SPIE Photonics Summit highlights business opportunities with US Government

07 Oct 2024

Third annual meet-up in Washington DC brings together big hitters from industry and policy-makers.

By William Schulz

A capacity crowd of optics and photonics industry players gathered in Washington, DC, on 25th September for the third annual SPIE Photonics Industry Summit. The day-long summit hosted a variety of US federal government executives who spoke about myriad programs that rely on optics and photonics technologies and how interested companies can partner and do business with the US government.

As in prior years, robust question and answer sessions following each talk allowed industry participants unfiltered dialog with government policymakers and senior program executives from both military and civilian agencies. They spoke frankly of the benefits and difficulties of doing business with the government—and the feds had an opportunity to explain their efforts to build better partnerships as well as support and enhance the success of the US optics and photonics industry.

Industry representatives who, throughout the day, introduced speakers and panel discussions included Joseph Spillman of Optimax, Robert Walker, Leonardo; Jenn Cable, Thorlabs; Ravi Guntupalli, Teledyne; Kirk Warden, LaCroix Optics; Matthew Sydor, Sydor Optics; Alexander Cheff Halterman, Quartus Engineering; and James Butler, Hamamatsu.

New this year was a congressional reception on Capitol Hill on the eve of the Summit. Attendees had an opportunity to speak directly with legislators, network and advocate on behalf of the photonics industry, and gain visibility on topics related to the success of their businesses. Elected officials in attendance included Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY, 25), Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ, 5), Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ, 6), Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ, 1), and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA, 2).

Security and defense

After a welcome introduction from SPIE CEO Kent Rochford, the Summit’s first speaker, Kushal Seetharam of the US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), took the stage. He described the role of his office as that of matchmaker for the private sector with the Department of Defense (DOD).

Policymakers, Seetharam said, know that the private sector today produces much of the technology of interest for national security needs. His office, then, seeks to form the “connective tissue” that brings emerging technologies into DOD at a speed and scale different from the usual, bureaucratic DOD process. With five offices across the country and several online hubs, DIU’s strategy is to leverage its agile contract authority. In recent years, Seetharam said, DIU has transformed 50 percent of its short-term awards (processed in about 90 days) into long-term, larger DOD contracts.

Next on the agenda was Christina Killingsworth of the US Economic Development Administration (EDA), who discussed her agency’s role in emphasizing the importance of regional investments. She encouraged attendees to consider applying for EDA’s Build to Scale program, a $50 million open competition to promote and strengthen entrepreneurship.

Also, she highlighted the 31 Tech Hubs established across the US to promote regional innovation, each receiving $20- to $50 million in implementation grants. To learn more, she encouraged attendance at the Tech Hub panel, 28 January 2025 at SPIE Photonics West, where optics and photonics innovators can hear from representatives from several regional tech hubs.

Other government speakers included Mark Spencer, director of the Joint Directed Energy Transition Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering; Olga Blum Spahn, a program director at the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy; Mario Perez from NASA’s Astrophysics Division, and Tayyab Suratwala in the National Ignition Facility and Photon Sciences Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. They detailed their agencies’ programs and opportunities to work with and support innovation in the optics and photonics industry.

Small Business Program

Farooq Mitha, director of DOD’s Office of Small Business Programs detailed the Pentagon’s small business strategy focused on three main pillars: A unified management structure, aligning small business priorities with national security priorities, and providing more resources and engagement with small businesses.

He highlighted DOD’s Apex Accelerator Program, which provides education and training to help businesses become capable of participating in federal, state, and local government contracts. Another program aimed at small businesses is the Mentor-Protégé Program to help small businesses expand their footprint in the defense industrial base.

Mitha acknowledged audience concerns about the administrative costs of doing business with DOD, the complexity of the security clearance process, and ways to help small businesses with startup costs.

Finally, Marla Dowell, director of the CHIPS R&D Metrology Program at National Institute of Standards and Technology, explained that the program aims to innovate around measurements that are accurate and precise and that will support the semiconductor industry.

NIST recently announced the first awards from the CHIPS Research and Development Office, which is $5 million in funding for 17 companies across nine states to innovate “critically needed measurement services, tools, and instrumentation.” Dowell said she encourages companies “to engage with the CHIPS metrology community.” She said NIST recognizes the importance of “continuous engagement and collaboration with industry stakeholders.”

“After three years of hosting the Photonics Industry Summit, it is clear our goals for the event are being met and that we must continue bringing these communities together,” says SPIE Director of Government Affairs Jennifer O'Bryan. “This year's inclusion of the networking reception on the hill brought five Representatives and many staffers to network and learn about photonics directly from our industry's leaders.

The program on the following day was full of actionable information for companies and individuals looking to engage with the US Government. This interplay of industry talking to policymakers and government program managers talking to industry is exactly what we envisioned when we launched the Summit, and the growth of awareness and investment in photonics will continue as a result. We're already looking forward to building on the success in the years to come!”

• William G. Schulz is Editor-in-Chief of SPIE Photonics Focus.