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Cooperation of photonics clusters and the exploitation of European SMEs potential.
Grant Agreement: 619463
Project Acronym: LightJumps Funding scheme: Coordination and support action
WP2 – Photonics Community Building and Needs Assessment
Deliverable D2.2.6 LightJumps Guidelines
Date of completion: 30/10/2015 Deliverable Responsible: CIAOTECH Contribution of the following organisations and people: all partners Authors: James Cogan Project Coordinator name: Eleonora Ercoli Project Coordinator organisation name: CIAOTECH S.r.l.
Start date of project: 01/11/2013 Duration: 24 months
Dissemination Level
PU Public X
PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services)
RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services)
CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services)
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Forward by Kurt Weingarten
Photonics - using light to make, to measure, to connect
Photonics is the science, technology, and art of using light to make things, to measure our world, and to connect our communications. Europe currently stands as a world leader in the science and technology of Photonics. The smartphone in your pocket, the car you drove in today, and the internet connection you may be using now - have been touched and formed by many photons - photons quite likely first conceived and constructed here in Europe.
Photonics enables many of the high-quality living standards that we expect, but more importantly is a key channel for current and future high-value jobs and industries in Europe. European Universities and Institutions are leading houses in educating photonics professionals and developing the upcoming technology needed for future industry. Europe also headquarters many of the top Photonics SMEs and corporations worldwide. Where can we benefit looking into the future? The key value driver is taking the intrinsic know-how in Photonics here in Europe and empowering efficient transfer into industry. The most dynamic and value-creating avenue for this is to enable start-up companies in the photonics space and to assure their development to maturity. This report details how to do that - by using European institutes, instruments, and funding schemes, our society here can enable, empower, and multiply the tremendous existing and future resources in the Photonics community. Kurt Weingarten General Manager at Lumentum Switzerland AG
Dr. Weingarten received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and undergraduate degree from Georgia Institute of Technology. After working at a Silicon Valley photonics startup, he moved to Switzerland in 1993 and founded his first firm, Time-Bandwidth Products, in Zurich in 1995. Time-Bandwidth brings reliable turn-key ultrafast lasers to the industrial market combining two key technologies - diode-pumped solid-state lasers and semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors. In 2014 Time-Bandwidth Products was incorporated into world leading communications and manufacturing laser corporation Lumentum (formerly JDSU), based in California. Dr. Weingarten is General Manager at Lumentum Switzerland AG. He was an invaluable member of the 2015 European Photonics Venture Forum created by the LightJumps project.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................... 4
Snapshot of Europe’s Photonics Development Agencies ..................................................................... 7
Organised sector development organisations ..................................................................................... 8
Churn in the landscape of European photonics agencies ..................................................................... 9
Commission and Photonics21 Public Private Platform ...................................................................... 10
National Technology Platforms ........................................................................................................ 12
Regional sector development efforts ............................................................................................... 12
10 Year Window Of Opportunity ...................................................................................................... 14
EU Sector Development Agency for Photonics .................................................................................. 15
The Fotonica Lazio Experience ......................................................................................................... 16
The European Photonics Venture Forum 2015 .................................................................................. 19
Horizon 2020 Grants for Coordination and Support Actions .............................................................. 22
The EPIC Industry Association .......................................................................................................... 25
Leadership and Entrepreneurship .................................................................................................... 26
Operating Budget ............................................................................................................................ 27
Lobbying ......................................................................................................................................... 28
Photonics Brand Placement ............................................................................................................. 29
Business Incubators ......................................................................................................................... 29
Mentoring, Business Case Development and Business Planning ........................................................ 31
Showcases ...................................................................................................................................... 32
Journalism ...................................................................................................................................... 33
Networks of Financiers .................................................................................................................... 33
Investment Summits........................................................................................................................ 34
Regional Strategies .......................................................................................................................... 36
Research and Innovation Agenda Setting ......................................................................................... 38
Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 40
About the author ....................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The case for systematically investing in photonics to accelerate innovation and
growth is absolute. Europe has made the decision to do just that. Photonics is one
of the Union’s six designated key enabling technologies and the focus of over one
billion euros of public funding for sector development. Funding mechanisms and
the photonics public private platform have been put in place.
The contribution of a network of effective photonics development agencies or
clusters is essential.
The rate at which this network of development agencies is emerging,
professionalising and consolidating - at EU, national and regional levels - may not be
keeping pace with the needs of the sector in Europe. The new public private
partnership (PPP) itself, with its portfolio of unrushed and unwieldy coordination
and support projects, may need to seek more agile and entrepreneurially minded
organisational models in order to accelerate the sector’s development. Progress
needs to be stepped up at all levels and this will require renewed leadership
impetus.
Photonics21 Vice Presidents Bernd Schulte and Giorgio Anania and EU Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes (from left to right) officially signed the Photonics PPP contract in the frame of a Signing Ceremony for the eight contractual PPP’s under Horizon 2020 in Brussels, December 17, 2013
This guide gathers together the insights and experiences gained in the course of the
two year European Commission grant funded project LightJumps1 which had the aim
of supporting six photonics cluster organisations in four EU member state countries
in their quest to build entrepreneurial skills among the emerging photonics
enterprises in their networks. The project was not just about supporting emerging
firms in becoming better emerging firms. It was also about supporting emerging
1 www.lightjumps.eu
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cluster organisations in becoming better cluster organisations.
For the purposes of this document the term development agency is used to cover
everything from the European photonics Public Private Platform to the national
technology platforms, regional development agencies, industry associations and the
many flavours of cluster organisations that make up the pack.
The target readers are the 150 board members, stakeholders and managers of the
PPP and the Commission’s Photonics Unit, the 28 diverse EU member state
economic development authorities and ministries and some reasonable proportion
of Europe’s 276 European regional governmental organisations.
The target readership also includes those 100 or so associations and groupings that
reflect the endless possibilities of photonics, such as LightJumps partners Sensor
City 2 with their inspirational municipal sensor application platform in the
Netherlands, or JePPIX3 with it world class shared foundry for photonics integrated
circuits, plus Alta Brillanza’s4 Italian laser manufacturing sector, Lazio Connect’s
aerospace photonics community5, the Saxony6 organic electronics industry and
southern France’s competitiveness cluster Optitec7.
2 www.sensorcity.nl 3 www.jeppix.eu 4 www.altabrillanza.it 5 www.lazioconnect.it 6 www.oes-net.de/en/home.html 7 http://www.pole-optitec.com
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In all there are about 500 people in Europe with direct responsibility for nurturing
the Union’s photonics sector through the actions of photonics development
agencies. We hope this document provides them with food for thought.
