The innovative and commercial strengths of the photonics sector are to be harnessed in a major venture between universities in Scotland and California.

The Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde, St Andrews and Heriot-Watt, together with Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), are collaborating in a project which has won funding worth £1.6 million over three years from the Science Bridges awards, announced today by Research Councils UK (RCUK).

The project, the Stanford-Scotland Photonics Innovation Collaboration, is designed to capitalise on leading research in the photonics sector, in fields including life sciences and renewable energy, and the commercial opportunities the research offers. It also aims to bolster existing links between universities and businesses in Scotland and the US.

The three-year venture between the six institutions will focus on:

-Biophotonics, including stem cell imaging and neuroscience photonics
-Solar cell devices
-Integrated photonics
-Solid-state laser engineering
-Photonics sensors, including atom, quantum optic and environmental sensors…