26 June 2023
EPIC 20th Anniversary Celebration
Munich, Germany

140.00 Excl. VAT


EPIC members are warmly invited to join the EPIC 20th Anniversary Celebration. We expect 300 participants, all passionate about European photonics! Join us in this milestone celebration. The event is conveniently taking place at Messe Munich the day prior to LASER World of PHOTONICS.

20 years of history

At the turn of the 21st century, photonics was synonymous with optical fibre telecommunication. The sector was growing at an explosive rate due to the introduction of practical wavelength-division multiplexing that revolutionized the information network. A generation of highly talented engineers and scientists flocked to companies like Nortel, France Telecom, Lucent and Marconi in order to work on the leading edge. At the same time, these same companies were also spending billions of dollars on wireless airspace rights. This was more than 20 times the size of the entire market for optical telecommunications. In 2002, when the wireless investment could not be recovered through revenues, these companies decided to halt the deployment of the optical fibre network. North American companies abandoned their operations in Europe. Suppliers of optical components and systems saw their sales drop to near zero in a matter of months. Massive layoffs followed. With no prospect of employment anywhere in Europe, these highly skilled professionals emigrated to the United States, or even worse, started new careers in the finance and banking sector. Thomas Pearsall created the European Photonics Industry Consortium as a response to this catastrophe. He sought support for EPIC as an organisation that could build solidarity among companies and research laboratories to help Europe to retain and benefit from the precious human resources that the telecommunications industry had jettisoned. And that was the beginning of this epic journey. Here is a summary of these 20 years of EPIC!

Agenda

15:00-16:00: Registration and Networking
16:00-18:00: 20th Anniversary Celebration

  • Light-Show Opening
  • Reinhard Pfeiffer, CEO, Messe Munich
  • Carlos Lee, Director General, EPIC – European Photonics Industry Consortium
  • Tom Pearsall, Founder, EPIC
  • Markus Spanner, CEO, PI (Physik Instrumente)
  • Mats Hede, Managing Director, Hamamatsu Photonics Sweden
  • Peter Leibinger, Vice Chairman and CTO, TRUMPF
  • Voting Sample Contest with the EPIC logo

18:00-22:00: Networking Reception with delicatesse walking dinner provided by Käfer, musical accompaniment and some surprises…

Venue

Messe Munich, ICM International Congress Center München, Room 14B

Speakers
Mats Hede
Managing Director at Hamamatsu Photonics
Peter Leibinger
Vice Chairman and CTO at TRUMPF
Attendees

More attendees will be announced soon.

Sponsors
Useful resources
Program Manager
Carlos Lee
Carlos Lee
Director General
Event Manager
Natascha Orban
Natascha Orban
Events Manager
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