State's laser industry lacks focus
There are associations for nearly every industry in Massachusetts, but not photonics
Without the photonics industry, society would likely be without laptop computers, digital cameras, long-lasting and efficient LED lighting, certain medical procedures and any way to capture, communicate and display the data upon which so many have come to rely.
And the industry is a substantial and growing part of the Massachusetts economy and business scene, employing 2,308 people at 45 different establishments as of 2006, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
So, photonics is a high-tech industry offering well-paying jobs. Yet there is no statewide photonics industry association or trade group here.
Photonics company executives and industry experts say there should be a trade group or industry association in Massachusetts for a variety of reasons. But the industry itself includes a broad and fragmented range of specialties that don't necessarily have anything in common other than the fact that they all generate and harness light.
Industry associations put on cocktail parties, dinners and panel discussions. They also offer businesses a visible and effective way to lobby for their causes, needs and wants at the legislature
The photonics industry isn't just fragmented, however. It's secretive, and its individual businesses have traditionally been willing to do their own thing.
Safety in numbers
For now, most of the photonics companies in the United States are based in the east, especially in New England, according to Clifford J. Robinson, former head of Boston University's Photonics Center and the director of the school's business incubation program.
But according to Larry Barstow, founder of Headwall Photonics in Fitchburg, the state should encourage, and even fund, the establishment of an association before other states lure Massachusetts' laser, light and fiber optics companies away.
"So many states are doing a tremendous amount to build up their tech sectors," Barstow said. "Michigan, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas and Ohio really reach out and offer quite a suite to try to get you to relocate," he said.
Financing aside, putting together a statewide industry association would be an outside consideration at best for area photonics executives, Barstow said.
"I don't know how the other ones got started, and I'm not sure that would be a real effective use of the time I have," Barstow said.
Headwall employs about 30 people. The company designs and manufactures spectrascopy equipment for the life sciences, industrial processes, control, agriculture and telecommunications industries.
Barstow said the state's photonics industry would be stronger if there were an association. "It would be beneficial to raise awareness and enjoy the support" that would come with an association, he said. "I would support one being available. It gives you the opportunity for getting access to opportunities you might not otherwise see."
Bringing it all back home
The Massachusetts photonics industry isn't left completely in the lurch, however. Bill Shiner, IPG Photonics' vice president of industrial markets, said for laser companies, there are regional chapters of the Optical Society of America and the Laser Institute of America, of which he is president. Massachusetts companies are also free to join national organizations like the Electro Optic Industry Association. But in Massachusetts, there's "nothing where the industry (as a whole) can get together. There's an awful lot of good companies in Massachusetts." An industry-wide association "could be worthwhile. It could help attract people to our area," Shiner said.
Robinson said Photonics "is a very vibrant industry in New England and up and down the East of the country." But while BU has tried to make its photonics center a hub for the industry, and the New England Fiber Optic Council and other specialty organizations cater to specific parts of the industry, other states have better recognized the growth and longevity potential of the industry as a whole, Robinson said.
"The state of New York has done quite a job pulling a photonics industry association together," Robinson said.
In New York, the association was begun as a way to help three struggling photonics industry giants: Kodak, Corning and Xerox.
Massachusetts wouldn't have to wait for an economic emergency to establish an industry cluster or association, Robinson said.
"There is a need in Massachusetts because there are so many photonics companies in Massachusetts and it's a highly fragmented industry."
Advances in photonics like Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) "are like finding oil in the ground," Robinson said. And "a lot of these technologies are in development right here in Massachusetts. Photonics truly drives the information age."
"Do we need a cluster? Do we need an industry association? Yes," Robinson continued. "There's always value in associations when the industry is fragmented."
Self made
Dave Belforte, a Sturbridge-based publisher of the trade journal Industrial Laser Solutions, said a state association would be valuable for the industry because it would be a unified front to lobby the government, and would allow members to make contacts they might not make otherwise.
But "I've been doing this for 38 years, and they're not joiners," Belforte said of the people in photonics.
"It's all a bunch of individual companies, and they're so busy doing their own thing, they don't see the value," he said. Belforte said he was around for the formation of the Electro Optical Industry Association, "and even that was a tough sell. This industry, at least lasers, tends to be rather secretive. The big guys went public, and a lot of the secrecy is gone," Belforte said. But still, "you need a powerhouse" individual to start a state association.
The national organizations "don't address state issues, and photonics does represent a fairly significant part of the revenue in the state, and employment. It should have visibility. But there's not really fertile ground in Mass. for somebody to say, 'Let's go march on the state house and get our voice heard.'"
Robinson said, "In Massachusetts, the economy has been strong in the high-tech area, and the government hasn't seen the need to step in."
That's acceptable to Shiner.
"I think it could be self-funded. The state's involvement would not be financial, but some interest, involvement and representation. You need somebody to spearhead it. It almost becomes a dictatorship in the beginning."
"Young people are not getting exposed to the things that we do. We're not educating our young people, they're not rubbing elbows with the heavyweights," Shiner said.
An association at least gives that opportunity.
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