Europe's photonics scaleup scene: what's working, what isn't, and who should be allowed to fail

Hugo Thienpont, Director of Brussels Photonics at VUB and coordinator of PhotonHub Europe, maps the current state of the European photonics startup and scaleup ecosystem—where genuine momentum is building and where structural gaps are holding companies back. He was speaking on June 2nd to open the Optica Global Advanced Manufacturing Alliance meeting. Hugo Thienpont responds to multiple questions throughout the keynote. The 20-min presentation sparked a pointed discussion about the European Commission's role: are current instruments actually accelerating commercialisation, or are they propping up companies that should not exist? Audience reactions included: 2. Yannick Paillard - Represents SCINTEL and discusses wafer-level manufacturing 3. Ignazio Piacentini - Asks questions about photonics visibility at the EU level 4. Benoit d'Humieres - Comments on photonics industry support and public-private partnerships1 5. Marijke Keters - discusses demand-side issues. 6. Lars Benesch - asks about support 7. Darren Berns - From IDEX, discusses bridging the gap between European innovation and market scaling. 8. Liron Gantz addresses photonics visibility and foundry needs 9. Reinhard Voelkel- Discusses product-market fit and the need for stricter company evaluation 10. Philip Bolle - Comments on industrialisation challenges and European VC funding issues The sharpest intervention came from Reinhard Voelkel who argued that failures should be allowed to die. His case: Europe does not have a zombie scaleup problem because of a lack of funding. It has a serial entrepreneur problem. Capital recycled through failed ventures, and the people who ran them, is how ecosystems build compounding know-how. Keeping the walking dead on life support blocks both. It is an uncomfortable argument -- but a necessary one for an industry that needs to move rapidly from world-class research to world-class companies. What do you think: should EU instruments set harder gates on product readiness before a scaleup qualifies for support?