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SNAPSHOT OF EUROPE’S PHOTONICS DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES
Since 20098 Europe’s industrial and innovation policy has been founded on six key
enabling technologies9 one of which is photonics. In terms of global market size
photonics is the largest of the six technologies by a big margin, and expected to
account for nearly 40%10 of the total by 2015. The sector is as big or bigger than the
GDPs of over half of EU member states and the direct and indirect economic
contribution of photonics to Europe’s GDP amounts to about 2%.
EU Photonics Development Agencies Source: W. Boch - European Regional Authority and Cluster workshop 25.06.15
There are 276 regions in the Union. So, supposing fifty percent or more of them
8 "Preparing for our future: Developing a common strategy for key enabling technologies in the EU" COM(2009) 512
9 micro and nanoelectronics, nanotechnology, industrial biotechnology, advanced materials, photonics, and advanced
manufacturing technologies 10
http://www.stratresearch.se/Documents/Strategiprocessen/hlg_report_final_en.pdf
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engage in some degree of innovation11 and industrial development, that they think
roughly along the same lines as the Brussels industry and innovation strategists and
that levels of engagement in the key enabling technologies are proportionate to
their market sizes then we would expect about 50 regions – or clusters or
communities of various kinds - to take a particularly strong interest in photonics and
to vigorously promote its development. And in fact, if one looks at the numbers
that is actually the case. About 50 organisations have indeed emerged (figure
above).
A 2013 listing12 by the Commission’s Photonics Unit indicates 48 photonics interest
organisations.
ORGANISED SECTOR DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATIONS
According to the OECD13 development agencies and their instruments add real value to the implementation of economic development strategies because they are able to: o Aggregate otherwise disparate development efforts within
one body that can generate real expertise and track record of delivery,
o Increase pace of response to investors,
o Enlarge scale of implementation by enabling multiple programmes and projects
simultaneously,
o Enhance reputation and credibility of member negotiators, giving external
investors confidence,
o Find means to share costs and risks between those promoting developments and
investments,
o Unlock under-used assets in infrastructure and increase efficiency in the
11 http://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/innovation/facts-figures/scoreboards/index_en.htm
12 http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/photonics/docs/clusters/webclusterlist-june2013_en.pdf 13 OECD/Mountford D., “Organising for local development: the role of local development agencies. Summary Report”, 26-27 November 2009, working document, CFE/LEED, OECD, www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/41/44682618.pdf?contentId=446
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utilisation of local infrastructure and investment markets,
o Devise wholly new sources and instruments for investment, in partnership with
private financiers,
o Improve investment-readiness of key projects, developing propositions to make
them more attractive to external investment,
o Overcome co-ordination failures arising from fragmented jurisdictions,
o Promote and market the sector better, overcoming information gaps and
asymmetries and building a clearer image and identity.
In sum, there are no doubts as to the value and contribution of development
agencies. The important questions for governing stakeholders are whether the
number, distribution, efforts and results of such agencies are in line with needs.
CHURN IN THE LANDSCAPE OF EUROPEAN PHOTONICS AGENCIES
To anyone familiar with the map of development agencies shown in the picture
above it is evident that the 50 or so protagonists are not part of a static and uniform
group, but that there is a high rate of churn, with new entrants, mergers and
extinctions taking place frequently. The snapshot shows stark differences each year.
The number of genuinely active and full-time agencies is probably half the number
shown.
CORIFI14 for instance, is the national photonics technology platform in Italy. Being
recently founded with as yet limited resources it is only beginning to make its voice
heard at national level. The scope of CORIFI is, by design, oriented towards the
coordination of research and innovation agenda setting and hence it does not
consider attraction of investment, jobs creation or systematic lobbying as being
part of its core mission. The new €30 million Irish Photonic Integration Centre15 is so
new that it is not even shown on the June 2015 snapshot but it appears to have
arrived with a bang and, under the guidance of new CEO Kieran Drain, has already
run a major national photonics conference in Ireland in 201516.
14 www.aeit.it/corifi/ 15 www.ipic.ie 16 http://photonicsireland2015.com
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There are some exciting things happening in Lithuania, Berlin, Eindhoven and the
Netherlands as a whole, and in Switzerland, Southern France, Finland, Sweden and
among Spanish SMEs.
But the overall picture – two years into the seven year programme - is of a cluster
of clusters in its infancy, still grappling with the challenges of start-up and survival.
The European members states, after ratifying the selection of photonics as one of
the six enabling technologies, have failed to mirror in any systematic way the
Union’s strategy. This omission is having the effect of blocking any policy trickle
down effect, undermining the credibility and success of the overall innovation
programme.
Political support for photonics at EU and national level should be visibly and
unequivocally reaffirmed in all 28 countries, providing photonics leaders and
advocates with renewed mandate, confidence and authority.
COMMISSION AND PHOTONICS21 PUBLIC PRIVATE PLATFORM
There are some major players in photonics sector development which are not
shown in the snapshot above but clearly are sector development leaders at a
European level.
These are the European Commission and its Photonics Unit, Photonics21 and the
Public Private Partnership (PPP) formed by the two along with their many public,
industry and research partners. This is the body that more than any is charged with
photonics sector development in the most focused and ambitious manner
imaginable. The PPP has the ambitious aim to help secure17 Europe's industrial
leadership and economic growth, a highly skilled workforce, and the capability to
generate new jobs that attract young people, and this resembles the mission
statement of any fully fledged multi-action economic development agency.
The PPP, created in 2014 with an €800 million investment goal over the seven years
to 2020, is a tremendous sign of intent and commitment by the European
Commission and its partners, and a credit to the people who made it happen. Its
17 http://www.photonics21.org/AboutPhotonics21/Photonics-PPP.php
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mission goes way beyond the technology innovation focus of previous grant
programmes, encompassing development of factories, SME clusters, better finance
conditions, markets, products and policies. But its operating model imposes limits
to how much it can achieve. Its primary instrument is grant funding of a portfolio of
collaborative innovation projects. With about a hundred million euro per year
flowing through its offices it has a hundred or more projects in the system at any
one time. This does represent massive fire power. But the way these projects are
conceived, commissioned and administered – mostly through an arm’s length
process involving coordination of collegial work groups, independent evaluators and
annual project reviews – results in a somewhat non-agile organisation where a
couple of years can pass from concept to action and in which projects are difficult to
steer once approved. For technical innovation projects the grant programme is well
designed. For the sector development activites, known as Coordination and Support
Actions, progress is made in slow motion. And the €800 million loses some of its
oomph in the process. This is just the way PPPs are.
