Europe’s photonics sector is at a crossroads. It continues to lead globally in high-performance optics, precision engineering, and industrial photonics — but faces stiff competition from China in mass markets and from the U.S. in venture-driven innovation. Meanwhile, rising geopolitical tensions and shifting trade policies are redrawing the map for supply chains, research collaboration, and public investment.
Photonics21, the European technology platform representing more than 4300 members, plays a central role in shaping the European Union (EU)’s photonics agenda. Its current president, Lutz Aschke, is a physicist and industry leader who has spent decades at the interface of science, startups, and strategy.
Photonics Spectra contributing editor Andreas Thoss spoke with Aschke about Europe’s strengths, gaps, and the future role of photonics in global competition.
Thoss: Photonics is one of the decisive technologies of the 21st century. Where does Europe still hold a competitive edge, and where is it falling behind?
Aschke: Europe remains a powerhouse in photonics, especially in high-tech, deep-tech segments dominated by small- to medium-size enterprises (SMEs). We still lead in areas such as medical technology, manufacturing, sensing, security, and telecom. However, we have seen China take over in mass markets such as consumer imaging — cellphone cameras, for instance — largely due to its aggressive scaling strategies. Europe excels at what we call "high mix, low volume." This describes complex, specialized products that require close customer interaction and highly skilled labor. This is deeply rooted in our working culture.
Thoss: Europe’s SME landscape is unique, especially with so many "hidden champions." Why do they thrive here?
Aschke: It’s about excellence over scale: Many of these companies were founded by entrepreneurs who still run them, valuing technical leadership over fast growth. This leads to sustainable innovation. Plus, the tight integration with research institutions and a long-standing culture of engineering excellence have created fertile ground for these companies to lead globally in their niches.
Thoss: That brings us to research. How do you describe Europe’s photonics research ecosystem?
Aschke: We have an incredibly strong ecosystem, from fundamental research at places such as the Max Planck Institutes to application-focused research and technology organizations (RTOs) like the Fraunhofer Institutes or ICFO in Spain. Our public-private partnerships, especially under Photonics21, foster constant dialogue between industry and science. This collaboration is key to translating breakthroughs into commercial products. And the EU’s funding frameworks have supported this alignment for years.
Thoss: Is this system prepared for future growth?
Aschke: Definitely. We have identified enough topics of focus for the upcoming decades, and we are actively in discussion with the European Commission. The challenge lies in translating these topics into scalable businesses. We’ve made progress — venture capital is more accessible than it was 15 years ago. And we have many startups now that are able to raise risk capital for the next growth period with two- to three-digit million euro amounts. That’s good to see, but it is still more difficult compared to [how it is] in the U.S., for example.
Thoss: You’ve called for a bold strategic initiative. What would that look like at the European level?
Aschke: Photonics is one of the key enabling technologies that is difficult to digest on a political level. Now, we are looking at the Grand Challenges and the big topics where photonics can contribute. There are health and manufacturing, and defense, of course, but telecom, data communication, medicine, agriculture, and food production are also interesting fields.
We are currently working on a position paper that outlines our ideas for photonics in the new 10th European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10) and that includes some concrete calls to action as well as proposals for Grand Challenge programs. We provided the position paper and the Grand Challenge programs to the European Commission in the summer.