UK Photonics Leadership Group

PLG Winter meeting
2022-01-14 14:00 - 16:00 (Europe/London) | Online Virtual meeting
The winter PLG meeting will be held virtually with an agenda covering

On-going impact of Covid-19
Hiring the inexperienced- with many reporting increased competition for experienced staff how are organisations approaching onboarding less experienced staff
UKCA marking- delayed by a year how are different companies approaching
DCMS, BEIS, Innovate and APPG engagement update

Introduction to Iain Mauchline new Photonics lead at Innovate UK and Innovate update
UK Photonics 2035 Vision launch & response

European update
Updates from communities and programs

AILU, Photonics Scotland, Photonics Connected, UK Quantum, UKIVA…
Contributions and photonics directory

Photonics21 Annual meeting
2022-06-30 - 2022-07-01 | Brussels, Belgium
The annual meeting of Photonics21 the European Photonics public private partnership returns to in-person format for 2022.
Expect the work programme for 2024/25 and the next multi-annual roadmap to be on the agenda

Showcasing a Welsh developed 5G innovation for rural communities
2022-09-05 13:30 - 17:00 | Grant Thornton London, 30 Finsbury Square, London, EC2A 1RR, United Kingdom
July meeting of the UK Fibre Connectivity Forum
The Welsh Government are providing £4.2 million of funding to Bangor University’s Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Centre of Excellence to bring 5G broadband connections through fibre optic cables into harder to reach areas. The University is working with a consortium of companies to increase the capacity and enhance the sensing ability of fibre optic cables used to deliver faster and more reliable mobile broadband, and this will be trailed with more than 400 premises on Ynys Mon that do not have access to superfast broadband. The broadband delivery part of the project will last 18 months and will allow customers to be connected as soon as the first site is live and will continue through 2025. The project is also supported by Isle of Anglesey County Council and the North Wales Economic Ambition Board.
Agenda
1.30pm Registration and coffee
2pm Welcome from the chair of UKFCF
2.10pm Grant Thornton
2.20pm The Anglesey 5G EDC Broadband Project with contributions from

Peter Curnow-Ford, Project Director
Vodafone-Tony Roberts – Head of Vodafone Regional Business Wales
Stephen Pegrum, Sorrento Networks

Q&A
3.20pm break
Q& A
3.45pm networking and refreshments
5pm meeting closes

EPIC Industrial Quantum Photonics Technology Summit
2022-09-07 08:00 - 2022-09-08 15:45 | University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, United Kingdom
Bringing together the European quantum industry ecosystem to commercialize upcoming products from the current R&D initiatives. The event gathers experts and leaders from industrial companies worldwide to discuss the second quantum revolution, its applications, and challenges. We will discuss the four primary application areas in which a paradigm shift is expected:

quantum communication,
quantum imaging,
quantum computing and simulation, and
quantum sensing and metrology

Future Photonics Leaders Group Formation Meeting
2022-09-09 15:00 - 16:30 | Online Virtual meeting
Early career photonic professionals and researchers are invited to a virtual sandpit meeting on 9th September to discuss the formation of new UK Early Career/ Future Photonics Leaders group focused on fostering, supporting and capturing the opinions of those early in their photonics careers that will lead UK industry and research in the future.
Those starting and developing their photonic careers today will be the industrial and academic leaders of the future. It is hoped this group will run alongside the current PLG to foster interaction, mutual support, and insights to ensuring the future photonics ecosystem is one that participants will be proud of, motivated to lead, would recommend to others and provides dynamic, diverse and rewarding career opportunities.
As a starting point an initial draft scope, activity focus and terms of reference for the group has been developed and is open for comment and discussion on 9 September (15:00-16:30 by Teams). Preregistration is requested. The new group will need to be self-organising and volunteers will be sort to take the group forward with support and coaching from the current PLG.

Photonics21 Annual Meeting
2025-05-15 - 2025-05-16 | Hotel Le Plaza, Brussels, Belgium
European Photonics Partnership Annual Meeting celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Photoncis21. A key event for networking with colleagues across Europe. Essential for those looking to join Eu collaborative research and innovation consortia and understand the direction of European funding, much of which is open to UK participation.
A packed agenda with keynotes from the European Commission and panel discussion on the future of Photonics in the next European framework programme.
Working group workshops on day two will update the strategic research and innovation agenda for photonics ready for the next framework programme

Optical Communications Roadmap Launch
2025-11-24 13:00 - 17:00 | Techuk, 10 St Bride St,, London, EC4A 4AD, United Kingdom
Launch event for the Optical Communications Roadmap, including inter satellite communications, ground to space and space to ground communications links as well as teh continuing growth of terrestrial optical communications for all ground based applications.
Featuring a panel discussion on Photonics for Space and Beyond

Tech UK Photonics Sprint - Defence workshop
2025-11-26 10:00 - 13:00 | Techuk, 10 St Bride St,, London, EC4A 4AD, United Kingdom
The first of a three-part event series run in collaboration with Plexal, Dell and Intel that showcases UK- based Deep Tech SMEs to Defence primes.
Future events will focus on Semiconductors & Quantum technologies

Photonics 21 Annual meeting 2026
2026-06-09 - 2026-06-10 | Double Tree, Brussels, DoubleTree by Hilton Brussels City hotel., Brussels, Belgium
European Photonics Partnership Annual Meeting celebrating the 21th Anniversary of Photoncis21. A key event for networking with colleagues across Europe. Essential for those looking to join European collaborative research and innovation consortia and understand the direction of European funding, much of which is open to UK participation.
With keynotes from the European Commission and panel discussion on the future of Photonics in the next European framework programme.
The meeting will feature presentation of the next photonics multiyear strategic research and Innovation agenda to the Commission which will be finalised over the coming months by the Photonics21 working group.