The PPP secretariat, which has a modest operational budget supporting just a small
handful of full-time professionals, has limited excutive control over the resources
and hence cannot be viewed as a conventional sector development agency. The
Commission Photonics Unit18 , with its team of around 20 professionals, has a core
set of very demanding tasks associated with administering the huge portfolio of
grant funded photonics projects (with that €100 million per year throughput), with
Horizon 2020 programme promotion across Europe, with work programme design
and with internal Commission processes. So, like the PPP, the Photonics Unit has
neither the mission nor the structure of a fully fledged sector development agency.
18 http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/photonics/
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The current organisational model and legal basis for photonics sector development
at an EU level was designed to administer large scale grant funding programmes for
scientific research and development over protracted timeframes. It was not
designed to handle many of the shorter timeframe executive activities of a
development agency, such as awareness building, lobbying or attraction of
investments. The system is under pressure as it strives to meet such demands. The
European Commission should take stock of this situation and - bearing in mind the
narrow window of opportunity for photonics sector development – devise suitable
remedies.
NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS
Of the 28 members states in the Union ten or twelve19 have some kind of national
platform with a photonics promotion dimension. This might be construed as a real
success and it certainly has the potential to be a success. But as with the cluster
landscape generally, the national technology platforms are for the most part in their
infancy, some of them are as yet placeholders waiting for operational resources,
some are wrappers for loose collections of niche organisations and some have
bounded scopes which limit them from addressing some of the vital roles of a sector
development organisation. It would be a challenge to name even two or three
national technology platform with a strong blend of resources, maturity and impact.
A suitably authoritative and influential body of stakeholders, such as the board of
the PPP, should put pressure on member states - through the European Council – to
step up photonics sector development efforts at a national level. These steps
should include, as a minimum, the recognition of photonics as a key element of their
innovation strategies and the provision of an operating budget to their photonics
national technology platforms.
REGIONAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS
19 page 16 http://www.photonics21.org/download/Brochures/Photonics_Roadmap_final_lowres.pdf
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All 276 regions in Europe have some kind of economic development and innovation
agency though naturally they come in all shapes and sizes.
Several of Europe’s regional development agencies, while not setting up dedicated
photonics units, have nonetheless put photonics in central roles in their smart
regional development strategies. In a 2015 study20 the European Commission
identified 9 such European regions (table above). This is a strikingly low number
when one considers the size and importance of photonics and the expectation that
as many as 50 regions might have been expected to recognise its strategic
importance. The same Commission study points out (table below) that photonics is
actually the least referenced key enabling technology among the regions who
participated.
Clearly the photonics sector, while undoubtedly leading in terms of real market size,
has not yet established a sector identity to match that size and hence will struggle to
fully capitalise on the opportunities of a dedicated and Europe-wide sector
20 Analysis of Smart Specialisation Strategies in Nanotechnologies, Advanced Manufacturing and
Process Technologies ([email protected])
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development effort. In short, things may not be coming together as the founding
strategists might have hoped.
A suitably qualified organisation, such as the photonics PPP, should without delay
identify 30-40 regions in Europe with the characteristics of champion photonics
regions - whether mature, developing or emerging and whether research,
productisation or market creation focused - and should make the highest possible
representations to these regions such that they proactively align with the EU
photonics programme.
10 YEAR WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
The European Union’s trillion euro seven year Multi-Annual Financial Framework –
and the €80 billion Horizon 2020 innovation programme within it – has just five
more years to run. The pace of change in photonics is being driven not just by
Europe, which holds 18% of market share, but by highly dynamic industries in Asia
and the USA. Clusters which cannot grab market share, hold on to their shares and
develop rapidly will simply be left behind. Only the most ambitious, competent and
agile will thrive.
European regions with photonics aspirations have at most a ten year opportunity –
and more likely 5 to 7 years - to take their place in the global industry. Europe as a
whole has that same narrow window to make a success of its mission to intensify
and boost the sector’s development through its big photonics KET strategy. Scale
and speed are vital.
There is no moral imperative to building Europe’s share of photonics industry. It’s
not like climate change or the migrant crisis. It is discretionary. This is all the more
reason for the sector’s leadership community to take an ambitious and energetic
stance on it. Making great strides in a short timeframe will only happen if the
leaders make those strides.
Photonics sector leaders should think in terms of what they wish to achieve in the
remaining 1825 days of this framework period and then design and implement
measures to suit. Innovative, agile and courageous leadership is called for.
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EU SECTOR DEVELOPMENT AGENCY FOR PHOTONICS
As highlighted previously, there is a gap in our constellation of photonics advocacy
and development organisations. At the EU level our PPP has one hand tied behind
its back in terms of the executive actions it can take. It cannot act directly,
executing its strategy instead through those arm’s length grant funded projects. The
example of the LightJumps Photonics Venture Forum21 illustrates the phenomenon.
LightJumps and the Photonics Unit – in a commendable show of agility – altered
plan half way through the project in order to incorporate an investment summit into
it. The event was well received by the stakeholders and there is a keen appetite to
build on it in a 2016 edition. The difficulty which arises is that, despite its
overarching role and responsibility in the sector in Europe and despite its influence
over the application of €100 million per year, the PPP cannot take direct executive
action to initiate a 2016 edition of the forum. Instead it can exercise collegial
influence, encouraging organisations within its sphere of influence to take the
initiative. It is evident that time may be unduly lost in the process and that
whatever action is taken may be beyond the reach of the PPP’s steering process.
To be fully effective, sector development agencies - like good regional development
or “invest in..” agencies – need well resourced, entrepreneurially minded
professional teams that operate with agility, taking real-time executive decisions on
when and how to apply their resources. The photonics sector has to compete out
in the world with lots of other sectors. Industrial Biotechnology, for instance, is one
of the other five chosen pillars of Europe’s innovation strategy and it is nearly the
same size as photonics. Don’t know about biobased? Most people don’t know
about photonics either. That’s what the sector is facing. Development agencies
communicate, educate, stimulate investment, lobby, fund raise, network and
market the sector with the creativity and energy one sees in those wonderful
emerging bioeconomy start-ups and gazelles. They can promote awareness and
public procurement and education. A professionalised photonics promotion and
development agency could easily slot into the current constellation of cluster
organisations complementing what they do already. The PPP will always design and
administer the grant funding but a dedicated photonics development agency would
add heavy weight advocacy and drive, stimulating quicker take-up.
