hundred distinct technical conferences paired perfectly with the four exhibitions held during the week, bringing researchers and companies together to further science, technology, and applications. The week also included a wide range of live product demonstrations on the exhibition floors as well as a job fair.

The inaugural SPIE Global Business Forum was a resounding, sold-out success. With the 16th annual Prism Awards honoring the top new optics and photonics products, and the fast-paced Startup Challenge pitch competition, Photonics West recognized the best optics and photonics technologies, trends, and entrepreneurial opportunities, while the Quantum West Business Summit featured talks and panels that provided key insights into that expanding commercial ecosystem.

In addition, a program of 56 educational courses offered expert-led technical training and learning, which complemented the dozens of professional development and networking sessions. From Lunch and Learn programming focused on EDI, to networking and social events that provided many opportunities for in-person conversations and possible future collaborations, Photonics West featured a packed calendar of special events.

During the Photonics West week, the society also announced its latest partnership – a million dollar endowment for postgraduate scholarships with The University of Manchester – in the  SPIE Endowment Matching Program.

SPIE Photonics West 2025 will take place 25 – 30 January at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The call for papers for the 2025 event will open in Spring of 2024.

Further reading: Winning products, companies, and startup challenge contestants – The photonics industry-focused Prism Awards honor innovations in technology areas such as lasers, biomedical, quantum, AR/VR/MR, sensors, and imaging, wileyindustrynews.com, 2 February 2024 • Million dollar endowment for postgraduate scholarships – The University of Manchester and SPIE have established the SPIE-Manchester Postgraduate Scholarship in Photonics, wileyindustrynews.com, 30 January 2024