Laser companies are not only looking for laser physicists. They need candidates with hands-on lab experience, automation and programming skills, cleanroom knowledge, application thinking, and the ability to connect technology with real industrial needs.

The EPIC Online Technology Meeting on Photonics for the Quantum Industry highlighted how photonic integration is helping quantum technologies move from laboratory demonstrations towards scalable, manufacturable systems. Speakers from across the supply chain discussed the importance of integration, packaging, ruggedization, low-loss connectivity, testing, and collaboration in bringing quantum solutions closer to real-world deployment.

In this edition, Thierry Georges, founder and president of Oxxius, reflects on why mergers and acquisitions are becoming an increasingly important accelerator for the European photonics industry. While photonics technologies remain fragmented, strategic partnerships and M&A activity are helping companies scale faster, strengthen capabilities, and open new markets.

Since becoming CEO in 2019, Martynas Barkauskas has driven significant growth, increasing the workforce to nearly 800 specialists, expanding facilities, and increasing revenues from approximately $50 million to over $130 million. The EPIC CEO Award recognizes these remarkable achievements.

EPIC announces Jenoptik as the winner of the 2026 Sustainability Award, recognizing its strong focus on sustainability as a core part of its business. Katrin Fleischer said the company uses photonics to help customers cut emissions, improve efficiency, and conserve resources across industries.

An analysis of job postings and user behaviour on the Jobs in Photonics platform (September 2025–March 2026) reveals strong demand for Process and Optical Engineers, a surge in quantum-related roles, and a generation of young talent actively seeking entry points. Yet friction remains: the most-viewed roles are often the least posted, and candidates increasingly gravitate toward positions with real-world impact. Here’s what the data tells us.

In her editorial, Marisa Edmund explains that technology defines what is possible, but people define what becomes real. At Edmund Optics, growth has always been driven by relationships, collaboration, and human connection rather than a single strategy or breakthrough. In a rapidly changing industry shaped by AI and global expansion, service, trust, and learning remain central. Building strong networks, staying curious, and engaging face-to-face are essential for progress. Long-term success comes from combining innovation with connection, speed with trust, and technology with humanity.

An executive summary of the EPIC Technology Session at OPTRO – Laser Systems for Defense Applications

According to Eric Mottay, Photonics West 2026 has highlighted the shift from high-profile promises in fusion, quantum, and AI to the detailed engineering work making these technologies practical. Industry leaders emphasized that while innovation can happen quickly, technology maturation and real-world application require sustained effort and time.

Photonics companies are hiring across a wide range of roles, but job seekers do not look at all vacancies in the same way.
An analysis of Jobs in Photonics postings and Google Analytics data from September to December 2025 shows a clear pattern: while hiring activity is broad, attention is strongly focused on a smaller set of highly specialised roles.

Leon Hol, Managing Director at NTS Optel emphasizes the importance of trust between partners during an optics project.

Europe’s photonics industry faces a turning point. With increasing acquisitions by non-European firms, consolidation is emerging as both a necessity and an opportunity. During the EPIC meeting on 9 October, industry leaders debated how European companies can scale, retain value chains, and safeguard technological leadership. Strategic mergers, patient capital, and coordinated growth may be key to ensuring Europe remains a global powerhouse in photonics innovation and manufacturing.

As Europe strengthens its defense autonomy, photonics has become a strategic pillar. From single-photon detection and quantum-dot SWIR imaging to AI-enhanced LiDAR, companies across Switzerland, Finland, Spain, and Germany are redefining sensing and perception in modern warfare. Highlights from the EPIC Online Technology Meeting on Photonics for Defense reveal how European innovation is shaping sovereign, high-performance capabilities across land, air, sea, and space domains.

Editorial by Eric Lindner, CEO of FBGS. The journey of FBGS Technologies reflects the broader challenges and opportunities in photonics: translating breakthrough science into scalable, customer-driven solutions. In this article, Lindner shares lessons from building a fiber sensing company—balancing innovation and market needs, embracing niche applications, and adopting a platform mindset to thrive in an evolving, data-driven world.

In October 2025, there were 20 recorded acquisitions. Five of them were led by European companies, while ten European firms were acquired.

Lidia Briquets shares insights from the DLR–TESAT workshop. The event gathered Europe’s photonics and optoelectronics community to strengthen collaboration in the space sector, highlighting new opportunities, cross-sector innovation, and the key role of SMEs in shaping the future of European space technologies.

We prepared a report on the most in-demand job roles from the first semester of 2025, based on vacancies posted on the Jobs-in-Photonics.com website, featuring exclusively EPIC member companies.