21 www.e-unlimited.com/epvf
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There are three great challenges for setting up and steering such an agency and
these are funding, agenda setting and X-factor, where X-factor refers to its ability to
behave with agility and entrepreneurialism. It’s mission would be closely aligned
with the PPP, i.e. stimulating innovation, but it would have a special remit for
supporting the 50 or so other photonics agencies in Europe, for running high impact
EU-wide events and for continuous advocacy and outreach at regional and national
levels throughout the EU.
The first item on the order of business for the agency will be to create a series of
regional photonics investment forums to energetically market the sector in those
locations where it can have most effect.
Somewhere within the many innovation and economic development programmes
and organisations in Europe must be found the will and the budget to create a
European Photonics Sector Development Agency. This agency will have the mission,
the mindset and the resources to perform those actions which are beyond the reach
of the current sector development vehicles.
THE FOTONICA LAZIO EXPERIENCE
Setting up regional development agencies is not for the faint hearted. There are
numerous examples of failed attempts. LightJumps has first hand experience.
Italy is a large and highly industrialised country. By GDP it is the 4th largest of the
continent’s 43 countries. In 2011 Italy also ranked 4th by number of photonics
companies22 and by volume of photonics research activity. It has a long tradition of
immensely successful and important research, innovation and commercialisation in
high tech sectors too numerous to count, including medical scanning, precision
manufacturing, electronics, optics, communications, lighting and displays. Italian
stakeholders were at the heart of the EU wide initiative to make photonics a
strategic Key Enabling Technology (KET) from 2009 onwards. There is a vibrant
photonics community23 in the country.
22 http://www.photonics21.org/download/Leverage_Internetversion.pdf 23 http://www.fotonica2015.it/documenti/Fotonica_2015_programma.pdf
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At the same time, by 2014 Italy’s national photonics technology platform was only
just emerging into the light and the only dedicated photonics development agency
routinely active was Optoscana24 which was first proposed in 2011. There clearly
seemed to be a gap in the market for new photonics development agencies in Italy.
The question is whether this gap is a low hanging fruit waiting to be picked or
whether there is something inherently and brutally difficult in the business of
setting up sector development agencies. Either way, the situation represents a
structural limitation to Europe’s photonics development strategy – and indeed the
strategies of the other KETs - and, while the causes may vary form country to
country, the phenomenon is clearly not limited to Italy. So what did LightJumps do
and what can be learnt?
The LightJumps coordinator Ciaotech Srl25 (known as PNO Consultants in Europe) is
located in Rome in the region of Lazio, along with aerospace partner Lazio Connect26
and research partner CNR27 (Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems). The
LightJumps footprint in Lazio was considerable therefore. Lazio region’s GDP is
about 1% of the total for Europe and the region, with its large research and
aerospace base and its ambitious strategy for promoting SME entrepreneurialism,
represents a reasonably good prospect for photonics sector development. The aim
of Lazio Connect within LightJumps was to develop its mission in order to strongly
reflect the photonics dimension of its aerospace cluster members. And this has
been successful.
About six months into the project however the LightJumps partners decided to take
things a step further and establish a start-up regional photonics agency called
Fotonica Lazio. The aim of the agency was straighfoward: To embrace all sectors
with photonics interests in the region, to mirror Europe’s and Italy’s PPP strategy, to
strengthen the SME community and to lobby for photonics in the region.
24 http://optoscana.net 25 www.pnoconsultants.com 26 http://www.lazioconnect.it 27 http://www.artov.imm.cnr.it/romolo-marcelli.html
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There was no difficulty in establishing a credible and enthusiastic board of directors
comprised of highly respected leaders from industry, research and the public sector.
They included representatives of CNR, the Sapienza University, PNO Innovation,
ENEA and the region’s industrial players. They were happy to give their time, to host
meetings and even to cover some early start-up costs associated with legal and
administrative matters. The directors were ready to take on the challenges of
overcoming the low brand recognition of photonics in the region, of the fact that
the Lazio regional smart specialisation strategy28 does not – mistakenly in our
opinion – include photonics and of the fact that the region suffers from association
fatigue, with too many already present in the territory and too many of them not
exhibiting X-factor behaviour, i.e. many associations in Lazio, as in the world over,
can be dormant or even parasitic, creating a negative perceptions of and resistance
to associations generally.
A central element of the Fotonica Lazio mission was to be financially diversified and
independent, through a combination of membership fees, participation in granted
projects and provision of commercial services such as event management,
mentoring, communications services and intermediary support. In any case the
directors could identify no scheme - whether regional, national or European – which
would provide operational grant support, so there was no option but to aim for
financial independence.
Fotonica Lazio would have 12-18 months of limited indirect support from its
founding LightJumps members through their LightJumps participation, i.e. they
would conduct LightJumps work under a Fotonica Lazio umbrella in those activities
which presented synergies, and they would stage the 1st edition of the European
Photonics Venture Forum in Rome as a means of giving a Fotonica Lazio a high
28 http://www.lazioinnova.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/regione_lazio_smart_specialisation_strategy_luglio_2014.pdf
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impact debut into the regional and European sector development scene. A
successful Fotonica Lazio start-up would represent an extra added value
contribution of LightJumps to the sector.
What happened in practice was that Fotonica Lazio did not survive the early start-up
phase. It needed an operating budget to get it off the ground. None of the
founding organisations were in a position to fund the early phase, partly because
such funding actions are not in their organisations’ missions and partly because
there was uncertainty over how funds would or could ever be repaid. Even an
institutional crowdfunding initiative was going to require months of work to
manage. The LightJumps project activities did allow for synergies, but not enough to
sustain the efforts required.
But the crux of the matter was that there was only very limited confidence in the
concept. Even though it was created by senior and respected professionals it had
the semblance of a private bottom-up initiative, unrecognised by state or European
institutions – and this is very important in many European countries - and it
appeared to represent only a tiny niche and esoteric interest, i.e. photonics. We
were promoting an idea that was not resonating. Fotonica Lazio soon fizzled out.
The learning from the experience is that there is a significant disconnect between
what goes on in innovation and industry strategic planning at a European level and
what goes on at national and regional levels. Rome is Italy’s capital and Italy signed
up to idea of making photonics a pillar of the EU’s industrial future. Yet when it
comes to implementing the strategy at regional level not all the dots are being
joined up. Horizon 2020 lasts seven years, we are two years through it already and
many of the moving parts have not yet come into play. This is clearly not limited to
Italy. Most member states present similar scenarios.
