EpoQ wins photonics contest
Dutch startup targets smaller, lower-power precision timing systems for space, defence and critical infrastructure.
EpoQ has won the 2026 Global Photonics Engineering Contest with its development of a photonic chip-based trapped-ion atomic clock, designed to bring laboratory-grade timing precision into smaller, deployable systems.
Announced by Dutch photonic chip industry accelerator PhotonDelta on 21 October, the win will give EpoQ access to up to €100,000 worth of technology services from companies in the PhotonDelta ecosystem.
The venture will also have the opportunity to receive up to €2 million in pre-seed investment, subject to PhotonDelta’s investment process and applicable conditions.
Based in Amsterdam, EpoQ is developing a system that uses integrated photonics to reduce the size, weight, complexity and power consumption of trapped-ion atomic clocks.
These systems offer highly precise timing but typically rely on large, complex laboratory equipment, restricting their use in space-constrained or mobile environments.
EpoQ aims to make this level of precision available for applications including satellites, defence systems, telecommunications, critical infrastructure and scientific instrumentation.
Accurate timing is essential for navigation and communications, but systems that depend on satellite signals can be vulnerable to jamming and spoofing.
Compact atomic clocks could provide an alternative source of precise timing in environments where satellite signals are disrupted or unavailable.
Louis Gallagher, co-founder and CEO of EpoQ, said the company aims to bring the performance of trapped-ion clocks into a form factor suitable for real-world deployment, with potential applications across space, defence and critical infrastructure.
The contest, organised by PhotonDelta in cooperation with Wevolver, received submissions from 18 countries across Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. Interest increased by approximately 18% compared with the inaugural competition.
This year's entries covered four application areas: communication and computing, sensing, imaging, and wireless technologies. Proposed applications ranged from transceivers and quantum technologies to biochips, gas sensing, LiDAR, augmented reality and 6G.
PhotonDelta said EpoQ stood out for combining an ambitious application of integrated photonics with a clearly defined market need.
The win highlights the potential for photonic integrated circuits (PICs) to expand beyond established data and telecommunications markets into precision timing and other emerging applications.
However, the announcement did not detail EpoQ's packaging architecture, chip-level integration methods or prototype performance, leaving its relevance to advanced packaging developments less clear.
The inaugural contest was won by US-based MIT spin-off Perceptra for its photonic chip-based Raman analyser for real-time molecular monitoring.
Since then, Perceptra has secured funding from PhotonDelta to accelerate technology development and is establishing photonic integrated circuit research and development operations in the Netherlands.
