A £18.5bn industry employing over 84,800 people in the UK with nationally leading productivity and global industrial and societal impact
A fully searchable directory of all companies, research organisations and universities engaged in Photonics and Quantum in the UK
UK photonics grew by 16% from 2022 to 2024 and now generates annual revenues of £18.5 billion, according to the latest analysis from the Photonics Leadership Group at Laser World of Photonics in June 2025. Sector productivity now exceeds £101,000 gross value added per employee, making photonics one of the most productive sectors in the…
Sellafield Ltd is seeking remote analytical techniques and solutions to characterise nuclear fuelderived waste materials, as part of it Game Challengers program This will enable better sentencing of that waste for futureprocessing operations and disposal, reducing associated risks and improving theefficiency of retrieval of legacy waste from existing storage facilities. The deadline for applications for…
A new approach to quantifying the structure of our industry and its impact further demonstrates the underlining nature of photonics The approach first looks for the most frequent technical terms in more than a decade of 0.5 million photonics publications from SPIE. On the assumption that SPIE publications are representative of photonics and only the…
A new approach to quantifying the core sub-sectors of photonics and the global impact of photonics will be presented by Dr John Lincoln, PLG Chief Executive for the first time at the SPIE Global Business Forum. New pioneering analysis quantifies the influence of photonics on innovation across all applications, in all fields. The global distribution…
Bringing the Space and Photonics sectors together to identify solutions and opportunities for applying optical technologies in the space sector. Hear the needs of the space sector and from those with experience of delivering space solution In conjunction with Anchored In, Innovate Connect and Photonics21, Photonics for Space 2025 follows on from the 2024 event…
Photonics21 has launched the Photonics21 Innovation Award 2025. This dedicated Innovation Challenge seeks to push for more entrepreneurship in photonics. The Photonics21 Innovation Award addresses PhD students, master students, young entrepreneurs, and makers alike who have an idea for a photonics product that can transform into a real business or product. This idea can be…
The UK government has released a green paper consultation on the next industrial strategy: Invest 2035: the UK’s modern industrial strategy. The strategy will be published in early Spring 2025 alongside the comprehensive spending review. Highlights include a focus on eight growth driving sectors including advanced manufacturing and digital technologies and a 10 year horizon.…
AILU’s highly regarded 2-day International Industrial Lasers Applications Symposium, ILAS 2025, is taking place on Wednesday 26th & Thursday 27th March 2025 at the Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth. The event will include plenary presentations from renowned international speakers, 80 high calibre presentations from industry & academia, and 30 exhibitors demonstrating the latest in laser technology.…
The Photonics Leadership Group has released five future government policy actions that are critical to support the continued growth of the UK Photonics industry. Industry call on the new government to prioritise action in these areas to ensure UK photonics continues to thrive and deliver growth three times greater than the overall economy. 1. Increase…
UK government has announced new independent UK Semiconductor Institute will be setup to bring together Government, universities and the private sector to support key components of the Government’s Semiconductor Strategy to grow the sector, which is backed by £1bn. Building on the key recommendations of the semiconductor infrastructure project led by the Institute for Manufacturing…
