Cooperation of photonics clusters and the exploitation of European SMEs potential.

Grant Agreement: 619463

Project Acronym: LightJumps

Funding scheme: Coordination and support action

WP2 - Photonic Community Building and needs assessment

Deliverable D7.7.3

Training activities:

Training activities at universities

Date of completion:

Deliverable Responsible: POLIMI

Contribution of the following organisations and people:

Ali Gökhan Demir, Barbara Previtali Contributions from all partners

Project Coordinator name: Eleonora Ercoli

Project Coordinator organisation name: CIAOTECH S.r.l.

Start date of project: 01/11/2013 Duration: 24 months

D7.7.3. Training

2

Dissemination Level

PU Public X

PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission

Services)

RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission

Services)

CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission

Services)

D7.7.3. Training

3

Contents

1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Photonics Education in Europe .............................................................................................................. 4

1.2 Universities in LightJumps ..................................................................................................................... 5

1.3 Aims of the training activities ................................................................................................................ 7

2 Student reach ............................................................................................................................................ 8

2.1 Student reach through university courses ............................................................................................ 8

2.2 Student reach through photonics events ............................................................................................ 10

3 Training activities ..................................................................................................................................... 13

3.1 State-of-the art applications of photonics in the industry .................................................................. 13

3.2 Use of photonics in industrial design .................................................................................................. 16

3.3 Photonics and entrepreneurship ......................................................................................................... 18

3.4 Mentoring exercise with MSc students ............................................................................................... 19

3.5 Students and awards ........................................................................................................................... 22

4 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................. 25

D7.7.3. Training

4

1 Introduction

1.1 Photonics Education in Europe

Europe’s leading position in technology relies on the

high quality education provided over the continent.

Photonics21 Work Group 7 dedicated to Photonics

Research, Education and Training sets the target

announcing that For education and training, one of

the most critical challenges will be to overcome the

present major difficulty facing the photonics

community, namely of securing the necessary

knowledgeable and skilled workforce. This

shortage applies at all levels, from technical

management and R&D positions through to

technical staff, and is encountered both in industry and academia1. According to QS Top Universities

rankings,2 Europe stands holds higher positions in Photonics related subjects. In particular,

regarding the core Photonics disciplines namely Physics and Astronomy, 4 of the top 10 and 18 of

the top 50 universities are European. Photonics serves and is used in many different fields and this

reflects to Photonics education.

Moreover several universities are providing dedicated programs in photonics. For instance the

LightJumps partner TU Eindhoven proposes a Photonics Graduate Program with a subsequent PhD

project that is carried out in the COBRA Research Institute. Another partner Politecnico di Milano

provides a 2 year specialization track in photonics and Nano Optics within MSc in Engineering

Physics. Many other European higher education institutes are moving towards dedicated photonics

degrees such as European Master of Science in Photonics offered by Gent and Vrije Universities,

MSc Photonics and Optoelectronic Devices offered by Heriot Watt University, POESII EuroPhotonics

1 Towards 2020 – Photonics driving economic growth in Europe, Multiannual Strategic Roadmap 2014 – 2020, Photonics21

2 http://www.topuniversities.com/

Figure 1 – Distribution of Photonics programs at European

universities

D7.7.3. Training

5

degree offered by Universities of Aix-Marseille, Karlsruhe and Barcelona. As depicted in Figure 1, 56

photonics programmes at European Universities are available. This showing that Europe is

consistently investing in future resources in photonics knowledge base. However, in order to better

exploit the potential of photonics, this knowledge has to be accompanied by business development

skills and their application areas should be expanded and explored.

Today photonics related subjects are taught in both undergraduate and graduate levels in science

and technology courses not only in Physics, Astronomy and Photonics related courses but also other

engineering, technology fields as well as design.

Figure 2. University degrees in which photonics education is getting more integration.

1.2 Universities in LightJumps

Within LightJumps partners the two universities Politecnico di Milano and Technical University of

Eindhoven provide the closest contact with students. Moreover, the research institutes within

LightJumps provide a larger reach through their university connections. Fraunhofer FEP works

closely with Technical University of Dresden, whereas CNR-IMM with University of Rome “La

Sapienza”.

