Berlin, Germany--In the 2007-2011 period, just under 10% of European Union (EU) R & D funding for photonics went to the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), according to newly published statistics.
Photonics is one of five key technologies in the EU, according to the study, as it plays an important role in telecommunications, retail trade, medicine, education, and security. Every dollar spent on photonics has leveraged another $70, as well as 100 more jobs.
In the 2001-2011 period, $66.7 million of EU funding was dedicated to photonics research—$5.6 million of which went to HHI.
Projects like Mid InfraRed Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE; Princeton, NJ) and Photonic Advanced Research and Development for Integrated Generic Manufacturing (PARADIGM; Eindhoven, The Netherlands), which develop technologies for transmission rates of up to 1 Tbit/s, have been accepted for funding, despite competition from other European consortiums.
Photonics will continue to play a vital role in the building of a worldwide infrastructure, and HHI will continue to expand its R & D infrastructure to meet this challenge.
-----
Subscribe now to Laser Focus World magazine; it's free!