When casually asked, "How are you?" a colleague of mine inevitably replies, "Bearing up under the strain." He is English so this tongue-in-cheek response passes for humor-but in fact it has become a fair response to the question if posed about the state of global laser markets.
The continuous turmoil and uncertainty in the world economy has made many photonics companies cautious, even as some have done very well in specific product areas. Consequently, insights into market conditions and future opportunities are of great interest-for the past year, our most-read online article has been the January 2012 Laser Market Review and Forecast. I expect the same will hold true for our forecast in the January 2013 issue, in which our editors interview industry leaders and provide a top-level summary of market data from the forthcoming global laser market report by our research group Strategies Unlimited.
For more business and technology analysis, I'm pleased to note that 2013 marks the 25th anniversary of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar, which will take place on February 4, during Photonics West in San Francisco. Allen Nogee, senior analyst at Strategies Unlimited, and David Belforte, editor in chief of Industrial Laser Solutions, will provide in-depth analyses and forecasts of global laser markets. The keynote speaker will be Valentin Gapontsev, chairman and CEO of IPG Photonics, with additional talks by industry leaders such as Bo Gu on laser markets in China, Eric Swanson on developments in OCT, Rüdiger Paschotta from RP Photonics on optical components for ultrafast lasers, and Parviz Tayebati from TeraDiode on direct diode lasers.
The short answer on the condition of the global laser markets-especially in the industrial sector-is that they are generally healthy and lasers are enabling new applications. In the face of global economic conditions, bearing up now is a good plan for taking advantage of future opportunities.