Physcis, Astronomy, Physics Engineering

Chemistry, Chemical Engineering

Electrical, Electronical and Telecommunication Engineering

Mechanical, Aerospace and Manufacturing Engineering

Materials Science

Product and industrial design

D7.7.3. Training

6

Politecnico di Milano

The Politecnico di Milano is the largest technical university in Italy, with

about 40,000 students. It offers undergraduate, graduate and higher

education courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in

1863, it is the oldest university in Milan. The Politecnico has two main

campuses in Milan city, where the majority of the research and teaching activity are located, and

other satellite campuses in five other cities across Lombardy and Emilia Romagna. The central

offices and headquarters are located in the historical campus of Città Studi in Milan, which is also

the largest, active since 1927.

The Photonics research at the Politecnico is carried out in

several different sectors mainly within Physics, Chemistry,

Chemical and Materials Engineering, Energy Engineering and

Mechanical Engineering Departments. Being at the heart of

Italian industry, Politecnico collaborates closely with Italian

and international enterprises in research. This allows for a

direct connection between students and companies during

the studies.

Technical University of Eindhoven

The Eindhoven University of Technology was founded as in 1956,

as the second technical university of the Netherlands. It is

currently home to about 240 professors, 7200 students, 250

PDEng-students, 600 Ph.D. students, 200 post-doc students and

3000 regular employees. It

supports about 100 student associations and 15 alumni

associations. The university is located closely to the some of the

largest technology companies in Europe such as Philips, ASML and

DAF and collaborates closely with them.

Photonics research is conducted in Departments of Applied

Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering

Figure 3 – Attosecond laser laboratory

at the Physics Department

Figure 4 – Photonics facilities at the

COBRA Research Institute

D7.7.3. Training

7

1.3 Aims of the training activities

The training activities within LightJumps concern the following three main aspects:

1. Training related to the state of-the-art photonics applications to photonics students

2. Teaching the potentials of photonics technologies to students from other sectors

3. Entrepreneurship and business development of photonics projects

This report aims to therefore summarize the training activities related to these three points.

Furthermore it shows different methods experimented within the project and how they can be

implemented in future training and teaching activities.

D7.7.3. Training

8

2 Student reach

2.1 Student reach through university courses

The universities within LighJumps provide different courses in different degrees related to photonics

applications. These courses are predominantly important for theoretical knowledge as well as

informing the students about the possible uses of photonics technologies in different sectors.

The Advanced Manufacturing Processes course held at the Politecnico di Milano teaches Mechanical

Engineering student laser based manufacturing processes basics. Half of the course content is

dedicated to lasers, while the other is dedicated to the other non-conventional manufacturing

processes namely plasma cutting, water jetting and chemical/electrochemical machining. This

course is thought to around 450 MSc students in 3 different groups at the first year of the degree

program. Prof. Barbara Previtali is responsible for one of the three sections of this course. Through

laboratory and company visits, the students also have a first direct interaction with the photonics

technologies. Within 2014-15 academic year, a lecture by Angelo Petrogalli, CEO of DS4 a LightJumps

SME was included in the program. Mr. Petrogalli presented DS4’s laser micromachining technology

as well as use of vision based monitoring technologies in industrial production.

Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Lab is a course that is held in the second year of the same

degree program. The students that choose this elective course carry out a project work using one

of the different non-conventional manufacturing methods. The course is co-held by Prof.

Massimiliano Annoni and Dr. Ali Gökhan Demir. Half of the students that attend this course work

directly on laser based manufacturing processes, such as laser welding, micromachining and

additive manufacturing. The use of photonics based technologies such

as use of photodiodes and spectroscopy for monitoring is common

within the projects. In the 2014-15 academic year, 6 of 12 developed

projects were on laser based manufacturing projects were developed.

