Apr 26 2010
Invest in Photonics(R), a two-day international partnering convention that brings together the world's experts in photonics and leading investors from Europe and beyond to meet with emerging photonics companies seeking financial support, announced that the participation in the event rose, with new attendees coming from the wider European and North American photonics communities.
"We are very pleased with the results of the second edition of Invest in Photonics. Participation exceeded the last event, several factors are stimulating industry growth, and the 12 selected photonics projects presented were of high quality and well received," said Bernard Couillaud, chairman of the Invest in Photonics 2010. "On the financial side, we see that investors are cautiously optimistic. In 2010, there are signs of a gradual increase in investment levels and exit transactions. While we are not out of the woods yet, we are clearly in better shape than in 2008."
The 2010 Invest in Photonics welcomed 125 participants, slightly higher than 2008 figures. C-level directors (CEOs, CFOs, CSOs etc) made up the majority of the visitors (64 per cent), with 42 per cent of attendees coming from the US, Canada and European countries outside France.
The 12 companies selected for the special funding session were seeking potential financing in the range of EUR 30 million. They presented projects covering a wide range of market segments. These included optical transport, medical equipment, and intelligent lighting, an area where the total market for LED (including handheld devices, and vehicular etc.), for example, was USD 5.9 billion in 2009. Event organizers awarded the prize for the "Best of the Convention" to LED Linear, a maker of scalable interior and exterior lighting systems using LED technology, based in Germany, for the originality of its product concept and fit with the market.
Presentations from 11 of the world's leading specialists in photonics, as well as the 5-member panel of investors, all confirmed the international nature of the industry, and that it offers strong growth potential, USD 356 billion in 2008 to USD 493 billion by 2020, according to Michael Lebby, president and CEO of the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association.
Above all, the presentations showed that photonics is an enabling technology that is multi-disciplinary and hence it is extremely pervasive, spanning as it does energy & the environment, life sciences & healthcare, defense & security, materials and basic research. "Photonics enables many things and is a part of our lifestyle," announced Lebby, in his presentation on Green Photonics(TM): Will it Change Our Lives Over the Next Decade? "Photonics will be integrated – just like ICs 50 years ago - and drive new product designs. Photonics is green and will enable new technologies and products that will also be green."
According to Couillaud, the financial community is becoming more educated about photonics, its diversity and applications that go far beyond telecom, as well as its growth potential in a diverse range of markets. "Similar to other industries, investment in photonics investment shrank in 2009. But it is coming back, gradually, although the pace is uncertain. Our goals for the next Invest in Photonics will be to grow the number of industrial company participants and make the photonics industry more understandable to non-specialists and consumers," Couillaud explained.
Invest in Photonics is an investment-networking and market development event that facilitates meetings between entrepreneurs and executives of emerging companies in photonics and investors and analysts. The high growth industries that were represented at the event: energy efficiency, the environment, telecommunications, healthcare all employ photonics technology in leading edge applications.