“Photonics in the Life Sciences 2018” Hosted by Beiersdorf

• Status meeting of the Research Association for Photonics in medicine, environmental analytics and food safety supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) at Beiersdorf
• More than 165 participants from research and industry
• Beiersdorf Research dedicated to collaboration with external partners

Hamburg, November 28, 2018 – Today, at the NIVEA manufacturer Beiersdorf AG this year’s status meeting of the Research Association for Photonics in Life Sciences supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) took place. More than 165 participants from research and industry as well as representatives from the BMBF discussed the current state of projects presented.

A high-tech branch has long since developed around the medium of light. Over 130,000 people now work in the photonics industry in Germany. “The BMBF supports innovative projects in all areas of photonics. But, the focus is on application-oriented work with the goal of bringing scientific results into practice. Researchers highly welcome this approach”, says Prof. Dr. Jürgen Popp, director of the well-known Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology in Jena and this year’s winner of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Research Award as well as the Berthold Leibinger Innovation Award. “This is especially valid for the area of ‘Photonics in the Life Sciences,’ in which processes for medicine, environmental analytics and food safety are examined and developed,” Popp adds.

The Hamburg skin care company Beiersdorf invests in its own top-class basic research and cooperates with renowned research facilities as part of the BMBF research association – including in the area of photonics. “Currently we are conducting an association project supported by the BMBF for the development of mobile image sensors for skin diagnostics and are working with four partners,” says Dr. Horst Wenck, Head of Front-End Innovation at Beiersdorf. “Beyond this association research our international research network consists of over 500 partnerships with universities, research centers and startups. Numerous innovations in both products and technologies have already come out of this work.”

In January 2012 the current German Federal Ministry of Education and Research program for supporting photonics over the subsequent 10 years began. In the first 6 years the government invested about 100 million euros annually for research and development in photonics.

The program is based on the work of over 300 experts from business and science who worked on the opportunities and challenges presented by photonics in a shared agenda-setting process. It continues the successful path of the first funding program “Optical Technologies – Made in Germany,” but at the same time represents the start of a new era. For the first time the focus will be on completely new technologies, which make Germany’s entry into the growing markets of the future possible.

Photonics in the Life Sciences is one of the fields of action explicitly named in the program. Questions about medicine, environmental analytics and food safety are examined. To be successful in this area a high level of interdisciplinarity and close collaboration between research and industry is required. The results are excellent scientific findings that can lead to new marketable products which will secure jobs. The research funding from the BMBF makes it possible for fields influenced by small and medium-sized enterprises like medical technology, biotechnology and environmental analytics to successfully compete internationally and become global market leaders.