These courses provide the basis for thesis students and future field

engineers possessing the know-how of photonics use in mechanical

engineering. The impact of LightJumps on these courses have been

the emphasis on industry related subjects. In fact, the Business Cases

prepared by Politecnico di Milano and the updates on the course

contents are parallel. Laser based additive manufacturing, zero-defect

D7.7.3. Training

9

manufacturing through process monitoring, and laser based high precision manufacturing with ultra

fast lasers are included also in the course contents.

Photonics can also serve as a tool for industrial design. Consumer goods, as well as design products

can make use of different photonics technologies such as smart lighting solutions and display

technology. High power lasers for industrial manufacturing provides different possibilities to the

designer. Combined with creative thinking, the flexibility of laser based manufacturing processes

especially laser cutting and additive manufacturing can provide new functions to design products.

Introducing industrial designers to these technologies expands use of this photonics technology.

Prof. Barbara Previtali teaches in MSc in Product Design for Innovation and MSc in Design &

Engineering degrees of Design Faculty at the Politecnico di Milano. Around 150 design students

yearly learn about laser based manufacturing methods, but also develop products with new

functions provided by it. During LightJumps, the design students have developed new products with

new functions enabled by laser cutting within Product Development Studio. The projects were

supported by industrial partner and publicized through different channels.

Table 1. List of university courses through which LightJumps partners reached students

Institute Degree Course CFU Stud/year

PoliMi MSc in Mechanical Engineering Advanced Manufacturing Processes 10 450

PoliMi MSc in Mechanical Engineering Advanced Manufacturing Processes Lab 10 35

PoliMi MSc in Product Design for

Innovation

Product Development Studio 12 47

PoliMi MSc in Product Design for

Innovation

Materials And Technologies For Industrial Product

Innovation

6 80

PoliMi MSc in Design & Engineering Manufacturability Assessment/Final Project Work 18 22

PoliMi BSc in Engineering Physics Ottuca Fisica e Tecnologie Ottiche 10 120

PoliMi BSc in Engineering Physics Principi e Applicazioni dei Laser 10 120

PoliMi BSc in Engineering Physics Ottica Biomedica 10 120

PoliMi MSc in Engineering Physics Photonics I 10 50

PoliMi MSc in Engineering Physics Photonics II 10 50

PoliMi MSc in Engineering Physics Micro and Nano Optics 10 50

D7.7.3. Training

10

In Engineering Physics degree of the Politecnico di Milano,

different courses related to photonics are available. These courses

provide the basics of photonics technologies in BSc level to more

advanced topics in MSc level. During the LightJumps project

students of these courses were informed more about the

different application possibilities using these technologies, giving

them a better insight for their future carriers.

The TU/e Masters and Bachelors programmes enable and encourage students to select courses

outside of their core subject. Entrepreneurship and photonics courses are available to every

students in the University as part of two recent and major University-wide initiatives : the Bachelor

College and the Graduate School. Additionally, a Masters photonics seminar course which has been

running since before the start of LightJumps addresses the interaction between research disciplines,

industry and business. The seminar course - Optical Interconnection Networks - was set up as part

of an interfaculty education initiative within the University. Teaching activities already enable and

encourage entrepreneurships in the student population. In terms of business interactions, TU/e is

placed #1 in the Leiden ranking for collaboration with industry, and a high proportion of Masters

projects feature close industry involvement. PhD programmes are usually within the framework of

industry consortia or have active industry user committees to advise on routes to exploitation. The

Photonic Integration group has been actively engaged with two recent Eindhoven start-up/scale-

ups in the area of photonic integration and is active in licensing technology. Within LightJumps, TU

Eindhoven has focused on training initiatives, which are now necessary to grow the market for

photonic integration technology.

2.2 Student reach through photonics events

Within LightJumps several events have been attended

by the project partners for the divulgation of the project

aims. These events are also key elements for student

involvement. Alta Brillanza 2015 organized by

Politecnico di Milano has been an important occasion

for this purpose. The event held on 24 and 25

September 2015 in Milan involved graduate students in

organization of the event, giving them an important

exposure to the high power laser producers, system

integrators and end-users. Before and during the event

a total of 10 MSc students, 7 PhD students from engineering and design degrees as well as 6 research

Figure 5 – The distribution of AB’15 participants in origin and sector.

