Years
Electro Optics
Growth in the biophotonics sector requires rapid translation of innovations into the clinic, write Professor Jürgen Popp (left) and Dr Thomas Mayerhöfer
Biophotonics is both a vibrant research field on the rise as well as a fast growing market with double-digit growth rates. In order to ensure that biophotonics continues to grow strongly in the future, it is necessary to understand the traits that are specific to the field. First of all, as it is an extremely broad and diverse field, it is important to realise its short-, mid- and long-term goals. In the long term, biophotonics methods
and technologies aim to decipher the cell functions and the ‘language’ cells use to communicate with each other. Of course, this is not a mere academic exercise! On the contrary, this knowledge will allow us to detect diseases and initiate countermeasures far before their outbreak. To achieve this long-term goal, long-term and continuous funding is necessary. It is obvious that such
funding is not easy to maintain, in particular as funding is also subjected to certain trends and, certainly, funding agencies have to justify how the money from taxpayers is spent. Luckily, biophotonics offers many benefits at earlier stages. One fast-emerging sector where biophotonics is already able to contribute, and will continue to do so also in the medium term, is ‘theranostics’, which could also be termed precision medicine. The goal of theranostics is to intermesh diagnostics and therapy to give a precise
“To achieve this long- term goal, long-term and continuous funding is necessary”
Herve Floch, general director of the French competitiveness cluster Alpha-RLH, on raising awareness of photonics technologies
What is the current state of the photonics industry and what are the notable future growth areas? Photonics is a young, vibrant and thriving industry, currently estimated at €520 billion, globally. This is up from €480 billion in 2012, with expected growth to reach €650 billion by 2020. As a key enabling technology, photonics
continues to make inroads in transforming and reshaping many traditional industries; semiconductors, aerospace, automotive, construction, agro-food and medical devices are all areas where lasers and sensors are having a strong impact on production, efficiency and sustainable development. There are strong indications for future growth for photonics technologies in consumer electronics, smart buildings, smart homes and cities, lighting, energy production, energy
16 Electro Optics December 2017/January 2018
efficiency applications and communications, as well as materials.
How is Alpha-RLH promoting awareness and supporting growth? As a result of last year’s merger between two competitiveness clusters, the Route des Lasers and Elopsys in the Nouvelle- Aquitaine region, we have considerably strengthened the support we can bring our cluster members who are on the path to growth. Our aggregate skills in photonics, lasers, microwave and digital technologies are allowing Alpha-RLH to prioritise strategic innovations, which we see are key to stimulating economic development and creating jobs. Innovation programmes we are spearheading to accelerate the use of photonics include SAPHyR, a project
dose in treatment, be it in surgery or the administration of a drug. In the case of surgery, in particular in cancer treatment, merging different biophotonics techniques allows imaging tissues label-free – for example, Raman-, fluorescence-, and optical coherence tomography-based methods – which holds great promise. Such a combination can be used to guide the surgeons on-the-fly and in real time and let them know precisely where to cut in order to excise malignant tissue. Sepsis – and infectious diseases in
general – is another medical speciality where biophotonics will help to enable precision medicine by a fast and precise determination of the pathogen and potential resistances against antibiotics, the correct dose of which will also be identified
to improve the aerospace industry’s understanding of photonics and thereby lower the risks they perceive in adopting these technologies. X-ray or proton therapy is another exciting development. Photonics will drastically impact the size and cost of equipment used to generate secondary x-ray beams by making use of a primary laser source for both diagnostics and therapeutic treatments. This will provide both doctor and patient access to equipment that today is considerably out of reach. On the international front, Alpha-RLH is heightening its activities by exploring new opportunities for its cluster members in China and the US, with plans to have representation in Japan by 2019. We continue to help companies find new customers and new partners, as well as export products.
What should governments be doing to ensure photonics in Europe remains strong? It is paramount that the French government maintains the level of interest and support it has already given the photonics industry. Having political support at both national and regional levels and access to the right level of financing on a long-term basis are required; this is the German model.
@electrooptics |
www.electrooptics.com
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