In June 2025 we have tracked 16 acquisitions in the photonics industry , including several involving EPIC members such as InQ, Oxford Ionics, Oxford Instruments, Mycronic and Inkron.

In addition to the Jobs in Photonics initiative, EPIC is committed to supporting the photonics community in attracting young talent.

An insightful editorial by Mike Powell from Renevo Capital, offers valuable guidance for any photonics business preparing to raise capital.

Is remote work a trend in the photonics industry? Given the talent shortage in our sector, could project-based contracts be a viable option, or are we still an industry that relies on long-term employment?

EPIC Members have discussed the impact of the announced U.S tariffs on the European photonics industry. Carlos Lee has written an article summarising the meeting.

Review the performance of Photonics Companies in the Stock Market after the U.S announced a new round of tariffs in April 2025.

Henrik Skov Andersen, CEO of Ibsen Photonics, shares his experience with networking within the photonics community—and explains why, in today’s geopolitical climate, the need for strong photonics ecosystems in Europe is more critical than ever.

Acknowledging a conscious and efficient production with a social responsibility

Recognizing outstanding leadership in ultrafast laser technologies and their applications.

Acknowledging exceptional technology and business leadership in nanoimprint lithography and meta-optics.

This is the Board of Directors update presented at the Annual General Meeting 2025, held in Barcelona.

Photonics is experiencing a large boom leading to thousands of inventions and new applications. Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) and investments play a critical role in sustaining the growth of the photonics industry. Read our summary of M&A deals and investments in the photonics industry from January and February 2025.

The leadership transition at JUEKE is a major milestone, with Steffen Hovestadt, Max Jürgens, and Dominik Fockenbrock stepping in as CEOs while guided by their predecessors. In his editorial, Hovestadt highlights the careful planning, structured leadership, and collaboration that made this possible.

In this editorial, Eric Mottay shares his insights on Photonics West 2025 and explains why, now more than ever, photonics will play a key role in shaping the future.

We’re excited to start the year with an insightful editorial from Clarie Valentin of Exosens, who provides an overview of the challenges shaping the detection and imaging markets.

Introducing new medical devices into the healthcare system is no easy task. This is not only due to strict regulations but also because medical professionals need extensive training on new technologies—a process that can take several years.
Despite these challenges, medical professionals are increasingly open to adopting technologies like photonics to address everyday challenges. As emphasized during the EPIC Meeting at ICFO, cross-disciplinary collaboration is not just beneficial but essential for progress.

In the photonics industry, many SMEs are nearing a pivotal transition in leadership as the first generation of leaders approaches retirement. This was the focus of discussion at the recent HR Workgroup, where we discussed about the five essential leadership skills every future-ready leader needs and the role of AI in leadership development, including predictive analytics and personalized training.

OLEDs, micro-LEDs, microlens arrays (MLAs), and color measurement technologies are increasingly being adopted in the automotive industry. These advancements offer significant advantages over traditional lighting systems, including improved efficiency, enhanced longevity, and greater design flexibility. In this article, Jérémy Picot-Clémente explores the latest innovations in this field, highlighting contributions from EPIC members such as Luminus Devices, Noctiluca, QNA Technology, DELO Industrial Adhesives, Focuslight, TechnoTeam Bildverarbeitung, and the automotive supplier FORVIA HELLA.

Explore insights into Lithuania’s laser market in this editorial, introduced by Gediminas Račiukaitis.

Emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing request commitment to innovation. Check out the editorial of Nicoletta Casanova, CEO of FEMTOprint, where she reflects on the company´s journey from a small Swiss venture to a global leader in high-precision glass micro-manufacturing and how glass is now essential within these exciting upcoming technologies

Andrés Cifuentes, CEO at ASE Optics Europe, reflects in the EPIC Spotlight’s editorial on the company’s growth from optical design consulting to series production, the importance of a diverse team, strong supplier relationships, and how the future of photonics lies in agile innovation for emerging markets like new space and Quantum Optics.

Is it possible to improve the performance of microscopes? In this article, Antonio Castelo, discusses recent advances in microscope technology that enhance the efficiency, accuracy, and speed of imaging biological samples. He also highlights several EPIC members who are at the forefront of these innovations, including Illumisonics, Prospective Instruments, Opto, CoolLED and Chromacity.

Check out the editorial of Martina Mueller, CEO of 3D AG, sharing her insights on the photonics sector, from the pressures on innovation costs to the challenges of talent acquisition and the important role of collaboration.

The semiconductor and consumer electronics industries are two prominent adopters of Laser Microprocessing especially for ultrathin components.