D7.7.3. Training

11

fellows were involved.

During the tow day event,

around 210 attendees were

present. LightJumps partners

Gate2Growth and Optitec

were also present during the

event. On the first day, the

discussion topics were

related to Laser Safety and

European Potential in

Photonics. The students

were able to attend the

discussions. Especially within

the European Potential in

Photonics session, the

students could attend the

presentations from Thomas Rettich, from Photonics21 WG2, Roberta Ramponi from Photonics21

WG7 and Italian National Photonics Platform CORIFI regarding the overview of European and Italian

photonics research. The session also included presentations from LightJumps partners. Ali Gökhan

Demir from Politecnico di Milano and Uffe Bundgaard-Jørgensen from Gate2Growth, illustrated

funding, partnership opportunities and Horizon 2020 SME instrument. The last presentation of the

session as held by Sergio Pellegrino of LaserPoint, a LightJumps SME. During his speech, Mr.

Pellegrino shared their experience within the project.

The second day Alta Brillanza was dedicated to technical topics regarding laser based additive

manufacturing, cutting, welding, surface treatments and micromachining. In addition to following

discussions regarding high-end industrial laser applications, the students were in direct contact with

attendees from 104 different companies and 6 different nations. They were also able to share the

results of their research and experience in photonics based projects with the attendees during the

laboratory visits.

The additive manufacturing session of Alta Brillanza was chaired by Tommaso Ghidini, Head of the

Materials Technology Section of European Space Agency. This occasion was also exploited to reach

Figure 6 – Student involvement in Alta Brillanza 2015.

D7.7.3. Training

12

students at PhD level. Dr.

Ghidini gave the lecture

entitle “The European

Space Agency Perspective

on Additive

Manufacturing for Space

Applications: Benefits and

Challenges” to an

audience of around 20

PhD candidates as well as

other young researchers.

During his speech Dr.

Ghidini gave an overview on the applied research in the additive manufacturing field. Moreover, Dr.

Ghidini emphasized the funding possibilities through the European Space Agency

Figure 7 – Dr. Ghidini during his lecture on additive manufacturing for space applications.

D7.7.3. Training

13

3 Training activities

3.1 State-of-the art applications of photonics in the industry

Training activities are a part of main

activities of the LightJumps partners

coming from academia and

research. The project played an

important role on the shaping of

the training activities, since the

LightJumps objective could be

reflected on the existing training

activities as well as planning of the new ones. Entrepreneurship and funding opportunities have

been integrated to training activities, where state-of-the-art application of photonics have been

demonstrated. Jeppix have organized their training course on design, manufacturing and

packaging of photonic chips twice during the duration of LightJumps in 2014 and 2015. In addition

to the technical discussions value chain for photonic integrated circuits prototyping and business

opportunities were discussed by the expert instructors of the field:

Meint Smit, Xaveer Leijtens, Erwin Bente, Rui Santos (Integrated photonics, passive

devices, SOAs, lasers; TU Eindhoven);

Huub Ambrosius (Manufacturing photonic circuits, Nanolab@TU/e);

Katarzyna Lawniczuk (Access to photonic integration technologies and business

opportunities; JePPIX –TU Eindhoven);

Remco Stoffer (Propagation and simulation; PhoeniX Software);

Daniele Melati (Simulation of photonic circuits; ASPIC);

Andrew Daabs (Simulation of photonic circuits; Photon Design);

Inigo Artundo (Design aspects and design services; VLC Photonics);

Ronald Broeke (Design aspects and design services; BRIGHT Photonics);

Pim Kat (Packaging photonic chips; Technobis);

Antonello Vannucci (Packaging photonic chips; Linkra);

Luc Augustin, Peter Thijs (Fabrication of photonic chips; SMART Photonics);

Figure 8 – JePPIX training 2014

D7.7.3. Training

14

The JePPIX training course reached 41 participants from undergraduate and graduate students as

well as professionals.

Table 2. List of training courses through which LightJumps partners reached students.

Name Partner Date Place Subject #

attend.

