EU-wide outreach for promoting photonics to young people, entrepreneurs and the general public

Photonics4All

Funded by: European Commission  
Calls: H2020-ICT-2014-1 – CSA
Start date: 2015-01-01  End date: 2016-12-31
Total Budget: EUR 997.953,00  INO share of the total budget: EUR 20.499,00
Scientific manager: Jonathan LOEFFLER   and for INO is: Baldanzi Elisabetta

Organization/Institution/Company main assignee: Steinbeis Innovation gGmbH

other Organization/Institution/Company involved:

other INO’s people involved:



Abstract: Within the framework of the proclaimed International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015) by the United Nation this project shall mainly improve the public image of photonics and increase the public awareness of the importance of photonics especially regarding current societal challenges. Strong and broad European collaborations (European cluster activities) shall increase the interest of young people, entrepreneurs and the general public and thereby ensure future needs for qualified workforce and young academics, more innovative applications and an increased awareness of photonics.

The idea of Photonics4all is to promote photonics using many tools to address young people (pupils and students), entrepreneurs (start-ups, PhD-students, academics and companies) and the general public. These tools will be developed and implemented into many promotional activities which will be conducted during the project. Thus Photonics4all uniqueness is on the one hand the development of new promotional tools and on the other hand the performance of various outreach activities.

The main goal is to sensitize and to arouse interest of the mentioned target groups for photonics technology in many European countries in order to achieve an EU-wide outreach. With an increased awareness and recognition of photonics, as well as their indispensable input in countless applications and their important role in many current technologies the outreach for promoting photonics to the mentioned target groups can be ensured.
Finally Photonics4all’s vision is to contribute to a condition in which the photonics term enjoys the same popularity and public awareness as it is the case for other technical sectors (e.g. electronics or mechanics).