SPIE reschedules Photonics Europe and other events as digital forums

19 Mar 2020

Canceled Strasbourg event is reborn online for April 6-10; other US SPIE events following suit.

Further to last week’s announcement concerning SPIE Photonics Europe, event organizer SPIE has decided that the in-person meeting and exhibition (scheduled for the end of March in Strasbourg, France) is canceled and instead the conference program will transition to a digital forum.

The digital forum will be offered between April 6th – 10th and feature prerecorded presentations to mirror the previously-planned technical programme.

SPIE stated, “After announcing postponement, we contacted our event team and the hosting facility to organize an event at a future date. The only available dates conflicted with other important European optics conferences so we reached the difficult conclusion to cancel SPIE Photonics Europe 2020.”

Marilyn Gorsuch, Senior Director of Technical Programs, commented, “We recognize this isn’t a substitute for meeting in person, but we hope this brings some normalcy to a very challenging global situation.

“This year’s Photonics Europe conference programme is filled with wonderful examples of innovative research and clever applications of optics and photonics. It would have been a shame for presenters to not have a mechanism to share their work and for the community to not learn from each other’s advancements.”

During the digital forum, attendees will be able to watch and listen to recorded presentations on-demand and submit written questions; authors will be asked to check in periodically and respond to questions.

SPIE will refund all registration fees already paid for the technical program and short courses and will provide the newly created digital forum will be free for all attendees and presenters.

“The scientists and engineers that we serve are making great progress and advances, and we look forward to helping them share and disseminate the latest research at the Photonics Europe Digital Forum, added Gorsuch.

Further details will be posted on the Photonics Europe website.

Other SPIE events also switching to digital formats – or postponed

SPIE Smart Structures + Non Destructive Evaluation, scheduled for 26-30 April in Anaheim, California, will be transitioning from an in-person conference to a digital forum.

The collocated SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing, (26-30 April in Anaheim, California), will also be transitioning from an in-person conference to a digital forum. Dates for these two forums have yet to be announced.

SPIE Translational Biophotonics 2020, (18th – 19th May 2020, Rice University, Houston, Texas) has been postponed. SPIE states, “Based on guidance received from Rice University regarding Covid-19 concerns, we are postponing this bioscience event and we will reschedule the meeting for May 2021.”