A package of support measures – both in cash and in kind – should be put in place to
enable start-up sector development agencies to survive their first 18 months. A key
element to this support is recognition and visibility.
THE EUROPEAN PHOTONICS VENTURE FORUM 2015
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Without political support marketing the idea of a new regional photonics
development agency is going to be a daunting challenge anywhere. It is not the kind
of thing that easily grabs people’s attention. LightJumps initiated the much more
appealing concept of the European Photonics Venture Forum as a vehicle for
marketing the photonics sector. Investment forums or summits have a bunch of
very positive attributes. At their core, they stimulate deal flow. They create deal
markets. It is impossible that money changes hands on the day or that signtaures
are put on paper, but they do set in motion the dynamics for making it happen.
Whatever about the would be deal-makers themselves, the entire process attracts a
lot of attention from C-level managers, from emerging entrepreneurs gathering
intelligence and from financial and public institution policy makers. The format of
investment project pitching is engaging as it puts a spotlight on real people with real
projects. The whole things takes place in a single exciting one or two day event.
The settings for investments forums offer opportunities to regions and sectors to
showcase themselves. The host region enjoys massive advantage, being able to
promote its own entrepreneurs, technologies and interests to the international
community that travels in. They are wonderful for attracting foreign direct
investment. Investment forums are prized among regional development agencies.
It was with this in mind that the LightJumps partners opted to locate the photonics
investment event in Rome, giving a boost to the start-up Fotonica Lazio initiative. In
order to maximise the impact and opportunity for the region the event organisers
contacted all of the relevant regional and national economic development
institutions including Invitalia 29 (the national inward investment agency), the
ministry for economics30 and Lazio Innova31 (the regional devlopment agency). They
were offered a role in designing the event and they were invited to participate. Also
contacted were ICE32 (the Italian Chambers of Commerce Abroad), Confindustria33
(the industry federation), Unioncamera (chambers of commerce) and Roma Capital
(the capital’s city hall). Contact was made with over 30 relevant directors. They
were not asked to contribute cash as the event budget was covered by LightJumps
2929 www.invitalia.it 30 http://www.mef.gov.it 31 www.lazioinnova.it 32 www.ice.it 33 www.confindustria.it
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by authorisation of the European Commission’s Photonics Unit.
Two individuals lent a hand. Nicola Zingaretti, head of the Lazio Regional
government, offered the use of the regional government’s conference facilities and
Alessandro Musumeci, president of the Italian association of ICT directors, deployed
his network. The regional government, after no small amount of bureaucratic
interaction, gave the event permission to use the region’s logo. These precious
gestures were much appreciated.
But the response generally was surprisingly limited. Invitalia replied that legislation
would be required in order for it to participate in any form while Lazio Innova, the
region’s economic and innovation development agency, did not reply to any of the
attempts to engage. Apart from an unplanned visit by a government representative
on the day and the personal participation of a regional agency manager no Italian
institution supported or attended.
The event34 itself was well attended by industrial investors, photonics entrepreneurs
and a number of cluster managers from around Europe. There is a push to do
bigger and better editions in 2016 and 2017.
While the poor representations by regional and national institutions is definitely
indicative of Lightjumps limited advocacy skills it is also indicative of something
more important: Photonics as a sector enjoys less recognition than its role in
European innovation and industrial development would imply. Photonics advocates
dedicate as much time to explaining the word, the sector and its role as they do to
focusing on the specific advocacy asks of any given day. This is not a phenomenon
limited to our sector. All six of them – micro and nanoelectronics, nanotechnology,
photonics, advanced materials, industrial biotechnology and advanced
manufacturing technology – with their nerdy names and technical subject matters
have a built in yawn factor sure to induce sleepiness in all but the hardiest of
insiders. The original KET Communication, "A European strategy for Key Enabling
Technologies - A bridge to growth and jobs"35, was pitched at the right level. It’s
language was aimed at a generalist target audience of politicians and economic
strategists. With a combined research and innovation target of something in the
34 https://youtu.be/uYRQqTL3OzE 35 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-12-484_en.htm
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region of ten billion euros the KETs have no excuses for not making massive impact.
Big complicated transformations – as any great leader in times of change will point
out – come with big communications and advocacy efforts. There is high level
political lobbying, there is branding and concept placement (like product
placement), deployment of local champions and there are targeted and
orchestrated communications campaigns. Launching the KETs with severely
underpowered advocacy at the high echelons has left photonics cluster
organisations at ground level with a significant barrier to progress, i.e. lack of
recognition. What this means in concrete terms is that it is difficult to persuade
institutional development authorities to invest in the sector. This reduces the
multiplier effect of Brussels investments.
Some portion of the ten billion euros may usefully be applied to building more
recognition.
Investment in scientific innovation in the six European Key Enabling Technologies
should be accompanied by vigorous promotion (“marketing”) of the terminology,
the concepts and the values in order to assure recognition and support at regional
level.
HORIZON 2020 GRANTS FOR COORDINATION AND SUPPORT ACTIONS
There are considerable funds available for photonics sector development. The
annual coordination and support action grants in Horizon 2020 have around four
million euros per year to spend, and the dissemination and communication activities
of the innovation projects, add about the same amount again. Eight or ten million
euros per year goes a long way to building recognition and the desired multiplier
effect. There are however a number of factors which combine to reduce the impact
of these funds.
The coordination and support actions (CSA) are designed as part of the annual work
programme process which sets the priorities for all of the European Union’s
centralised innovation grant programme in Horizon 2020. Eight percent of Europe’s
entire seven year one trillion euro budget goes on Horizon 2020. One percent of
this eight percent goes directly to photonics (more if one includes photonics in other
programmes). And four percent of this goes on coordination and support, coming
D 2.2.6 LightJumps Guidelines
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to that four or five million per year.
The work programme definition process is highly effective where CSAs are
concerned and the topics which come up each year read like a wish list of excellent
sector development actions. For instance the grant application deadline of April 12
201636 offers one million euro grants for proposals focusing on coordination of
regional photonics strategies and on enhanced photonics maker labs.
The process has a number of fatal or near fatal weaknesses however. Firstly it may
have taken that regional strategies concept one or two or more years to get from a
long list of ideas into the upcoming funding programme. Then six months pass while
partnerships are formed and proposals written. The next eight months go by while
the winning proposals are selected and formalised. Another year passes while the
granted projects build up momentum and then they generally have a year or maybe
two to go and actually do stuff. And the most important factor of all – the elephant
in the room – is that many of the granted projects fail to make much of an impact.
Great proposals evaluated only on paper do not always turn into great projects.
