A new study reports that the European optics sector grew by 12% last year, and predicts that the world photonics market will grow by 7.6% annually for the nexteight years.
The new report, issued by the Photonics21 technology platform together with the European Commission, indicates that sales revenues in the European optical technology sector have already caught up with those of the microelectronic industry in the EU zone, and will move ahead of them in the coming years.
The Photonics In Europe report says that in 2005 photonic products achieved sales of €228 billion ($328 billion) worldwide, with the European industry accounting for €43.5 billion or 19%. Based on the study’s predicted annual growth rate of 7.6%, an international photonics market of €439 billion or $631 billion is forecast for 2015 – almost double the 2005 figure.
The report estimates there to be more than 5000 optics companies in Europe, with these businesses collectively spending an average of 9.7% of sales revenues on research and development. This compares with 5% for the rest of manufacturing industry. Lighting market share represents more than 15% of the total.