Subject : press release: Academic consortium “SMETHODS” organizes hands-on trainings in optical design
for European companies.
Press kit for specialized technical press:
Title: Academic consortium “SMETHODS” organizes hands-on trainings in optical design for European
companies.
Optical design is the starting point for the development of any new photonic
device that is expected to capture, transfer, process or shape light. As a
cornerstone for product innovation it’s importance can hardly be overestimated
for many photonic companies. In spite of the advanced technological
development of present information society, optical design is still strongly
dependent on personal experience of the design engineer. In contrast with
many design procedures in other areas of engineering, optical design cannot
rely on standard design rules, straightforward scaling laws or well-regulated
fabrication procedures. It therefore requires time and time again customized
development and adapted ingenuity.
Traditionally optical design is identified with imaging systems and although this is still a vital application
domain, the importance of other disciplines such as non-imaging optics is growing fast. Optical design for
non-imaging optics deals for example with efficient solar collectors or free-form reflectors for efficient
lighting systems. “There are surprisingly few European universities that offer courses in classical optical
design based on geometrical optics such as lens design or the design of non-imaging systems”, says Paul
Urbach from the Delft University of Technology. “A probable explanation is that optical design is often
considered a mature subject with only few research challenges. In addition, academic courses are often not
close enough to practical applications which makes that there is a huge demand in industry for optical
engineers with practical design skills. Large photonics companies have specialized optical design groups and
often educate their optical designers themselves. However, most European photonics companies are small
and medium-size enterprises (SME’s) which have no access to such applied design trainings.”
Urbach is coordinator of the SMETHODS initiative, a Support Action of the EU 7th framework program.
“SMETHODS stands for SME’s Training and Hands-on Practice in Optical Design and Simulation. Our mission
is to strengthen Europe's optics and photonics industry by providing trainings and hands-on practice in
optical design and simulation. For this we joined forces with 7 European academic institutions that are
leading in optical design. We have identified 4 important domains in which we will provide training:
 Imaging optics
Netherlands)
(The first training session will be held from 16 until 20 April 2012, Delft/The
 Non-imaging optics
(First session: 18-23 June 2012, Madrid/Spain)
 Wave optical design
(First session: 4-8 June 2012, Brussels/Belgium)
SMETHODS, SME’s Training and Hands-on Practice in Optical Design and Simulation
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 Diffractive optics
(First session: 2-6 July 2012, Jena/Germany)
In each of these domains we will organize several fully integrated 5-day training sessions that will be given
by several instructors from the consortium partners and by external speakers from industry.” “With the
financial support of the EU we can offer these training sessions for free to everybody - although priority will
be given to employees of European SME's during registration”, Urbach adds.
SMETHODS hopes to attract up to 300 participants over the 30 months project duration. The different
sessions will be organized at the sites of the participating consortium partners in The Netherlands, Belgium,
France, Germany, Russia, Spain and Finland. People interested in attending a training session can register
and find more information on www.smethods.eu.
Contact for press:
Prof. Paul Urbach
h.p.urbach@tudelft.nl
+31-(0)15-27-8
Central contact point for companies:
Ir. Nathalie Debaes
ndebaes@b-phot.org
+32 494 824 941
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Partners:
Research
group
TUD
VUB
ITMO
IOGS
UPM
FSU
UEF
Name
Delft University of Technology
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
National Research University of Information Technologies,
Mechanics and Optics
Institut d’Optique Graduate School
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid
Friedrich-Schiller University Jena
University of Eastern Finland
contact person
Prof. Paul Urbach
Prof. Hugo Thienpont
Dr. Irina Livshits
Country
The Netherlands
Belgium
Russia
Prof. Pierre Chavel
Prof. Pablo Benitez
Prof. Frank Wyrowski
Prof. Jari Turunen
France
Spain
Germany
Finland
Logo:
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Photos:
Caption: The simulation and design of modern optical systems often needs approaches from different fields
such as imaging optics, non-imaging optics, wave optics or diffractive optics (by courtesy of LightTrans©).
Caption: Design of free-form optical surfaces for novel lighting applications or solar concentrators is growing
in importance (by courtesy of Light Prescriptions Innovators ©).
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Caption: SMETHODS will organize 5-day training sessions in different application domains i.e. imaging
systems, non-imaging systems, wave optical design and diffractive optics.
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