Unwieldy democratic partnerships yield lowest common denominator results. It can
be next to impossible to foster creativity and agility. Expectations are low and
scepticism high. Mediocrity and excellence get paid equally. Even with the best will
in the world the Commission does not have the intruments to steer the portfolio of
activities. That original regional strategies concept can take five or six years from
concept to implementation, the quality can be poor and there are no second
chances.
36 https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/5094-ict-29-2016.html
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The coodinators of CSA projects should join a PPP “quality and agility” steering
board representing all the projects in a given portfolio and they should be held to
account for the quality and drive of the projects under their stewardship. The
language of quality, excellence and exceeding expectations should be introduced
into the process. Prizes and recognition should be given to high-achievers. Ten or
twenty percent of projects should be axed each year for under achievement.
Interviews should be conducted with project leads prior to grant approval in order
to improve the chances of picking successful project leaders.
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THE EPIC INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
Founded in 2003 and with over 220 paying industry and research members from all
over Europe the industry association EPIC37 is a very relevant and positive force in
the photonics evolution. EPIC and the PPP are complementary organisations that
jointly aim to strengthen the sector in Europe. For 12 years EPIC has been steadily
building the identity of the photonics brand and community. The association
conducts fifty or more outreach events each year, bringing people in contact and
creating a strong sense of industry identity. EPIC commissions and publishes half a
dozen invaluable studies each year, they conduct market focused technology
workshops and they provide a stable and reliable networking environment in which
people can find research and business partners. Most of all, EPIC has an immensely
valuable core group of committed CEOs, CTOs and CFOs who can be counted upon
to support joint initiatives.
EPIC routinely contributed to the LightJumps project by connecting its member
network to the project and accelerating networking and intelligence gathering. The
LightJumps venture forum in April 2015 benefited from the contributions and
presence of a dozen CEO level EPIC members. Their credibility and influence gave
the event much of its quality and content.
In the quest to quickly scale up Europe’s photonics sector EPIC and the PPP can
contribute more by leveraging their complementary roles in a more direct and
targeted manner. There are a number of topics of common interest they could
37 http://www.epic-assoc.com
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form agreements on, such as international cooperation, attraction of foreign direct
investments, greater industry involvement in the PPP and development of regional
photonics champions. Many members of the PPP are also members of EPIC and it
appears natural to them that the two organisations should enjoy constructive
relations. EPIC and the PPP collaboration is a real case where two strong
organisations working together do more than each working singly.
Efforts should be made by all parties to further enhance collaboration and synergies
between EPIC and public funded sector development platforms.
LEADERSHIP AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Sector development agencies can only be successful if led by competent, ambitious
and charismatic leaders.
Developing a sector is as challenging as developing a company, with all the
creativity, resourcefulness and passion that this involves. The future is an
unchartered ocean. The sector leader should have the curiosity and foresight to
visualise how things may evolve and how to best play in the opportunities and
resources that come to hand. The role demands multiple skills, multi-tasking,
inspirational behaviour and tireless communication, outreach and advocacy.
Measures of successful leadership are (a) active participation of CEO level directors
from industry, research and government on the agency’s governing board and (b)
financial independence through diversified sources of income combining public
support, membership fees and consulting income where such consulting services
are in line with the agency’s sector deveopment mission.
The governing boards of photonics development agencies should carefully consider
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their vision and mission for their agency and then select management candidates
with the experience and leadership qualities to suit.
OPERATING BUDGET
The first thing an agency leader needs is the resourcefulness to acquire operating
budget, to grow it and to put it on a secure long term footing. This is a basic
entrepreneurial obligation of the board and the manager and should be kept to the
forefront of the agency’s mission. The directors of agencies which do not acquire
funds to cover the costs of basic administration and professional services, whether
internal or external, are failing. Failure is not always avoidable and it’s not always
bad. But it is still failing.
The LightJumps attempt to create Fotonica Lazio as a regional agency in Italy was
one such failed attempt. Such unviable agencies should ideally be wound up,
leaving a visible gap and free space for fresh attempts. There are a number of static
photonics agencies in Europe which are neither advancing nor winding down.
Leaders who occupy a position but do not succeed in progressing their agendas by
acquiring a basic budget contribute to an overall trend of under-achievement in the
sector.
The landscape of photonics agencies illustrated in the first stage of this document
should be updated to characterise and rank the organisations in terms of their
operating budgets, activity levels and successes. This will allow EU wide strategists
steer the sector based on real instead of notional resources. Agencies with
potential but which are struggling should be boosted by their peers. Agencies lucky
enough to have secure operating budgets but which fail to reach their potential
would stimulated to renewed efforts by way of a ranking system. Efforts should be
made to accelerate the shake-out of the sector development community so that
strong organisations can emerge and be supported.
Promising photonics sector development agencies need a boost from the entire
photonics community in order to help them achieve basic operating viability. The
group requiring most urgent support are national and regional agencies.
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LOBBYING
The European vision for its photonics future is founded on a vision of grand
synergies, collective efforts and a strong and positive sector identity.
If a photonics development agency has funds for only one activity then that activity
should be lobbying.
Photonics as one of Europe’s six innovation pillars faces a number of immense
challenges. These are lack of support at national and regional level and lack of name
and sector recognition. What this means is that investment support at these levels
is not mirroring the Horizon 2020 strategy. Horizon 2020 can only be successful if it
catalyses and reinforces other investments. These weaknesses can be addressed by
skilled politicised lobbying.
The leader of a photonics sector development agency should have a comprehensive
lobbying plan which identifies target organisations and individuals, articulates
messaging content, and has reasonably clear actions and aims. CORIFI in Italy for
instance, has launched an awareness campaign to alert political leaders to the
opportunity of photonics as a motor of economic growth.
Lobbying aims can and should include acquisition of operating budgets for the
agency. The typical subjects of lobby activity are regional and national economic
development ministers, heads of regional development and innovation agencies,
incubator systems, industry associations, innovation consultants, industry leaders,
technology celebrities, journalists and media outlets, and university, research centre
and school principles.
Lobbying for recognition and public development support is the number one priority
of sector development agencies.
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PHOTONICS BRAND PLACEMENT
Photonics as a word and photonics as a sector are little known or understood. They
are few references to them in daily life and few in the contexts of government,
economic development and research.
One of the first specific goals of any lobby and communications campaign must be
to have the word photonics, plus appropriate explanations, embedded into the
regional landscape of websites, organisational missions, planning documents,
academia curricula and innovation and economic development agendas. Initially it
is not necessary that there be firm plans or commitments made for photonics. The
goal is to socialise the concepts and values of photonics. Aspirational references are
sufficient. Plans and commitments can come at appropriate moments later on,
when sufficient sector recognition has been established.
