TRAILER The Creation of the European Photonics Industry Consortium. An EPIC Journey by Tom Pearsall
VIEW THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW ON THE CREATION OF EPIC ON • The Creation of the European Photonics Ind...
EPIC is celebrating its 20th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Benno Oderkerk interviews Tom Pearsall, the founder of EPIC, to discuss his experiences leading the consortium during its first years. Pearsall recalls how, when he initially presented the idea of EPIC to the European Commission, the concept of "photonics" was not yet a part of their intellectual vocabulary. Nevertheless, the Commission was able to provide assistance by aligning EPIC with an existing program called OPTIMIST. This introduction led Pearsall to valuable long-term partners like Peter Van Daele and Paul Lagasse, the latter of whom played a key role in guiding EPIC's early direction. In the interview, Pearsall describes how EPIC was initially divided into working groups focused on areas like Optical Communications, LED lighting, Laser Manufacturing, and Biomaterials. Despite a small staff consisting of only Pearsall and Martine Keim-Paray, EPIC was able to organize workshops for each area. Check here all the activities that we have prepared for the 20th Anniversary Celebration: https://epic-assoc.com/20years