Florida's Photonics Boom: What's Behind It (And What's Ahead)

A Q&A with James E. Pearson and Alexandre Fong, Florida Photonics Cluster

Florida is home to one of the largest and most active concentrations of photonics activity in the world. The state boasts 270 photonics companies, which employ 5,700 optics professionals and generate over $3.6B in annual sales. It is also a hub of optics and photonics research, with nearly 80 photonics faculty researchers at centers such as the University of Central Florida's CREOL – College of Optics and Photonics and the University of South Florida's Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Bio-MEMS and Microsystems Laboratory. Some 100 photonics specialists graduate from Florida colleges and universities each year, entering fields including lasers, fiber optics, optical and laser materials, thin film coatings, optical components, and many others.

One of the principal facilitators of Florida's photonics industry success has been the Florida Photonics Cluster (FPC; www.floridaphotonicscluster.com), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to unifying the state' various photonics companies and organizations. The FPC is led by President Alexandre Fong and Executive Director James E. Pearson, PhD.

Photonics Online had the privilege of meeting up with Fong and Pearson at Photonics West 2011, to get an update on the FPC and its current and future activities. In this Q&A, Fong and Pearson provide an introduction to the FPC, discuss the current state of the photonics industry in Florida, explore some of the factors behind its impressive growth, and look ahead to the challenges it may face in the coming years — and what the FPC plans to do to help overcome them.