Endorsements by politicians, industry leaders and journalists are valuable in this
context.
Awareness and acceptance builds quickly as internet searches return a critical mass
of relevant results to the searcher.
Recognition building and “product placement” are among the core aims of
photonics development agencies.
BUSINESS INCUBATORS
D 2.2.6 LightJumps Guidelines
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Most progressive regions have one or more hubs of incubation and
entrepreneurship. They have some kind of tradition of start-up support, business
mentoring, hosting, finance support and acceleration.
Often these are limited to dotcom start-ups or they are lacklustre for want of
involvement by real world entrepreneurs and leaders. Nonetheless they offer a
ready made platform for the photonics community and should be leveraged for the
creation of photonics start-up hubs.
This is not necessarily a trivial undertaking. The LightJumps partners approached
the LUISS Enlabs38 innovation hub in Rome to propose the creation of a photonics
add-on division to the hub. LUISS Enlabs is a successful, professionally run and
privately funded hub with a well developed community of investors and mentors. It
has a well defined focus of operation which does not cover high tech hardware.
In the event LUISS Enlabs declined the LightJumps invitation to explore the
prospects for a photonics innovation add-on. A full time photonics development
agency in Italy may have the resources and tenacity to make further overtures and
turn the idea into a success, whether in Rome or another city.
A Europe-wide virtual start-up factory could be created too. There are plenty of
inspiring examples of photonics start-ups which have resulted in high profile
investments or acquisitions by large trade investors.
Photonics development agencies, whether singly or as a group, need to devise novel
means for creating and building a start-up culture in photonics which is suitable for
38 http://luissenlabs.com/#home
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the sector and which allows it compete with the more simplistic and much talked of
dotcom sector.
MENTORING, BUSINESS CASE DEVELOPMENT AND BUSINESS PLANNING
Mentoring is one of the most valuable, economical and abundant resources
available to entrepreneurs of all kinds, including directors of sector development
agencies.
One of the central LightJumps goals was to bring about a culture of mentoring,
business case development and business planning similar to that of the dotcom,
biotec and life sciences sectors. Photonics is a sector requiring deep technical skills.
It doesn’t attract the casual entrepreneur unless the people who understand the
technology are able to empathise with entrepreneurs, reach out to them and draw
them in.
LightJumps encouraged the SMEs in its networks to identify and develop
relationships with 3-4 people with whom they have good interpersonal chemistry
and to create an ongoing dialogue with them on the subject of business
development.
LightJumps was fortunate that the SME Instrument was launched at the same time
as the project and was able to use the SME Instrument as a lure for encouraging
emerging entrepreneurs to engage in mentoring and in business planning activities.
Photonics development agencies which aim to promote SME development, jobs
creation and industrialisation in their regions and sectors should make it a habit of
D 2.2.6 LightJumps Guidelines
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assuring their business members are actively using mentoring as a means to
accelerated business development.
SHOWCASES
LightJumps produced showcases. Each of the six clusters picked three small firms
and profiled them in a one page show case brochure.
Why bother? There is no scientific value in publishing a high level summary of a
firm’s or researcher’s profile and publicising it. But there is huge sales and
marketing value to it. Short and appealing profiles travel far. They are found in
internet searches, referenced by politicians, shown to friends and family and act as
inspiration to new entrants and potential partners in the sector. Creating
showcases is a means for firms, researchers and sector development agencies to
learn and present a short (“elevator”) pitch for themselves. In a world of
information tsunami they learn to effectively articulate both their value proposition
and their basic profile data.
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VTT, one of the world’s best national innovation organisations, combines
excellent science with excellent showcases and
marketing material.
Sector development agencies should produce a constant stream of inspiring
spotlight or showcase material, giving all of their members exposure from time to
time and making the practice a central part of their marketing process.
JOURNALISM
Yes, the world is awash with information, data and messages. There is still plenty of space for quality writing. Magazine, blog and website editors are hungry for fresh, insightful and original content. This represents an excellent opportunity for photonics advocates to get their messages across via authoritative media channels and without spending cash resources. All it requires is a few hours each month writing relevant content and interacting with the editors.
Entrepreneurially minded directors of photonics development agencies should
include in their key performance indicators some measure of the volume and quality
of their journalistic outreach.
NETWORKS OF FINANCIERS
Sectors such as photonics are comprised of consumers and suppliers of financial
resources. Consumers include researchers, innovation centric firms, universities and
D 2.2.6 LightJumps Guidelines
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schools and, of course, the sector development agencies themselves.
Suppliers of finance include the well known European, national and regional
innovation grant programmes. There is increasing awareness of European
Investment Bank initiatives, of the InnovFin instruments and the emerging European
Fund for Strategic Investment (or Juncker fund). There is some vague awareness of
possible opportunities for synergies with European Structural Funding. But for the
most part the range of potential suppliers includes multiple sources not typically
accessed by technology innovation communities, as shown in the diagram below.
For every project-funder pair there are also several potential matching channels for
putting projects in touch with funding.
The managers of sector development agencies should establish a map of their own
unique landscape of sources and needs. This map should include specific names,
funds, programmes and events, in order to be actionable and realistic. The agency
should have a finance committee to gather intelligence on the viability of certain
sources and channels and establish networks within those finance communities.
The committee needs to remain in a constant learning mode and be prerpared to be
innovative in its way of approaching finance challenges.
INVESTMENT SUMMITS
D 2.2.6 LightJumps Guidelines
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The ultimate aim of any development agency is to stimulate investment in the
sector. This can be public investment in research, venture capitalist activity, foreign
direct investment, trade developments, hiring people, political capital investment or
simply individual efforts by people to develop careers for themselves.
Investment summits are any kind of event designed to stimulate such investments,
so they could be called trade or recruitment fairs or brokerage forums. There are
countless variations on the theme.
There is a common error made by advocates in any sector which is to think that
somehow there is no space for another investment summit. This is like saying there
is no room for another type of soft drink or sports car. There is always room for
another summit because there are countless niches and because the landscape is
constantly changing.
Investment summits are the high impact annual marketing events of any photonics
sector agency. They are an excellent pretext for shouting out what the sector is
good at, for refining the value proposition and for generating excitement and
publicity. When potential partners in other sectors and other parts of the world are
doing their scouting they are highly influenced by who is making buzz. They see
who to contact and where to go. Buzz generates business.
