who feels the life science and medical photonics markets have a very good chance in Europe, as do lasers being used in material processing and integrated photonics. ‘These are good markets because they are high-value and low-volume, whereas anything of high volume and low cost has a tendency to go to countries such as China. The challenge for Europe, though, is that we can not only focus on the lower volume markets, at some point we’ll also want the high volume.’ Lee believes that, in the next
20 years with the automation of factories, and increasing salary costs in Asia, the European industry will have a
“By bringing companies and people together, we can build the perfect team and have a better chance of meeting the global competition”
better chance of transferring high-volume production back into Europe. Although EPIC is an
organisation intended for entities of all types within the photonics industry, the organisation mainly works towards ensuring both smaller and younger firms can remain competitive on a global scale. ‘The larger companies can
more easily afford to purchase market research reports, they’ll have a sales team in China and people that go to European Commission meetings,’ Lee said. ‘The small companies don’t necessarily have the resources yet to do this, so we are an association that serves mainly these smaller players.’ At an EPIC event last year in Vilnius, Lithuania, consortium
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members were shown the potentials and offerings of the Lithuanian photonics industry. The nation is home to many small and young companies that have stemmed from the country’s highly technical universities. Through a series of
talks, company visits and networking opportunities, attendees were given the chance to witness and discuss the capabilities of the local companies first-hand, and build lasting relationships with those that may have remained uncontacted without the assistance of an industry consortium such as EPIC. Through its activities, EPIC
not only works to network its own members within the consortium and Europe, but also to connect them with foreign markets. This year, delegation trips were made to both Singapore and Israel with the support of local partners. Although each EPIC
delegation and country visit is intended to promote and grow the organisation, according to Lee, the current aims of EPIC are not necessarily to keep expanding.
‘The priority is to serve our existing members, and if we grow, we’d like it to be by adding companies that complete entire value chains. ‘The target is to have one company in every technology field, in every manufacturing step. What I want for EPIC is that it is will still be an active photonics association in 30 years’ time,’ Lee concluded. ‘The objective here, independent of our contribution, is that in 20 to 30 years we still have hundreds of companies active in photonics in Europe.’ EO
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