Dr.
Eckhard Heybrock has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research (BMBF) to work with the VDI Technology Center in Düsseldorf to investigate measures aimed at
supporting innovation in the area of photonics.
1. Dr. Heybrock, about two years ago the Deutsche
Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG, German Physical Society) awarded you the
"Medaille für Naturwissenschaftliche Publizistik" (Medal for
Scientific Journalism) for your work in the "Fascination of Light"
education initiative. What were the elements of this initiative?
Dr. Eckhard Heybrock: Basically,
"Fascination of Light" was a traveling exhibition from Germany's
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) that dealt with optical
technologies, in which young people were introduced to the high-tech subject of
light in a fascinating manner with exciting experiments that they could take
part in.
The target group was the general public and the entire school system -
primarily, the aims were to awaken interest for and draw attention to optical
technologies. However, the special feature of this was that the exhibition was
carried out together with many partners from the entire industry. They
organized events and supplemented and supported the exhibition. Messe München
was also involved with Fascination for Light several times. It was this level
of cooperation that enabled us to visit more than 100 locations and reach more
than half a million visitors between 2003 and 2009. Press coverage was also
enormous, with several thousand newspaper articles and about 70 TV reports. At
last, optical technologies had reached out to the public.
2. Apart from children and teenagers, were other
age groups also addressed?
Dr. Eckhard Heybrock: Fascination of
Light was always more than "just" an exhibition. A separate didactic
offering was developed for elementary school teachers, with Luka, the very
special glowworm, acting as the intermediary to the children: Luka’s
experiments – the light workshop for elementary schools. The project entitled
"The Innovation League" has been encouraging joint projects between
schools, industry and science since 2008. And university prospectuses also
provide an overview of the roughly 1,000 university courses in the field of
optical technologies that are offered each year. Advanced training courses on
light and laser can be found in the course database of the German Federal
Employment Agency, where the educational objective optical technologies has
also been set up.
Although the pure traveling exhibition has now been wound up, these initiatives
continue to thrive throughout the education chain.
3. Will there be further, new efforts in terms of
photonics education in the future?
Dr. Eckhard Heybrock: Very much so.
Research and innovation always need a dialogue with society and need the best
trained people. It's always the people who make the difference. This applies
especially in the photonics industry.
A medium-sized, research-intensive high-tech industry like photonics, with a
high degree of pressure to be innovative and involving scientific-oriented
production processes is very much affected by the impending shortage of skilled
staff in Germany. More than 20% of employees in the photonics
industry have an academic background. This is about two and a half times higher
than the industrial average in Germany. By 2015, the photonics industry will need
approximately 9,000 university graduates to replace and supplement existing
employees (as of 2010). But photonics is competing for the best young talent
with industries that are much more visible.
In other words, the photonics industry is trying hard to win over young people.
Because of this, there is a high level of commitment in the competition to
acquire the best minds – and the industry is already very active in acquiring
young talent. I could list a whole range of activities here - from the "Light
Alliance" initiative, to company contact trade shows, open days, science
slam events, the roughly 600 joint photonics projects involving schools,
science and the industry and many, many more.
But the industry is not committed deeply enough as a whole, it needs a common
language. The full effect of the measures cannot unfold and the critical mass
that is needed for visibility is not being achieved. Unfortunately, because of
this, photonics remains an invisible field of technology for many young people.
This is precisely the starting point of the new, cross-industry initiative
"Photonik Campus Deutschland [Photonics Campus Germany]". The photonics trade associations
SPECTARIS, VDMA and ZVEI, Institutes of the Fraunhofer Society, the BMBF and,
as described, the entire photonics industry are working together as partners to
attract young talent. The initiative will be introduced to the public on April 23, 2012 at the Hannover trade fair.
4. In other words, the photonics industry as a
whole wants to attract young people?
Dr. Eckhard Heybrock: This is one of
the main fields of work. With the combined actions of the partners it should be
possible to aggregate and bundle the existing activities of the companies,
institutes, and trade associations to attract young people. In addition, new
activities are to be encouraged and the existing measures will be supplemented.
On the whole, "Photonik Campus Deutschland" will offer information
products throughout the education chain, involving schools (elementary, secondary
education levels I and II, high school), universities and vocational training
facilities, to address young people in a sustained manner. The measures will
focus on high schools and universities.
The BMBF is also involved in the initiative with a large number of measures.
These include especially the development of an Internet portal with broad-based
social media components (www.photonik-campus.de) to present selected measures
and to attract young people to the photonics industry. More online information
and offerings are further focuses of the new initiative. An authentic
presentation and networking of the industry on this jointly operated portal
will give young people direct access to the photonics industry, to its members,
and to its initiatives. The portal will also enable the target group to share
their own views and experiences. It will always be possible for individual
activities and contributions from the entire industry, such as photos and
videos, reports and information about events, etc. to be attributed to the
respective initiator. However, their effect will be strengthened considerably
through the cooperation and deliveries from the entire industry - a win-win
situation for everyone concerned, including the young people.
5. What exactly does "Photonik Campus
Deutschland" offer?
Dr. Eckhard Heybrock: "Photonik
Campus Deutschland"
- offers material and advanced training courses for elementary school teachers,
- encourages partnerships between schools, companies, and institutes,
- motivates
high school and university students, also in neighboring European
countries to study photonics in Germany, e.g. with "Photonics campus
life" videos (video reports from students) and "Photonics talks" videos
(video clips from training events and presentations),
- lists the study courses for photonics in Germany clearly and provides information about these courses,
- motivates
science and engineering students in the Photonics Academy - this is an
annual competition for a 1-week practical experience for a "photonics
career" in Germany,
- gives impulses to renew the job descriptions in the photonics industry,
- reports about opportunities, "life" and careers in photonics, answers questions about career entry,
- and,
ultimately, communicates the information via the Internet portal, at
trade fairs aimed at the target groups, school leaver fairs, and
conferences throughout Germany.
I ask every company and every
professorship for their support so that an offering such as this can be truly
lively and authentic and be continuously expanded, updated and communicated. In
particular, photos, photo documentation, videos, interviews, speeches,
presentations, reports and announcements about events for young talent are very
welcome for inclusion on the portal: heybrock@vdi.de
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