The CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre successfully hosted its latest event, “Roundtable: Light for Future Semiconductors – Unlocking Economic Growth Through Photonics,” on 18th of March 2025. The discussion, attended by key stakeholders, notably highlighted the increasing role of photonics as a crucial driver of future technological advancements and its contribution to the UK economy.
The roundtable event brought together policymakers, industry leaders, and academic experts to explore the critical role of photonics in driving next-generation technologies. The discussion underscored photonics as a key enabler of innovation and economic growth, with a strong focus on the need to foster collaboration between research clusters in order to avoid competition and silos, which hinder progress.
The CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre were honoured to welcome Gurinder Singh Josan MP for Smethwick and Dr Ben Spencer MP, Shadow Minister for Technology, Science, and Innovation,who both expressed a keen interest in photonics and its potential for driving technological progress and economic advancement.
Key Takeaways
- Photonics is a national asset – Photonics is the light behind everything from AI to defence, from medicine to manufacturing. But without infrastructure, that light risks going out in the UK.
- Collaborative research over competition – A call for government policies that encourage cooperation among research clusters, drawing inspiration from successful European models in the Netherlands and Belgium.
- Funding reform for interdisciplinary innovation – The need to restructure funding programs to support cross-sector collaboration, fully leveraging the UK’s photonics expertise.
“The round table discussion provided valuable insights emphasising the interconnectedness of electronics, semiconductors and photonics,” said Dr Ben Spencer. “We need to make our country more resilient, secure, and prosperous. With supply chains growing more critical, the UK’s strong R&D leadership, CORNERSTONE’s prototyping capabilities and high-volume manufacturing in key markets are more important than ever.”
Building on the momentum from this roundtable, CORNERSTONE is now working on policy recommendations and further actions to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of photonics-driven innovation.
About the CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre
The CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre builds upon the success of the existing CORNERSTONE Foundry, aiming to enhance the openness and availability of silicon photonics. It will foster a commercialisation pipeline that nurtures silicon photonics-enabled technologies and companies with the potential to enrich everyday life.
Serving as the UK’s primary technology centre for silicon photonics,theCORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre is dedicated to transforming outstanding research into scalable, industry-ready solutions for a range of applications. Its comprehensive ecosystem of services includes flexible fabrication, design consultancy, standard component libraries, start-up support, networking events, and a dedicated online knowledge hub planned for 2025.
Through continued collaboration and innovation, the CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre aims to propel the UK to the forefront of photonics technology. For further information please visit www.cornerstone.sotonfab.co.uk.
