Photonics 21 AGM: First joint Eureka-P21 Mirror Group call announced

28 Mar 2019

For R&D proposals on photonics for advanced manufacturing; deadline for submissions is July 25th July.

by Matthew Peach in Brussels

At this week’s Photonics21 annual general meeting in Brussels, Sebastian Krug of the Photonics21 Mirror Group gave the conference an update on Mirror Group activities and a presentation on the first joint Eureka-Photonics21 Mirror Group call for R&D proposals on photonics for advanced manufacturing. The deadline for applying to this call for organisations in the linked countries is July 25th 2019.

The Mirror Group is the body that brings together the national funding bodies. Its main activities are delivering the large trans-national research and development calls, outside of the Framework Programme, but often with the support of the European Commission.

“Over the years we have launched a number of such joint calls and the latest of these was the photonics sensing call that led to projects starting in 2018," said Krug, who also works for the Project Funding Agency in Germany’s VDI Technologiezentrum in Düsseldorf.

“Now we have the opportunity to do something else. For the first time, we have teamed up with Eureka, the inter-governmental framework on innovation and industry driven research across Europe. The chair of this body is currently the UK.”

Participating countries

Austria, France, Germany, Israel, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom have launched the joint call for proposals in 'photonics for advanced manufacturing', which intends to fund joint research and development in the area of photonics.

Krug explained, “Applicants are expected to undertake research aiming at marketable products, services or technologies with high market potential in the participating countries and/or Europe. This call will be administered under the regulations of the intergovernmental EUREKA network.“

This initiative continues the cooperation within the Photonics21 Mirror Group comprising research funders in the field of photonics in Europe, which have jointly implemented a number of transnational calls under the ERA-Net / Cofund scheme of the EC research framework programmes.

Krug continued, “Interested parties are invited to submit R & D & I project proposals addressing photonics for advanced manufacturing. Advanced industrial manufacturing is commonly defined as the use and integration of innovative technologies – in this case, of course, it is photonics – in order to improve both products and processes.”

Proposals for such projects sought to be funded under this call should do the following: address at least one of the technologies and one of the industries mentioned below; focus on photonic technologies and their integration in specific manufacturing processes and products; and demonstrate the potential to significantly improve the related processes and/or products.

Photonic technologies to be investigated following successful applications to the call include: laser machining, additive manufacturing, selective laser sintering, photonic curing, optical process control, process analytical technology (PAT), 3D optical sensing and imaging, millimeter wave imaging and lidar, and lithography.

For further details, interested parties can download the call announcement here. A matchmaking website for potential proposers is available on the Eureka website.