Partner’s role

2-weeks

JePPIX

training

course

Jeppix Oct-Nov

2014

TU Eindhoven,

Netherlands

Photonic

Integration

Technologies

23 Organizer

2-weeks

JePPIX

training

course

Jeppix Oct-Nov

2015

TU Eindhoven,

Netherlands

Photonic

Integration

Technologies

19 Organizer

Photonics

Event

Jeppix 11-12/06/

2014

Veldhoven,

Netherlands

Photonics and

Robotics

~500 Contributor,

presenter

Photonics

Event

Jeppix 3-4/6/2015 Veldhoven,

Netherlands

Photonics,

Vision and

Robotics

~500 Contributor,

presenter

Photonic

Integration

Conference

Jeppix 23/10/2015 High Tech

Campus,

Eindhoven,

Netherlands

Photonic

Integration

~90 Contributor,

presenter,

sponsor

The Day of

Photonics

CNR-

IMM/Lazio

Connect,

PNO

21/10/2014 Rome, Italy Photonics

Innovation.

40 Contributor,

presenter,

sponsor

Design

Workshop

Interaction

with Organic

Electronics

OES 28/11/2014 Dresden,

Germany

Design with

organic

electronics

14 Organizer,

contributor

D7.7.3. Training

15

Workshop

“Basic on

Organic

Electronics”

OES 9/6/2015 Dresden,

Germany

Knowledge of

Organic

Electronics

30 Organizer,

contributor

Meint Smit and Katarzyna Lawniczuk from JePPIX –TU Eindhoven

attended the Photonics event as instructors, which has been

held 3 times within the duration of LightJumps project. The

event held in Veldhoven, the Netherlands offered training to

graduate students as well as professionals on topics regarding

application specific photonic integrated circuit, access to

photonic integration technologies and business opportunities; Application specific photonic

integrated circuits; access to photonic integration technologies, business opportunities created by

photonics, EU innovation supporting mechanisms (LightJumps, H2020, Actphast). The event was

able to reach 1000 participants overall.

LightJumps partners CNR-IMM, Lazio Connect and

PNO have participated to The Day of Photonics at

the La Sapienza University of Rome. The event

was held at the Basic and Applied Sciences for

Engineering Department on 21 October 2014,

reaching more than 40 participants from graduate

and undergraduate studies as well as

professionals. The participating students were

from different disciplines of engineering and

science, allowing this event to reach an audience outside of the main photonics sectors. During the

event, perspectives from both academia and industry were presented. LightJumps were also present as

instructors during the event as seen in the list of presenter below. The training activity covered topics such

as photonics innovation, photonics in medicine, silicon photonics and photonics in telecommunications. A

special emphasis was given to the role of SMEs in photonics within the discussions of Mr. Filocamo from and

Mr. Cogan from PNO Consultants.L-Palumpo - Università Sapiena & INFN

E.Fazio - Università Sapienza

C.Sibilia - Università Sapienza

D7.7.3. Training

16

F.Filocamo – Ministry of University and

Research, MIUR

J.Cogan - PNO Consultants

S.Ingorsso - Spiena-Innovazione

M.Bertolotti - Università Sapienza

U.Romeo - Università Sapienza

I.Rendina - CNR-IMM-Napoli

R.M.Montereali - ENEA

R.Marcelli - CNR-IMM-Roma

A.Cutolo - Universita Sannio

F.A. Bovino - Selex-ES Finmeccanica

LightJumps partner OES also organized two

workshops on the field of organic electronics.

The training activities were dedicated to

graduate level students as well as

professionals of the sector. The Design

Workshop 2014 “Interaction with Organic

Electronics” was held in Dresden on 28 November 2014. The workshop instructors were Prof. Jens

Geelhaar and Johannes Deich from Weimar University The workshop offered a design-oriented

approach for developing new product ideas. In this special type of workshop, the students operated

with interaction design. Persons, venues and different scenarios were briefly explained and their

relation were put in a context. At the end of the day a digital sketchbook with individual ideas and

drafts for each participant were determined.

