The work on shaping the future Swedish Photonics Excellence Cluster is moving forward at pace. The Vinnova-funded pre-study is now halfway, and the focus is increasingly on building clear strategies, operating structures, and concrete directions for how the cluster will work in practice.
The ambition is to create a national engine that turns Sweden’s strong photonics capabilities into new industrial solutions, deeper collaborations, and long-term impact. Two thematic lines are now emerging clearly:
Photonics for Industrial Transformation
Capability to embed photonics into production and materials systems to reshape how industrial processes are executed, controlled, and scaled.
Photonics for Extreme and Critical Systems
Capability to embed photonics as a system-critical layer for monitoring and control in physically extreme, long-lived, and safety-critical systems where conventional technologies fail.
Alongside these, a third thematic line is being formulated, focusing on photonics in life-science-related systems. This work is currently centred on identifying where photonics can play a structurally decisive role and where a national cluster can build long-term capability rather than duplicate existing initiatives.
In the coming weeks, the pre-study will increasingly shift toward building concrete structures, partnerships, and alliances within these thematic lines, together with industry, research, and applied actors across Sweden.