Every photonics sector development agency should include one or more investment
summits in its annual calendar, whatever the name, the size or the niche.
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REGIONAL STRATEGIES
It is the opinion of the LightJumps partners that no region can or need exclude
photonics from its regional development strategy. The conventional interpretation
of photonics specialisation is about pure science, basic technology research and
early product development. And clearly for those regions with core compencies in
these fields there is a strong case for making photonics their number one innovation
pillar. These regions should be among the top ten European photonics regions.
But there are ample opportunities for a second tier of photonics regions in which
the emphasis is on application development, systems building and market building.
These parts of the value chain are equally essential to Europe’s KET strategy.
LightJumps partner Sensor City is an excellent example of this exciting innovation
strategy.
The municipality of Assen and the province of Drenthe are working together to
develop the Sensor City project. Sensor City is an ambitious concept where a large-
scale municipal measurement network will be implemented, which will allow the
development of a variety of practical applications that use complex sensor systems.
As a testing ground and showcase for sensor system applications, it is a unique
facility throughout the world.
Sensor City attracts investment and innovation in the region and provides a platform
for development where before there was none.
LightJumps, in one of its exploratory initiatives to create more situations like Sensor
City, used its network to support a novel idea based on the concept of a “sensor
river” or smart river project (the term “photonics river” was considered too difficult
to explain). The river Tiber in Rome is among Europe’s most polluted. The local
region has yet to take steps to implement the 2000 Water Framework Directive by
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carrying out remedial work. There are massive untapped European funds for river
restoration actions. The concept for the photonics river project was devised by
one of the LightJumps participants together with the Sapienza University (sensors
development39), local SME Smart-I40 (smart sensors systems integrator) and Spanish
sensor product maker Libelium41. In the project, called RiverWatch/Tevere, the
river would be put under monitoring at several points in its course.
Libelium luminosity sensor probe for in water applications.
A combinaton of in water and above water sensors would continuously capture high
resolution optical data which can be processed real time or ad hoc into information
on flow rates, water levels, temperatures, chemical compositions, dissolved gas
levels, particle and object counts and many other indicators. Some of the
information, including live video streams, would be put online and there would
methods for capturing information sourced from external parties. The entire system
would build into a open repository of big data for all researchers and stakeholders
and a real time “vital signs” dashboard would be put online, allowing all
stakeholders participate in the health of the river.
The project was promoted by the regional river association Consorzio Tiberina42,
won a European contest for collective participation called Chest (7th Framework) and
attracted considerable media attention43. Should it ever be implemented it will
undoubtedly form a useful template for other regions to replicate.
39 Prof. Maria Marsella (@uniroma1.it) 40 www.smart-interaction.com 41 http://www.libelium.com 42 www.unpontesultevere.com 43 http://roma.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/14_luglio_27/contratto-piattaforma-web-l-impegno-circoli-il-tevere-
d599cd1e-1572-11e4-bcb3-09a23244c28e.shtml
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The Sensor City and RiverWatch/Tevere concepts are inspiring examples of projects
which present synergies relevant for smart regional specialisation strategies and
which have photionics at their core.
There are countless concepts that could be similarly devised to stimulate photonics
innovation in dozens of regions around Europe.
Remember, companies and young professionals can relocate. Regions cannot. A
region that wishes to remain vibrant and attractive needs to work at it. Companies
and young people need to be convinced to come and to stay.
The strongest means for distinguishing a photonics community, and for acquiring a
critical mass of support for it, is to focus on the regional dimension, building unique
selling propositions around that dimension. Development agencies should invest in
this.
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION AGENDA SETTING
If there is one area in which the European photonics innovation community excels it
is agenda setting and priority definition at a European level. The process is open to
all, transparent and consistent. The rules only change every seven years and even
then the transitions are well publicised and in line with commonly accepted
principles.
The quickest routes to engagment are by joining the PPP (free and open to all
individuals), offering to contribute to work groups (by invitation), unsolicited inputs
and proposals (will be acknowledged), joining the PPP Board of Stakeholders (by
election) and – most importantly but least practiced – working through relevant
regional and national photonics technology platforms.
All photonics development agencies should define in their missions their role in
research and innovation agenda setting and they should articulate clearly each year
what their unique agendas are in preparation for engagement with European level
innovation programmes.
Many EU countries and regions may be missing out on photonics innovation funding
opportunities for their researchers and businesses because they are failing to
engage effectively. Likewise, many countries and regions are under-investing in
D 2.2.6 LightJumps Guidelines
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photonics innovation due to poor advocacy by their local photonics sector
development agencies (or technology platforms).
Photonics sector development agencies with a regional or national footprints should
be measured, among other things, by the level of energy and effectiveness with
which they influence public funding programmes at EU, national and regional level.
Their impacts should be explicitly reported annually to their members.
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CONCLUSIONS
At 2 years into Europe’s 7 year photonics sector development programme
LightJumps has had a unique opportunity to participate at the core of the
programme for SME and industrial development and to take stock of the challenges
and opportunities.
There are a number of important barriers to be overcome.
- Photonics sector terminology and concepts have yet to perculate into the
regional and national development organisations which are best placed to assure
SME support synergies with Horizon 2020. Promotion and political support is
required.
- The Horizon 2020 organisational model for grant programme administration is ill-
equipped to provide agile and short term SME sector development services. A
more suitable approach should be devised to boost the PPP’s efforts.
- A network of around 50 professionalised and well-resourced sector development
agencies is needed to drive the photonics sector at ground level, accompanying
the PPP programme. The current network has yet to reach anything near critical
mass. Quick and high impact action is needed to accelerate the development of
sector agencies. Promising agencies need start-up support.
- Horizon 2020 Coordination & Support Action projects for SMEs should be put
under a governance umbrella bringing about ever more agile, entrepreneurial,
integrated and results oriented behaviours among partners and coordinators.
- Regions should be energetically encouraged to place photonics at the hearts of
their economic development strategies, and to include application and market
focused photonics programmes in addition to pure technology innovation.
- Directors of photonics sector development agencies need to be entrepreneurial
in their approach or risk extinction. There are some inspiring examples in Europe
acting as trail blazers for others to follow. The SME Instrument has been a great
boost for entrepreneurial thinking among sector development managers.
- Attraction of investment to the sector has yet to become a priority (or skill) for
many development agencies. This is a key benefit they should and can be giving
their stakeholders.
With 1825 days remaining to the completion of Horizon 2020 there is just time to
take stock generally and make those critical route adjustments so that photonics
continues to grow as one of Europe’s core industrial competencies.