The Basic on Organic Electronics workshop was held on 9 June 2015 in Dresden. The focus of the

workshop was the basic knowledge of Organic Electronics. In discussion panels ideas for potential

applications based on the fundamental foundations were developed. The LightJumps objectives for

SMEs were highlighted during the event giving an emphasis to the uptake of organic electronics

based photonics solutions such as organic solar cells, OLEDs and transistors in SMEs.

3.2 Use of photonics in non-conventional sectors: Industrial design

As mentioned earlier, an important aspect in photonics training is to reach a broader market by

demonstrating the photonics enabled applications. For this purpose, an exercise of how to use laser

D7.7.3. Training

17

based manufacturing – a photonics technology, in industrial design was conducted at the Politecnico

di Milano. In order to reach students that do not study predominantly photonics related subjects.

Students of MSc in Product Design for Innovation degree carried out their Product Development

Studio projects were given a technological constraint: obligation to use laser cutting technology for

designing products with new functions. The projects were technically supported by BLM Group,

giving the students a direct link with the industry. A total of 80 students working in different groups

designed and realized products using sheet metal, design constraints and opportunities specific to

the technology. Initially the students were instructed about the laser technology in general and laser

cutting in particular. With the guided tours to SITEC - Laboratory for Laser Applications of the

Department of Mechanical Engineering, they were able to observe these technologies in action. The

main constraints encountered concerned were mainly related to the bi-dimensionality of the two

metal and its limitations from design perspective: the opacity, coldness, and heaviness.

Figure 9. Examples of laser cut design products prepared by MSc students in Product Design for Innovation of PoliMi.

The student projects were demonstrated in an exhibition on 7 July 2014 at the Department of

Mechanical Engineering. This also constituted an important opportunity to demonstrate the

industrial laser users the capacity of laser technology for realizing new objects. An article on

Applicazioni Laser magazine was published depicting the whole exercise in general. BLM Group also

D7.7.3. Training

18

presented the design pieces at EuroBLECH International Sheet Metal Working Technology Exhibition

between 21 and 25 October in Hanover, Germany.

Learning from this experience, other laser based manufacturing technologies for use in industrial

design were considered for future. Laser surface texturing of both dies as well as moulds was found

to be the next photonics based technology to be proposed to industrial designers. By the time

LightJumps project reaches its end, this interaction between engineers and designers has already

been initiated.

3.3 Photonics and entrepreneurship

An important aspect regarding the photonics education and training is related to the build up

entrepreneurship skills the studies. It appears that these skills are not commonly transmitted

through the technical studies. This is due to the fact that the technical tracks concentrate more on

their core subjects. Moreover, teaching entrepreneurship is not an easy task and is usually based on

case studies. However, apparently some of the courses provided in these technical tracks can

provide the necessary case studies and can accompany questions related to business development.

These possibilities were investigated within the MSc in Mechanical Engineering degree of

Politecnico di Milano, Advanced Manufacturing Processes Lab. The course held by Prof.

Figure 10 – The design projects of the students published on Applicazioni Laser.

D7.7.3. Training

19

Massimiliano Annoni and Dr. Ali Gökhan Demir

requires the students to take up and industrially

relevant manufacturing problem and solve it. In

the previous years, the projects were only treated

from the technical point of view. The students used

a methodological approach to resolve problems

such as laser welding of stainless steel or water jet

cutting of ceramics. During the academic year of

2014-15, the course lecturers have taken up a different strategy in order to remind the students of

the business aspects. The projects were presented and evaluated within the sector they serve for.

In order to emphasize the entrepreneurship spirit in their future careers, a lecture was given by

Pietro Bazzoni from KNOW NET Officine Italiane Innovazione.

The experience of the previous year has been proven to be highly useful. The newly introduced

elements to the course were highly

appreciated by the students as also

demonstrated by the yearly course

evaluation forms. The course lecturers

have decided to maintain these

elements as well as expanding the

contents. In the academic year of 2015-

16, which has started right before the

end of LightJumps project, all course

projects will have to accompany a short

market analysis and business plan along

with the technical solution.

