NASHUA, NH--In the January issue of both Optoelectronics Report and Laser Focus World, readers will learn just how bad the laser marketplace fared in 2009. I’ll give you a hint: far worse than the approximate 11% downturn that we forecast a year ago. The good news is, however, worldwide laser sales are expected to increase in 2010--although coming in far below the $7.01 billion actuals of 2008.
At the 2010 Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar (to be held January 25 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, in conjunction with SPIE’s Photonics West conference; go to www.marketplaceseminar.com to register), Laser Focus World chief editor and associate publisher Steve Anderson will present the global market review and forecast detailing the numbers for the major laser market sectors. And David Belforte, chief editor of Industrial Laser Solutions, will follow with his analysis of the global markets for industrial materials processing--a market sector hit particularly hard in 2009.
Focusing on the more ‘positive’ aspects of the laser markets in 2009 and some of the activities that will point the way forward out of the recession, Dr. Kumar N. Patel, chairman and CEO of Pranalytica (Santa Monica, CA), will present the opening address entitled “50 Years of Lasers: An Inventor’s Perspective on High-Power IR Lasers and the Laser Marketplace” (see www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/370631), while former astronaut Dr. Jeff Wisoff of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL; Livermore, CA), will present the afternoon keynote entitled “THE NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY: Bringing Star Power to Earth” (see www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/369629). The seminar also includes numerous other “forward looking” presentations, and a late afternoon Technology Forum on Green Emitting Lasers and Their Applications.
“Are we in a recovery, or still in recession? V-shaped, W-shaped, or U-shaped?,” asks Tom Hausken in his Opto Insider blog at www.optoiq.com entitled “The photonics market, one year later.” Hausken, market analyst at Strategies Unlimited (Mountain View, CA), provides the ‘quantitative’ portion of the Laser Marketplace Review. Just a few snippets from his blog that point to a 2010 recovery include: “Many public photonics companies have seen great stock returns. LED companies in particular. Even those that haven’t are seeing a bounce off the bottom, suggesting that it won’t get worse. The stock market doesn’t say anything about small businesses, but there are far more small, private photonics companies than public ones.” So stay tuned, and attend the Marketplace Seminar if you can.
