Munich, a metropolis recognized for its position in know-how and innovation, just lately hosted Photonica 2025 – the ultimate occasion of the PhotonHub Europe mission. Going down on 25 June at automatica’s Begin-up Enviornment, occurring alongside Laser World of Photonics at Messe München, the half-day gathering served as an vital platform to attach promising startups with traders, trade leaders, and potential companions
Photonica was designed as an “Buyers Day” beneath PhotonHub’s mandate to speed up the commercialisation of photonic applied sciences throughout Europe. With over 47,000 guests attending the encircling commerce gala’s, the occasion benefited from robust visibility inside one of many world’s largest innovation showcases for photonics, sensible automation, and robotics.
Highlights from the agenda
The occasion opened with a keynote by Mehrnaz Heidari, Strategic Partnership Supervisor at Tyndall Nationwide Institute – member of PhotonHub Europe’s consortium – and Coordinator of Photonics Eire, who highlighted the strategic position of photonics in Europe’s future competitiveness. This was adopted by a panel dialogue on rising developments and disruptive applied sciences, with views from academia, analysis, and enterprise capital.
On the coronary heart of Photonica was the startup pitching competitors, the place eight startups, most of them being beneficiaries of PhotonHub Funding Readiness Teaching Program led by FundingBox Accelerator, offered their options to a jury of specialists and traders. Contributors included Lumos Laser, Meet Optics, Photin, Blue Tube, Alcyon Photonics, Quantum Model Safety, and Hypermemo Oy. Every firm was tasked with outlining its innovation, enterprise mannequin, and go-to-market technique earlier than a jury of traders and specialists.
The pitching session was adopted by a fireplace chat titled The Artwork of the Deal, the place Tomasz Mazuryk, Co-CEO of FundingBox and Martyna Waliszewska, Funding Supervisor from Spend money on Odense, explored settlement buildings for European startups and traders, equivalent to fairness transfers, convertible notes and SAFE agreements obtainable within the US, at the moment being developed by the EU beneath the EUSAFE mission.
And the winner is …..
The jury chosen Alcyon Photonics because the winner of the pitching competitors. Specialising in high-performance built-in photonic circuits (PICs), the startup impressed with its clear market technique and robust scalability potential. Its proprietary subwavelength grating (SWG) know-how allows superior polarisation administration and broad bandwidth, providing functions throughout telecommunications, sensing, quantum applied sciences, and information communications.
Jimena García-Romeu, CEO at Alcyon Photonics, mentioned: “We first heard about PhotonHub Europe and the Photonica competitors by means of our community within the European photonics ecosystem, the place PhotonHub is broadly recognised as a key initiative supporting innovation and startups. We noticed it as a novel alternative to showcase our imaginative and prescient, join with main specialists and traders, and spotlight how our silicon photonics IP can carry actual influence to strategic industries in Europe and past.”
She then continued: “Successful Photonica is each an honour and a milestone. It validates the relevance of our know-how, boosts our confidence as we scale, and offers us stronger momentum in attracting companions and prospects. At this stage of our journey, it represents recognition that we’re on the best path to make an actual influence.”
As a prize, Alcyon Photonics obtained one-on-one session classes with every jury member, offering worthwhile entry to investor experience.
A catalyst for visibility and collaboration
Photonica not solely highlighted the entrepreneurial expertise inside Europe’s photonics sector but in addition supplied concrete alternatives for networking and collaboration. A devoted lunch session inspired startups, traders, and trade representatives to discover collaborations and new enterprise leads. Early suggestions from beneficiaries indicated that even temporary interactions had already resulted in promising contacts.
The occasion additionally served to showcase the influence of public funding in innovation. By presenting startups supported by means of an EU-funded initiative, Photonica underlined how public sources are being channelled into fostering entrepreneurship and deep tech improvement, whereas offering transparency and accountability in the usage of public funding.
Wanting forward
Since 2021, PhotonHub Europe has supported over 100 corporations, serving to generate greater than €750 million in revenues, create 1,000 jobs, and lift €250 million in enterprise capital. With new funding from the European Fee, its actions will proceed beneath the PhotonHub PHACTORY, offering entry to Europe’s main laboratories, technical experience, and coaching.
Photonica 2025 marked the conclusion of PhotonHub Europe’s present programme, reinforcing the mission’s position in bridging the hole between deep tech innovation and market deployment. By integrating with main trade gala’s and specializing in investor-startup connections, the occasion set a benchmark for a way European photonics can thrive inside the international innovation ecosystem.
The mission has obtained funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 analysis and innovation programme beneath Grant Settlement n°101016665, in public-private partnership with Photonics21. To study extra, go to Photonhub’s web site.
