End of the European project NextGenPCF on the Next Generation Photonic Crystal Fibres, to be held at HORIBA Medical site in Montpellier (south of France).

On Wednesday, February, 3rd, Jonathan KNIGHT, Professor and Head of Department of Physics, University of Bath (UK), Philippe NERIN, Director of Research Department of HORIBA Medical and Pierre SANSONETTI, Project Coordinator, Draka, will present the end of the European project NextGenPCF in Montpellier.

This project was launched in June 2006, as part of the EU "Information Society Technology (IST)" programme, and finished at the end November 2009.

NextGenPCF arose from the very strong European contribution to the new field of photonic crystal optical fibres and the innovative applications which resulted.

In order to promote these applications in various areas of industry, an international consortium of 20 partners was brought together to find and develop applications in the following fields :

    - Biomedical
    - Environmental sensing
    - Telecom

These new applications have brought numerous technical developments. The integration of all the actors in a coordinated development process has created a virtuous circle of market growth linking fibre and raw material, through devices, to end users, while spreading knowledge and avoiding duplication of effort. NextGenPCF expects to provide a key competitive advantage to European firms in the future.