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.
The photonics industry today stands at a fascinating crossroads. Across Europe, brilliant ideas and technologies continue to emerge—from integrated photonics (PICs) and ultrafast laser systems to quantum technologies, biophotonics, and next-generation sensing solutions. Yet many of these breakthroughs still struggle to translate science into scalable solutions.
At the same time, artificial intelligence is reshaping how we collect and use data. But AI is only as powerful as the information it learns from—and this is where advanced optical sensing becomes essential. Reliable, high-resolution measurements provide the data that train algorithms, enable automation, and connect the physical and digital worlds.
Fiber-optic sensing sits right at this intersection: it combines scientific depth with practical relevance, offering the precision required in a world increasingly shaped by data and intelligent systems. It also reflects the broader journey of our field—high potential, deep science, but often fragmented markets and long adoption cycles.
Working in photonics—and particularly in fiber-optic sensing—teaches humility. It’s an industry built on precision and patience, but success ultimately depends on understanding people’s needs as much as photons.
We began as a research spin-off with a simple belief: that drawing fiber and writing Bragg gratings directly into it could make sensing simpler and more reliable. For years, we focused on perfecting the process—improving uniformity, coatings, and reproducibility. Those early years built a solid foundation, but the real challenges came later, when we tried to bring the technology into diverse markets.
Europe’s strength in technology is also its weakness. We often build the best system, but not necessarily the one that best solves the customer’s problem. In contrast, North America tends to start with the problem, define a practical solution, and then scale it. Bridging that gap—between technology-push and market-pull—remains one of Europe’s biggest opportunities, also in the fiber-optic-sensing industry.
Fiber-optic sensing will never be the “one” mass-volume business. It thrives across specialized, high-impact, and economically significant applications—inside medical devices and surgical robots, embedded in aircraft structures, or monitoring bridges and other critical infrastructure. Each field demands its own balance of precision, reliability, and system integration. Recognizing this diversity—and addressing it effectively—has become one of our greatest strengths.
Meeting such diverse requirements meant moving beyond individual products and adopting a more solution-oriented approach. We shifted towards customer-driven innovation — combining expertise across components, systems, and software to tailor solutions for different markets. This flexibility makes it possible to stay relevant across industries while continuing to learn, collaborate, and innovate together with customers.
This mindset is not unique to us—it is becoming essential for many photonics companies operating at the intersection of highly specialized technologies and increasingly diverse customer needs. Building adaptable, cross-disciplinary technology platforms may well be one of the keys to long-term resilience and growth in our industry.
Looking back, the main insight is that technical excellence is only the beginning. Success comes from listening—and from understanding how different industries apply the same technology within their own realities, cultures, and constraints.
That means staying close to where value is created—keeping our European roots while working openly with partners across regions. The same holds true for photonics: progress is not about how far light travels, but about how meaningfully it interacts with the industries and people that depend on it.
By Dr. Eric Lindner, CEO, FBGS Technologies.
