Kick-off of CARLA, the hub for careers in photonics

Coordinated by ICFO, a consortium of 11 partners gathered on 21-22 January 2020, in Barcelona to kick-start this new initiative that aims, in coordination with industry and academia, to encourage young students and professionals to pursue careers in photonics. Swissphotonics is one of the partners and EPFL will also be part of the project as a Third Party of Swissphotonics.



Photonics has proven to be an essential ingredient in our modern world. Due to its unique properties, light has emerged as a core element of daily products and technologies such as smartphones, laptops, the Internet, medical instruments, industrial production technologies and telecommunications, to name a few. Considered a Key Enabling Technology (KET) for Europe’s future prosperity by the European Commission, it is calculated that 20-30% of the entire economy and 10% of the workforce in Europe is already linked to the field of photonic technologies. Nevertheless, a shortage of skilled employees in Europe is hampering the growth prospects of companies as well as the continent’s economy.

Bearing this in mind, last week a consortium of 11 European partners launched CARLA - the European Photonics CAReer LAunch Path. Coordinated by ICFO, CARLA is a 2-year H2020 EU- funded project that will develop a training/educational program for European photonics career camps to encourage STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics) university students, PhD students and young postdocs to pursue their careers in photonics. The goal of CARLA is to create a rigorous, tested and easily reproducible tool to support growth, leadership and innovation potential in photonics at the European level.

The CARLA camps will be directed to university students and young researchers from photonics and non-photonics fields. It will allow them to have a glimpse of the vast opportunities that the photonics careers landscape may offer and provide them with a roadmap for better employability. CARLA aims to boost the numbers of students and young researchers pursuing careers in photonics, to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship and to empower gender diversity. The project will also create an online structure based on social media channels to enable further networking and exchange of information across all communities beyond the actual camps.

CARLA Kick Off Press Release (669 KB)






Contact ICFO
Lydia Sanmartí Vila
Outreach at ICFO – Coordinator of Carla

Contact Swissphotonics NTN
Dr. Pierre-Yves Fonjallaz
Responsible for Romandy
+41 21 693 41 18

3 February 2020, Beni Muller + Iris Bollinger