CST Global technology day with keynote address from Carol Monaghan MP.

04 April 2022

Including local MPs, MSPs, professors, funders, press and industry.

Optimum organised and ran CST Global’s technology day, held in May 2018, which allowed local photonics businesses; MPs and MSPs; innovation and funding bodies; university professors; and press and media, including the BBC; to join CST Global to celebrate the expansion of its III-V, compound semiconductor manufacturing site, in Glasgow.

Neil Martin, CEO of CST Global, addressed the guests, with a speech written by Optimum, entitled ‘The Photonics Gold Rush of 2019.’ He covered the size and growth of the photonics market; the significance of enabling technology to dependent industries and its impact on society; the challenges faced in recruiting international talent; and the importance of funding to accelerate entry into new technology sectors and markets. He described the current photonics industry opportunity as a modern-day gold rush, likely to peak during 2019. This time the urgency is to prove feasibility and own new technology. He stressed how critical the photonics industry will be to the UK economy and GDP over the next ten years.

CST Global’s technology day was attended by Ged Killen MP, Monica Lennon MSP and Carol Monaghan MP; Gavin Whitefield CBE, the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire; Professors of Glasgow University and Strathclyde University; Innovate UK; Technology Scotland; Scottish Enterprise; UK Compound Semiconductor Catapult; Compound Semiconductor Magazine, Optical Connections magazine, the BBC and local paper, the Hamilton Advertiser; and leaders of five photonics-based companies in Scotland - Compugraphics, Gas Sensing Solutions, Kelvin Nanotechnology (KNT), Pure LiFi and Renishaw.