3.8 million EUR for development of photonics in Latvia

On April 18th, the “FOTONIKA-LV” project was presented at the University of Latvia. This project was awarded the highest ranking possible – 15 out of 15 points – by the European Union seventh framework program competition "REGPOT-2011-1". In spite of the fierce competition, the project proved to be very successful because only 20 out of 291 projects received financial support from the European Union.

The 3.8 million EUR support to the “FOTONIKA-LV” project will be used by three cooperating institutes of the University of Latvia – the Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, the Institute of Astronomy and the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformatics.

The main task of the project is to consolidate Latvian intellectual and industrial potential, as well as promoting transdisciplinary research on a global level in this specific field.

Photonics is one of the five priority technologies that is included in the EU 2020 strategic plan. The photonics device works with photons – light particles. It can be compared to electrons in electrical appliances. The rapid development of photonics in the past decade resulted in significant improvements in the field of network technologies (optical cable system), processing of materials (work with laser technology and robots), energetics (solar collectors, energy-efficient lighting), health care (medical laser technology), etc. 

The preparation of the project application was partly financed by the ERAF project “Support for international cooperation projects for the University of Latvia and other activities in the field of sciences and technologies”, project number: 2DP/2.1.1.2.0/10/APIA/VIAA/013.

 
More information can be obtained at:
Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy
University of Latvia
Mr Jānis Spīgulis
Director
http://www.asi.lv/New/en/index.htm