DEFI Photonique: a French national training project for optics and photonics industry

The French government supports a structuring project for French Photonics. This project named DEFI Photonique is carried by the CNOP (National Committee for Optics & Photonics) for a period of 5 years (2013‒2017). One of the most important task is dedicated to training for industry, particularly SMEs. The project aims at elaborating a training offer based on the experience of PYLA, the Bordeaux training facility for Optics and Photonics, and create a national network throughout all the French Photonics clusters. The project plans to initiate, develop and coordinate training courses based on the players skills in the sector, in particular regional clusters, depending on their field of excellence. This deployment of training courses should enable a mesh structure both thematically and geographically. Collaborative work between training players in each pole, including joint actions, will facilitate access to training courses for companies, especially SMEs. A market survey is already being conducted in 2013 inphotonics industry and application sectors. Implementation of actions involves all French photonics clusters as well as professional organizations. We will rely on the feedback we have with PYLA to show how training courses can be a strategic tool for development of technologies and industries. At this stage of the DEFI Photonique project we will be able to present the results of different analyses that have been conducted in key sectors and plans that will be implemented for the realization of the first actions.