July 30, 2015
As a sponsor of the National Photonics Initiative (NPI), an alliance of top scientific societies uniting industry and academia to raise awareness of photonics, the IEEE Photonics Society congratulates the Research Foundation for the State University of New York and other members of the New York consortium on their selection as the country’s first Integrated Photonics Institute for Manufacturing Innovation (IP-IMI). Earlier this week, Vice President Joe Biden made the announcement that the consortium, to be headquartered in Rochester, will receive $110 million in federal funding to advance U.S. research in photonics technology. The new institute is expected to revolutionize communications, medicine and defense, in addition to impacting multiple commercial technology sectors across the nation.
Dr. Dalma Novak, IEEE Photonics Society President, stated, "This announcement represents a tremendous achievement for the U.S. photonics community and is the culmination of several years of concerted outreach and promotion efforts by NPI volunteers and staff. The creation of an IMI focused on integrated photonics will enable new integrated devices and capabilities, and offers enormous potential for new applications of these technologies.”
Vice-President Biden noted during the press conference that confidence in U.S. manufacturing is improving and expressed how essential it is for the United States to "build the most modern infrastructure in the world and have the most skilled workforce in the world. We've gone from crisis to recovery, on the verge of resurgence." He went on to cite recent surveys that indicate investment growth in U.S. manufacturing with $936 billion alone in foreign investment.
Back in October 2014, President Obama announced his administration’s initial intent to form an IP-IMI by the investing the $110 million. In November 2014, a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) was issued by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), through the Air Force Research Laboratory, calling for concept papers for the establishment of the IP-IMI. The proposals submitted were narrowed down to three consortium finalists led by University of Central Florida, University of Southern California, and the Research Foundation for the State University of New York.
As the FOA proposal winner, the Research Foundation for the State University of New York will be joined by a consortium of 124 companies, nonprofits, and universities across the United States to secure the IP-IMI. With an additional $500 million in non-federal contributions, the IP-IMI to the amount of $610 million is the country’s largest public-private commitment under the President’s NNMI (National Network for Manufacturing Innovation).
"The promise of integrated photonics has been with us for quite a while. This extraordinary investment by the entire private and public partnership associated with the AIM Photonics proposal is a huge step forward in terms of taking the devices out of the lab and getting them into mass manufactured commercial systems,” stated Dr. Ryne P. Raffaelle, Vice President for Research and Associate Provost of the Rochester Institute of Technology.
The U.S. Government anticipates that the Integrated Photonics Institute for Manufacturing Innovation, the sixth institute under the NNMI, will bridge the gap between advanced research and commercial product development, yielding critical defense and telecommunications advances. Another major focus will be on advancing education and workforce development opportunities, in hopes of training and positioning the next generation of manufacturers in integrated photonics.
“One of the major goals of the NPI is to drive advancement of critical photonic technologies. Vice President Biden’s announcement this week marks a great leap forward in that effort. As a sponsor of the NPI, all of us within the IEEE Photonics can be proud of the role the society has played in fostering photonic innovation here in the United States,” said Christopher Jannuzzi, IEEE Photonics Society Executive Director.