The Technology Scotland team, through the Photonics Scotland network, are pleased to be hosting a shared stand for the first time at The European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) exhibition, taking place at the SEC Glasgow from 2nd – 4th October 2023.

Ahead of this exciting event we’re talking to our partners involved to find out some more about them, what they’ll be exhibiting and what they’re looking forward to at ECOC and lots more.

This week, we’re talking with our member and partner, Vector Photonics.

Tell us a bit about your organisation and what you do

Vector Photonics is a spin-out company from the University of Glasgow and is based in Glasgow, Scotland; one of the UK and world’s optical and photonics centres of excellence. Vector Photonics is commercialising all semiconductor, PCSEL technology; a high-power, surface coupling laser which has been demonstrated in R&D laboratory environments and in commercial fabs. The company is now transferring key design and process knowledge into an industrial environment, for high-volume manufacture. Vector Photonics operates a ‘Fabless’ production model, outsourcing fabrication to semiconductor foundry partners. This is a fully scalable approach, enabling rapid expansion by utilising existing, photonics equipment and capacity, both in Scotland and globally.

What attracted you to getting involved in the Technology Scotland stand at ECOC?

The shared Technology Scotland stand at ECOC enables Vector Photonics and other Scottish companies with smaller marketing budgets to have a presence at this global exhibition.

Why does representation of the Scottish cluster matter at international events like ECOC?

Vector Photonics has heavily leveraged the Scottish photonics cluster to provide a local, fabless prototyping capability for our groundbreaking, semiconductor, laser technology. Exposure to a global audience provides more opportunities for the cluster’s capabilities to be developed and expanded further, which benefits Vector Photonics.

What are you most looking forward to at ECOC?

ECOC brings the entire optical communications community to Vector Photonics’ home in Glasgow. It enables us to host, meet and engage with customers, suppliers, and partners, all in one week, saving global travel overheads, and offering us an opportunity to showcase Scottish Technology.

What will you be exhibiting at the TS stand and when can we find you?

Vector Photonics will be presenting an update on its surface coupling lasers, designed for silicon photonics applications in next-generation 800 Gb and 1600 Gb, datacoms networking equipment.

Vector Photonics is on Stand 118 & 119 and representatives will be available on:

Tuesday 3rd October: 09:30 – 13:15

Wednesday 4th October: 09:30 – 12:45