Open Innovation Photonics Pilot Line for Northwest Europe

Integrated photonics is the emerging technology where the manipulation of light takes place on a chip, making the components an order of magnitude cheaper, smaller and more energy-efficient compared to today’s solutions. By providing these services to SMEs across Europe, the project reduces barriers and strengthens the competitiveness and innovation capabilities of European SMEs sustainably on the global markets.

Open-access facilities are of a laboratory nature (TRL4) and inadequate for manufacturing PICs with cost-efficiency, speed and reliable quality (TRL7). The equipment for PIC manufacturing is of an innovative, specialized nature that cannot be obtained from a single country. As application grows, NWE needs to stay ahead. Therefore, intense collaboration between innovation stakeholders at transnational level is an important goal of the project.

The Project is funded by the Interreg North-West Europe Programme, which fosters transnational cooperation to make North-West Europe a key economic player and an attractive place to work and live, with high levels of innovation, sustainability and cohesion.

OIP4NWE aims to establish an open access pilot line for the development, processing and testing of photonic integrated circuits (PICs).