3.4 Mentoring exercise with MSc students

During Alta Brillanza 2015, a mentoring session was organized with four thesis students of MSc in

Mechanical Engineering degree of the Politecnico di Milano. All four students are carrying out their

thesis work in industrial laser based manufacturing processes under the supervision of Prof. Barbara

Figure 11 – An excerpt form Pietro Bazzoni’s lecture “The Project of Life”.

Figure 12 – AMP Lab students with their laser micromilled microfluidic device mould.

D7.7.3. Training

20

Previtali. The students were selected for this activity based on their progress in their thesis work,

industrial relevance of the treated subject and more importantly personal interest.

The main of the meeting was to provide a general vision on the business potential of the thesis

works being developed. The mentoring was held by Bundgaard-Jørgensen from Gate2Growth and

the students were accompanied by their tutor Dr. Ali Gökhan Demir of Politecnico di Milano. The

students followed a protocol similar to what has been done with the LightJumps SMEs. Prior to the

meeting, the students prepared short descriptions of their projects and information requests from

the mentor. The meeting was held on 24 September 2015 at the Department of Mechanical

Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano. The student mentoring session was held after the meeting

with Italian SMEs working within LightJumps. The participating students and their projects are as

listed below.

Figure 13 – Uffe Bungaard Joergensen from G2G with the students during the mentoring session and excerpts of their short project descriptions.

D7.7.3. Training

21

Francesco Mora and Lorenzo Monguzzi, A flexible additive manufacturing cell for metals with

reduced size

Martina Riccio, Wire-feed Additive Manufacturing for high productivity

Giordano Menci, Micro Laser Engraving for customized micro moulds

Within the discussion, technical aspects were evaluated in order to identify the common questions.

Dr. Bundgaard-Jørgensen emphasized that concrete market analysis is required for the all the

projects as the identified markets, for instance the aerospace commonly addressed by students, can

be limited to only a few large companies. The students were interested in funding opportunities,

where a thorough discussion on crowd funding was made. Another topic of interest was to identify

the geographical segments of the market, how and where to start the business. Dr. Bungaard

Joergensen emphasized that starting from the location of foundation is a valuable option. The

discussion was found to be highly useful by the students. The market analysis and business plans

will be added to their thesis work.

D7.7.3. Training

22

4 Students and awards

Awards are an important part in LightJumps objectives, number of applications being one of the key

performance indicators. Moreover, awards and prizes are stimulating and encouraging factors for

young talents to take up and advance photonics technologies. Resultantly, LightJumps partners

encouraged students to apply to awards in photonics and other related sectors.

The prestigious Photonics21 Student Innovation Award 2015 was given to Tobias Schwab of TU

Dresden. Dr. Schwab won this award for his outstanding PhD thesis on increasing efficiency of white

OLEDs with light outcoupling. The chair of the Award Committee and Work Group 7 chair, Roberta

Ramponi, handed over the prize during the prize ceremony, taking place at the general assembly of

the Photonics21 Annual Meeting 2015 on the 29th of May in Brussels, Belgium. The scientific focus

of Dr. Schwab tackles a general efficiency limitation in LED technology, based on total internally

reflection, trapping the majority (70 - 80%) of the generated light inside these device. Moreover,

the investigation of highly transparent, flexible electrodes, completely compatible with organic

materials not only allowed for significant improvement of white light-emitting diodes regarding

color quality, efficiency, and color uniformity, but also further induced the realization of new device

concepts. Dr. Scwab’s work has the basis of the LightJumps Hot Tech Application named “Improved

light outcoupling” prepared by OES and has contributed to the “Key Enabling Technologies in

Photonics Hot Technologies and Applications” booklet prepared during the project.

At the Politecnico di Milano, students

working in photonics related graduate

theses were encouraged to participate

to thesis awards. During the academic

years of 2013-14 and 2014-15

increasing number students applied to

national student thesis awards in

industrial manufacturing sector. In

particular the UCIMU award was won by

photonics theses in both 2014 and

2015. The Italian machine tool, robots,

automation systems and ancillary

products manufacturers’ association,

Figure 14 – The awarded student projects: top emitting OLEDS, laser metal deposition, laser dimpling and laser

remote welding.

