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We live in an era of accelerated growth and disruption, and advanced technologies will enable us to cope with the ever-changing complexities of the 21st century. Nanoelectronics and photonics are among the key enabling technologies of our time, along with artificial intelligence (AI), advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, life sciences technologies, and security and connectivity. These are driving the development of digital products, which can open up new growth areas and industry competitiveness, create new job opportunities, and bring new products and services.
Photonics has the potential to transform multiple industries, including healthcare, telecommunications and renewable energy. Today, photonic systems from lasers to sensors are at the heart of autonomous transportation, quantum technologies, real-time digital services and 3D printing solutions. Photonics can improve the precision and accuracy of medical devices, help detect and treat disease more quickly, enable faster data transfer rates, facilitate optical data communications and imaging, and increase the efficiency of solar cells.
Photonic integrated circuits are a promising technology for neural networks, allowing us to build energy-efficient computing units. These technologies form the basis of machine learning and artificial intelligence systems that can sense their environment and adjust their behavior by analyzing the impact of previous actions and working autonomously.
As a technology with growing and expanding applications, photonics has become a hot topic in the current geopolitical landscape for the world’s most advanced countries. Why? Mainly because of its potential to achieve strategic autonomy through energy sovereignty while addressing the threat of climate change and ensuring commercial competitiveness.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is making progress in the field of photonics.Hawkeye 2, Country‘The first hyperspectral satellite, launched in 2020, uses advanced photonics to capture high-resolution images of Earth‘surface.
Leadership in photonics will enable the country to control the future capabilities and security of technology supply—no matter how uncertain the supply chain—and help it make informed decisions when applying the technology for the greater good. However, ignoring this technology at this time may mean that we will be dependent on innovation and supplies from other countries.
The photonics industry is a cornerstone of the UAE’s move towards an innovation-driven knowledge economy, as it lays the foundation for shaping and enhancing multiple other technologies, applications and capabilities that are responsible for rapidly propelling the country into a digital-first economy. Photonics’ contribution to medicine, healthcare, transport and road safety, telecommunications, and even climate change mitigation and sustainability are key priorities in our innovation roadmap and are highly aligned with the country’s industrial strategy.
The Directed Energy Research Center (DERC) at the Technological Innovation Institute (TII) in Abu Dhabi is an emerging global center of excellence in specialized focus areas such as optics and photonics, and we are driving the country’s ongoing efforts in this area.
Less than three years after opening, we launched a small, UAE-made Raman spectrometer device for on-site material sensing. Our photonic microwave generation systems also have important use cases in sensing, communications and computing. We developed a vortex beam generation platform that is immune to atmospheric turbulence for future remote sensing and communications platforms. Lightweight prototypes of integrated photonic systems-on-chip for sensing, communication, and computing applications are also attracting attention.
As a new member of the European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC), DERC and TII were pleased to recently welcome an EPIC delegation to our center for a series of technical workshops and demonstrations. The peer networking opportunity demonstrates the UAE’s growing prominence in the field of photonics and highlights its potential to become a key enabler of photonic solutions.
With 2023 named the Year of Sustainability in the UAE, and with it hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in November, there has never been a better time to invest in photonics, which can support the country’s net energy through flexible direct power generation. Zero ambition. High-efficiency photovoltaics enable seamless integration of solar energy into buildings and infrastructure. At the same time, it can also help generate indirect electricity, reduce downtime and improve wind mapping – photonics will increase the efficiency of wind turbines in existing and new facilities by 1.5% to 2%. The circular economy also relies on photonics, thanks to rapid optical identification and marking of materials and components for traceability.
The UAE needs to continue to strengthen its R&D focus and encourage wider collaboration between academia, industry and government to capitalize on this major opportunity. By working together, we can develop solutions to solve the real-world challenges we face and bring together researchers, entrepreneurs and investors to advance photonics innovation and commercialization. Education and training also need to go hand in hand as key cogs in driving this process.
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