Above, visitors pack exhibit halls in Moscone Center during last year's Photonics West exhibition. The annual event continues to grow, and will be even larger this year.
BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA -- Technologies important to markets such as mobile devices, medical diagnostics, and industrial cutting machines will be showcased at SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco next week.
SPIE Photonics West will bring over 1,200 suppliers and approximately 19,000 attendees together at two major optics and laser technology exhibitions alongside a technical program including more than 4,100 technical presentations. With several industry executive panels, more than 60 professional development courses, and dozens of workshops, the event will be the largest conference and trade show in the field of photonics. Dates are 21-26 January; venue is the Moscone Center.
Both the weekend BiOS Expo (21-22 January), with more than 215 exhibiting companies, and the 3-day Photonics West exhibition (24-26 January), with more than 1,200 companies, are bigger than ever, and have sold all available exhibit space.
Admission for visitors to both exhibitions is free and includes access to industry panel sessions Tuesday through Thursday.
The two exhibitions will host approximately 150 new product announcements and several daily demonstrations of newly commercialized products and patented technologies.
"SPIE's Photonics West is firmly established as the world's leading annual conference and trade show in the optics and photonics industry" said Andrew Brown, SPIE Senior Director for Global Business Development. "Moving to San Francisco three years ago further increased our ability to serve the global photonics market, leading to more companies leveraging the event as a platform to launch their new products and associated marketing campaigns. Photonics West is unique in attracting top-tier technology executives, researchers, engineers, suppliers, and buyers from all over the world to showcase the latest technologies, products, and research in the rapidly expanding photonics industry."
Exhibitors will include national pavilions from several countries, including Germany, France, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Japan, and China, and photonics clusters from four U.S. states, as well as established industry suppliers and ground-breaking new companies.
Among the many returning exhibiting companies are Axsys, Coherent, CVI Melles Griot, DILAS, Edmund Optics, First Sensor AG, Hamamatsu, HORIBA Jobin, Yvon, IPG Photonics, JDSU, Newport, Ocean Optics, OptoSigma, Qioptiq, SCHOTT, Texas Instruments, Thorlabs, TRUMPF, and Zygo.
Newcomers to the Photonics West exhibition include a mix of established companies, start-ups, and university spin-offs, such as GLOphotonics, Accendo Systems, ZiNIR, ImmerVision, Greateyes, Applied Energetics, Holoxica, Innoluce, and EpiPhotonics.
Recruiters from over 35 companies with jobs to fill will be on hand at the SPIE Job Fair (24-25 January) in the Photonics West exhibition.
Moving technology to market
Paid conference registration to any of the Photonics West symposia -- BiOS, LASE, MOEMS-MEMS, OPTO or Green Photonics -- enables access to technical presentations and special networking events.
Among events focused on fostering innovation are the Biophotonics and Optoelectronics Entrepreneurship Start-up Challenges, sponsored by JENOPTIK and SPIE. Students and young professionals will pitch their product ideas to a panel of experts and entrepreneurs, with the top-rated presenters winning sponsorship to attend the Entrepreneurship Academy at the University of California, Davis.
The 2011-12 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation, sponsored by SPIE and Photonics Media, will be presented in nine categories at a gala banquet. The international competition recognizes cutting-edge products that break conventional ideas, solve problems, and improve life through photonics.
For more on SPIE Photonics West visit SPIE.org/photonics-west.xml.
SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, was founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. Serving more than 180,000 constituents from 168 countries, the Society advances emerging technologies through interdisciplinary information exchange, continuing education, publications, patent precedent, and career and professional growth. SPIE annually organizes and sponsors approximately 25 major technical forums, exhibitions, and education programs in North America, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific. SPIE provided over $2.5 million in support of education and outreach programs in 2011.
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