D7.7.3. Training

23

UCIMU awards a number of theses in undergraduate and graduate levels every year in the field of

manufacturing.

Table 3. List of student award applications.

Name Institute Thesis/Project Award

Tobias Schwab TU

Dresden

Top-Emitting OLEDs – Improvement of the

light extraction efficiency and

optimization of microcavity effects for

white emission

Photonics21 Student Innovation

Award- Winner

Daniele Innocenti PoliMi Study of an additive manufacturing

process through an anthropomorphic arm

2015 UCIMU Award in Machine tools

and Production systems - Winner

Paolo Colombo PoliMi Real time laser ablation depth monitoring

by self-mixing interferometry

2015 UCIMU Award in Machine tools

and Production systems

Marco Montani PoliMi Selective Laser Melting of biodegradable

metals and alloys

2015 UCIMU Award in Machine tools

and Production systems

Ferdinano Fichera

Mariagrazio Franco

PoliMi Submerged microcutting of AZ31 Mg alloy

with a green pulsed laser for biodegradable

stents

2015 UCIMU Award in Machine tools

and Production systems

Gabriele Gattere PoliMi Development of an Optical Based

Monitoring Device for Remote Laser

Welding of Zinc Coated Steels

AITeM – F. Soavi prize for best MSc

thesis - Winner

Luca Ferrarini PoliMi Characterization of the laser dimpling

process on galvanized steels for

automotive applications

2014 UCIMU Award in Robotics,

automation and information

technology and communications:

applications in manufacturing -

Winner

In 2014, Luca Ferrarini was awarded this prestigious prize in the field of “Robotics, automation and

information technology and communications: applications in manufacturing” for his work entitled

“Characterization of the laser dimpling process on galvanized steels for automotive applications”.

The Italian Association of Manufacturing Technologies awards the best graduate level thesis in this

field. This year Gabriele Gattere was awarded the prestigious AITeM – F. Soavi prize for best MSc

thesis for his work entitled “Development of an Optical Based Monitoring Device for Remote Laser

D7.7.3. Training

24

Welding of Zinc Coated Steels”. Both Mr. Gattere and Mr. Ferrarini developed theri theses in

collaboration with the University of Warwick and was co-supervised by Prof. Darek Ceglarek of

WMG.

Figure 15. Award winning students.

In 2015, Daniele Innocenti has won the prestigious award on the category or “Machine tools and

systems production: conception, integration, technology and application in industrial production”.

The thesis entitled “Study of the laser based additive manufacturing process by robot”

demonstrated a complete study on the capability of realizing metallic objects using laser metal

deposition method. The thesis work was developed in collaboration with CNR-ITIA, Institute of

Industrial Technologies and Automation branch of the Italian National Research Council. All three

students were supervised by Prof. Barbara Previtali and worked within SITEC – Laboratory for Laser

Applications of Politecnico di Milano.

D7.7.3. Training

25

5 Conclusions

LightJumps partners have attempted to identify efficient ways of transferring LightJumps objectives in

training of young students. We have identified that conventional teaching methods already available provide

a direct channel for reaching students. Through this channel, students that are already in contact with

photonics technologies were reached. The main aim was to emphasize the importance of photonics

technologies as key enabling technologies as well as entrepreneurship in general. University courses and

training activities organized by the partners could reach more than 1000 students, expanding LightJumps’

message. In addition to the already existing teaching activities, the partners involved a more limited number

of students directly to LightJumps related activities. Some of these were participating or organizing

LightJumps events, taking part in mentoring activities and applying to awards.

Some of the key findings of these activities show:

Photonics training can be broadened to virtually any field in technology related degrees. Reaching

students in other fields and training them about photonics possibilities will provide a wider market

in future.

Students in technology and engineering fields working on photonics put business aspects on a second

priority. Close contact with companies allow them to realize the importance of technical and business

related questions together.

Multidisciplinary interactions are fundamentally important for photonics students. They collaborate

often with other scientific branches. However, interactions with distant branches such as design,

humanities and business schools can provide possibilities to expand photonics applications.

D7.7.3. Training

26

APPENDIX

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D7.7.3. Training

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