During the General Assembly, we don’t only focus on technical progress – we also reflect on how to strengthen industrial leadership and ensure long-term impact.

A key topic is communication: how we share our goals and progress via social media and our website, reach the wider public, and inspire young people and women to explore opportunities in photonics and manufacturing. We also disseminate our results within the research community by presenting at conferences and publishing scientific articles. To ensure that project results continue beyond OPeraTIC, we develop a solid business plan and actively manage intellectual property and exploitation strategies. 

Upskilling the workforce is another priority, supported through consortium trainings, external workshops, and educational videos made available on our website. For effective technology transfer, we contribute to standardisation efforts, with around 20 recommendations already drafted.

Sustainability is central to OPeraTIC: S-LCA, LCA and LCC have been completed or are currently underway. Finally, we carried out a user perception analysis, reviewed EU-level policies, and are working on two policy briefs to support systemic change.

A big thank you to Daniela Ríos and Ina Qian (Steinbeis Europa Zentrum), Ana Queirós (EWF), and Volker Hessel, José Osorio, and Ricardo Mejía (University of Warwick) for driving this work forward.