To address the shortage of talent in photonics, we need to start engaging young students and encouraging them to pursue careers in physics. However, this activity has a low return on investment and few are willing to work in this direction.

Medical implants have recently benefited from established photonics manufacturing processes, such as laser cutting and marking, as well as emerging ones like additive manufacturing and surface structuring.

The EPIC meeting aimed to connect photonics innovators with early adopters in the Agrifood sector. Furthermore, addressing these global challenges requires an international collaborative approach that transcends national boundaries.

During the EPIC HR Workgroup meeting focused on “Hiring in North America,” our HR experts shared several key insights regarding the current state of the labor market and salary expectations in the region.

The EPIC Annual General Meeting & Summit gathered more than 350 attendees in Juan Les Pins, France. This small village on the French Riviera provided an exceptional setting for networking activities such as the EPIC Run or an early morning swim.

The reliability of Exail’s lithium niobate (LiNbO3)-based modulators comes from the company’s core expertise in fiber-optic gyroscopes, some of which have clocked more than 6 million hours in orbit on more than 30 satellites without incident. Courtesy of Exail.

This meeting aimed to connect researchers, doctors, and integrators of photonics technologies. Cultivating enhanced collaboration between clinical centers and industries from the initial stages of product development is imperative. Specifically, input from medical pathologists is crucial to creating photonics applications adoptable in cancer diagnosis, laying the foundation for translational photonics research within a clinical context.

Photonics has contributed significantly to public health in different ways: advancing rapid, cost-effective, personalized interventions; allowing the visualization of different biological structures, functional units and infection agents; or as the basic technology for the development of specific diagnostic devices. Dermatology, the branch of medicine dealing with the skin, has been one of the fields which has taken benefit of all the advantages of the photonic technologies, such as their high resolution, speed and the capability of light waves to penetrate various biological barriers without causing unwanted interactions.

The battery market will have a significant impact in Europe in the coming years, and photonics, in particular lasers and sensors, is set to play a major role. The manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles necessitates a shift from traditional factories to the establishment of gigafactories – large manufacturing facilities dedicated to the production of components and products related to electrification and decarbonization technologies. Laser cutting and welding techniques have already been seamlessly integrated into battery production lines, reducing time and costs while increasing productivity.

Photonics Integrated Circuits drive the heart of quantum advancements, as showcased at the EPIC Industrial Quantum Photonics Technology Meeting held at TOPTICA.

Europe has witnessed remarkable developments in quantum sensing technology in recent years. Various companies have entered the field from different perspectives and made significant strides in harnessing the power of quantum phenomena to create highly sensitive and precise sensors. These sensors have the potential to revolutionize a wide range of industries, including healthcare, telecommunications, navigation, and more.

This week we have celebrated the EPIC Meeting on Photonics for Defense in Poland were we discussed on how Photonics is revolutionizing the defense industry.

Photonics will revolutionize Space Technology

Finding Photonics talent is challenging due to its emerging status and limited interest from student interest.

Exploring the complexities of design and simulation in extended reality. As XR pushes the boundaries of immersive technology, the challenge of creat-ing a flawless simulated reality presents unique design hurdles. In this critical analysis, we unpack the fundamental issues, identifying potential solutions and forecasting future developments in the XR landscape.

European companies are now at the forefront of developing groundbreaking approaches to the packaging of photonic integrated circuits (PICs).

The meeting brought together key players in the AR/VR industry. The primary topic of discussion was the need for technology to be presented in a user-friendly form factor, necessitating even smaller optical components. However, the main challenge lies in balancing design requirements with user needs.

CEOs and HR managers from various EPIC members joined the kick-off meeting on 05 May. Together, we aim to address talent acquisition challenges in photonics.

Industry leaders discuss the status of fibre optic sensing technologies, evaluate the possibilities of integrated solutions and address the need for education on the real value of fibre optic sensors.

EPIC has announced Kestutis Jasiunas as the recipient of the EPIC Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions and leadership in the laser industry.

The European Photonics Industry Consortium is delighted to announce that the recipient of the EPIC CEO Award 2023 is Håkan Karlsson, the head of the Photonics division at HÜBNER Group and CEO of Cobolt.

During the Annual General Meeting 2023 celebrated in Helsinki, Finland, the European Photonics Industry Consortium has announced that Basil Garabet, CEO of NKT Photonics will be the new President of EPIC.

During the Annual General Meeting 2023 celebrated in Helsinki, Finland, the European Photonics Industry Consortium has confirmed Shahida Imani, CEO of Chromacity, to join its Board of Directors.