SMART Photonics and TU/e enter into strategic partnership
Partnership aims to strengthen the development of InP photonic integration technology
SMART Photonics, a pure-play foundry producing high-end photonic integrated circuits(PICs), and Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have entered into strategic partnership to strengthen the development of InP photonic integration technology.
TU/e was one of the founding partners of SMART Photonics ten years ago. The company has developed rapidly since. Last year it featured in Europe’s top-50 of most promising scale-ups. TU/e and SMART Photonics have always worked closely together to their mutual benefit.
With this collaboration now formalised in this agreement, both parties commit to a long-term strategic partnership. The joint efforts will reinforce the continuous research and development of InP photonic integration and are expected to provide a smooth path to industrialization. This aims to provide the entire photonic ecosystem with top notch industrial production capacity of PICs to address a rapidly growing market.
The cooperation will involve activities such as developing new building blocks for SMART Photonics’ already comprehensive Process Design Kit, developing future, more sustainable PIC production processes, and other next-generation technologies such as hybrid integration of different photonic and electronic platforms. In addition, SMART Photonics will support TU/e in activities aimed at educating ambitious and highly qualified engineers for the benefit of the entire PhotonDelta ecosystem.
Powerhouse in integrated photonics
Rector Frank Baaijens of TU/e: “We are very pleased to further intensify our collaboration. Eindhoven University of Technology is world leading in photonics research and technology, and co-founder of the Photon Delta ecosystem."
"We are committed to further solidify the strong position of The Netherlands and its photonics ecosystem, in which SMART Photonics, as an independent pure play foundry, plays a system critical function. The objective is to enhance the position of Europe as powerhouse in integrated photonics.”
Luc Augustin, CTO of SMART Photonics: “This agreement strengthens our collaboration with TU/e, one of the most powerful technology hubs in the world. It provides us access to new research, ideas and inventions that we will be able to offer to our customers as part of our strong technology offering."
"At the same time, it offers TU/e the ability to perform their research on the basis of the latest industrially robust and stable processes. I am convinced that our combined efforts will strongly contribute to the further industrialisation of PIC technology and our technology leadership, benefiting the full photonic ecosystem.”
Pictured above: Luc Augustin (CTO Smart Photonics), Johan Feenstra (CEO Smart Photonics) and Frank Baaijens (rector TU/e).
