In recent years, much has been invested in photonics. Photonic chips have properties that are of great importance for data storage and telecommunication. Photonics companies that can design and produce this new generation of chips have emerged in Twente and Eindhoven. The granted Growth Fund application PhotonDelta will contribute to the further approved of the production capacity of photonic chips in Twente. But we are already looking further. The future of chips does not lie in electronic or photonic chips, but in the integration of systems. The NXT GEN HIGHTECH growth fund application plays a major role in this, in which the next generation of equipment for integration and packaging is being developed. Europe should invest in building up knowledge about these integrated systems and the machines needed to produce them. Twente is the ideal place for this. We have all the key technologies in-house: from analogue mixed signal and RF design, photonics, quantum photonics, microfluidics, materials, thin film application and advanced manufacturing. It is precisely this combination of all these technologies that is needed to not only design heterogeneous chips, but also to build the machines to produce them. We want to use the coming months to draw up a research roadmap for the development of heterogeneous systems.
