Industry development strategy discussed at Photonics. World of Lasers and Optics 2019

The opening day of the Photonics. World of Lasers and Optics 2019 international exhibition saw significant events that addressed key challenges and development prospects of the industry. 

The exhibition's supporting program began with a joint meeting of the Photonics Work Group at the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Science and Technology Council of Laser Association, the Secretariat of the Photonics Technology Platform, and the Expert Council on Photonics of the State Duma Commission on Legal Support for the Development of the Defense Industrial Sector of Russia.

Department Director of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade Dmitry Kapranov told the audience about the ministry’s elaboration of a long-term strategy promoting the development of photonics in Russia in the period until 2030-2035.

The strategy is bound to formulate objectives and set primary areas of the photonics development in the national and global context, Karpanov said. "The strategic goal is to establish Russia's photonics as a high-tech industry integrated into the economic system successfully participating in the achievement of socioeconomic development tasks and strengthening of national security, fostering innovations in the real sector of the domestic economy, participating in international cooperation as an equal, and guaranteeing Russia's technological sovereignty in the field of laser, optical, and optoelectronic technologies," the ministry’s representative said.

According to the expert, the strategy will increase the output of photonic products to 250 billion rubles a year by 2030–2035, and at least 40% of such products will be exported. The number of enterprises constantly using photonic technologies in their production cycle will increase at least four-fold, and the number of industry employees will reach at least 120,000.

Strategic development of photonics was also discussed from the angle of normative and organisational regulation at a meeting of the Expert Council for Photonics of the State Duma Commission on Legal Support for the Development of the Defense Industrial Sector of Russia.

The discussion involved State Duma deputy Andrey Vetluzhskikh, Department Director of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education Mikhail Romanovsky, and Laser Association President Ivan Kovsh.

Representatives of photonic enterprises and research centres made proposals at the meeting. The final protocol of the Expert Council’s meeting, which summarized the proposals, will be submitted to the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Industry, Innovative Development, and Entrepreneurship, and other government agencies.

The exhibition website: https://www.photonics-expo.ru/en.

Press Service, Expocentre AO