Photonics Enabling Productivity Throughout the UK

UK Photonics

UK Photonics

A £18.5bn industry employing over 84,800 people in the UK with nationally leading productivity and global industrial and societal impact

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UK Photonics and Quantum Directory

UK Photonics and Quantum Directory

A fully searchable directory of all companies, research organisations and universities engaged in Photonics and Quantum in the UK

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Vision for UK Photonics in 2035

Vision for UK Photonics in 2035

The future size and impact of photonics across the economy

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Photonics in Medtech and pharma

A Cardiff meeting on 13 December will examine the pivotal role of photonics in Medical Technologies and Pharmaceutical development and production. Organised by the Centre for Process Innovation and the Knowledge Transfer Network, this event gives the opportunity hear what Pharma and MedTech users need from photonics and how developments in these area can be supported…

PLG welcomes the introduction of Innovation loans

Innovate_UK has announced it will begin piloting of innovation loans.  Targeted to later state research and development project the will sit alongside Innovate’s well established innovation grants. The often hidden enabling nature of photonics, and the rapid pace of photonics innovation means it can be difficult for photonics companies and those applying the latest photonic…

PLG website disruption

We have now completed transferring the PLG website to a new hosting provider. All previous posts and content has been transferred to the new host and we hope you enjoy the modified appearance. If you find content missing or malfunctioning please contact us.

Financing company growth

As a high growth industry, continually targeting new markets, there are few photonics companies that have not had to raise capital .  As UK photonics companies have grown most have faced tough decisions between sustaining growth, raising equity finance and/or partnering with a strategic industry investor through trade sale. UK government is reviewing the availability…

UK Photonics in H2020

As the UK policy paper on Collaboration on science and innovation: a future partnership is published we have taken a quick look at the participation of UK photonics industry in Horizon2020. 34% of all ~14,000 H2020 projects over all topics and subjects have at least 1 UK partner 8.5% of all H2020 projects with a…

Photonics Grand Challenges

Photonics continues to develop rapidly,  driven by diversification into new applications and rapid expansion of existing applications.  This presents the industry, in the UK,  with a number of challenges.  The PLG are currently capturing and summarising these challenges and what actions may have a transformative impact on them and the industry. The current draft of…

UK photonics worth £12.9 billion to UK economy

UK photonics industry output now exceeds £12.9 billion, is growing at twice the national average.

This updated analysis of the UK photonics industry shows a rise of £2.4 bn since the last report in 2013, recording an average growth rate of  >5.3%, which finds UK photonics to be growing at twice the speed of the rest of the UK economy.

The UK Photonics: the Hidden Economy report, published in May 2018, details  how such an enabling sector can be analysed and compares UK photonics to other key UK manufacturing sectors, the fit of photonics to the UK industry strategy and its position relative to the European and global photonics industries.

Who are the Photonics Leadership Group?

The PLG is a voluntary collective of photonics industry and academic leaders nudging policy, strategy, industry and research in mutually beneficial directions