Linking optics to systems thinking and AI offers great opportunities for the Netherlands

“The combination of optics and mechatronics is extremely interesting,” says Ton Peijnenburg of the High Tech Systems Center (HTSC). “Mechatronics is a well-known strength of the region. Just look at all the high-end devices being developed here. Optics often plays an important role – to measure positions, to expose, to magnify objects. Optics is always a topic.”

The Netherlands doesn’t have a large optical industry like Germany or Japan. “We don’t produce optical components on a large scale,” admits Peijnenburg, “but we do know what we’re talking about and we definitely have something to contribute.” He notices that companies from these large optics countries, but also the US and elsewhere, find their way to the Netherlands when they have an optomechatronic challenge. “That’s largely because we’re good at systems thinking. After all, optics is often part of a larger system. Optical elements have a finite accuracy. If that’s not good enough, you’ll have to get it from somewhere else in your system, for example from very controlled movements.”