John Armitage, Symposium Chair

Showtime for Photonics North 2004 is rapidly approaching and as I write there are now 15 weeks to go, from the end of June to the end of September. We have news of several associated events, annual meetings and workshops positioning themselves around the conference which increases the energy and excitement in a way reminiscent of Opto- Canada. Perhaps more so, because this time we have in addition, several international delegations, from Germany, Arizona, Hong Kong, etc. who have signalled their intention to attend.

The comparison with Opto-Canada is interesting. From the point of view of the technical papers submitted we received 50% more, increasing from 232 to over 350, which incidentally justifies our decision to extend the length of the conference from two days to three. Indeed the main problem this time is optimizing the timetable to maximize the number of oral presentations.

Accompanying this increase in submissions there seems to have been a shift in the popularity of the session topics. Last time it was Biophotonics and Medical Optics that was way out in front and that session garnered the lion's share of the submissions. This year, although the submissions to Biophotonics are only slightly down, the session on Optical Components and Devices zoomed ahead and took 33% of the papers submitted. The breadth of that session is indicative of the wide range of applications that photonics addresses and also underscores the importance of the new Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre, soon to be opened in Ottawa, which will enable many of the devices discussed in that session to be fabricated.

Other popular sessions will include the Telecom session, which attracted 30% more papers this year, and the Fibre Optic Sensors session. The former is indicative of a turn-around in the telecom sector while the latter is a new session that focuses on the ever-broadening use of fibre for many sensing applications, in areas such as the evolution of 'smart buildings'.

Another way of comparing with Opto-Canada is to look at where the papers are being submitted from. Certainly Canada is the main country of origin with the U.S. not far behind, a fact which is quite encouraging, as there are a couple of US photonics conferences - located close to the US-Canada border, which are potential competitors. That trend was seen at Opto-Canada but what was not seen, and which I find quite surprising, is that the third most prolific country in terms of paper writers and submissions, is China. This may well be due in part to the many delegations, both trade and educational, that have visited China recently and have advertised Photonics North. It is certainly indicative of the great resurgence of the Chinese economy and underlined by the presence of two or three trade delegations from the Pacific Rim countries.

With three industry giants and 700 small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in photonics, or 62 per cent of Canada's photonics firms, Ontario is a world leader in the industry. The Provincial government contributes to the strength of the Ontario industry, by partly funding Photonics Research Ontario, one of Ontario's four Centres of Excellence.

Ontario Exports Inc. (OEI) is the Government of Ontario's export development agency. Its team of international marketing consultants works directly with SMEs to help them begin exporting or expand into new markets. These international marketing consultants are experts in helping to bring the world to Ontario.

Several countries in North America, Europe and Asia have invested heavily in microfabrication facilities. Amongst these, the USA is the country with the largest range of microfabrication centres. Many of these centres bring together in one geographic location the majority of resources needed for the fabrication of any particular photonic structure or device.

While the maintenance of multiple, almost completely self-contained microfabrication facilities is only feasible in very few countries with large populations and correspondingly large economies, it is an inescapable conclusion that for Australia to compete with the leading countries in photonics research, there must work towards at least one such facility in Australia which has the capability to perform all the operations needed to fabricate photonic devices and structures. As yet no such facility exists in Australia, as the necessary equipment is dispersed between multiple facilities. For many research experiments, the rapid turn around associated with having some key facilities at or close to the research lab is very convenient. However, at the same time, a complete, fully equipped facility is necessary too. An active Photonics Microfabrication Network in Australia needs to be the driving force behind the effort to bring into existence a National facility along the lines of those which exist in other countries.

To better understand what such a facility might look like, it is useful to look at a few case studies.

The Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations (CIPI), a federal Network of Centres of Excellence, held its 5th annual meeting at the Sherbrooke Convention Centre from June 20 to 22. The gathering drew over 150 people; researchers from across Canada who receive CIPI funding and their students, as well as industry and government representatives who partner in the network's research projects.