Real-Time Industrial Classifications

UK Photonics Industry

Discover the UK’s Photonics industry and the companies working with advanced optical technologies. View company data, industry trends, market size, financials and download our free sector report today.

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What is Photonics?

Photonics refers to the physical science of light waves. A branch of optics (the study of the behavior and properties of light), Photonics describes the generation, detection and manipulation of light.

In the UK, the Photonics industry is made up of a wide range of companies designing, manufacturing and using advanced optical technologies. This includes those working in microelectronics, remote sensing, telecommunications and even quantum technology. Examples of Photonics include lasers, smartphone screens and cameras and fibre optic cables.

Photonics sector summary

Key information you should know about the Photonics sector from our AI-driven platform of over 5 million companies:

Photonics has turnover of £10.04bn, meaning it is our 46th largest RTIC, and our 44th fastest growing sector.
The Photonics sector is getting a lot of attention from investors and is one of the top 10 fastest growing sectors for venture capital funding.
Photonics is in our top 10 for regional diversity, with 87.6% of business premises located outside of London.

1,304

COMPANIES CONSIDERED

£14,153,598,656

TOTAL TURNOVER

29,748

TOTAL EMPLOYEES

£1,683,390,000

TOTAL INVESTMENT FUNDING

£219,362,775

TOTAL INNOVATE UK GRANT FUNDING

2.0%

AVERAGE COMPANY GROWTH PER YEAR

Photonics verticals

Our Photonics RTIC is made up of 7 individual industry verticals, including verticals such as Industry 4.0, Microelectronics, Optics. You can find out more about the verticals by buying a report, visualising the sector on our platform, or by downloading the data.

Sector Code Description Records
RTIC0027 Photonics 952 companies
Companies working with advanced optial technologies, often lasers, fibre optic cables, rapid data transmission, etc…
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- Photonics: Industry 4.0
  Companies providing products using photonics technology (i.e., light sensors) for smart factories
  253 companies
- Photonics: Microelectronics
  Companies using advanced photonics technology (i.e., laser) for the manufacture of microelectronics
  73 companies
- Photonics: Optics
  Companies developing specialised optical products
  333 companies
- Photonics: Photovoltaics
  Companies producing photovoltaic technology and/or derived products
  194 companies
- Photonics: Quantum Tech
  Companies applying photonics technology and knowledge into the development of quantum technologies
  150 companies
- Photonics: Remote Sensing
  Companies supplying remote monitoring products that use photonics technology
  295 companies
- Photonics: Telecommunications
  Companies applying photonics technology and knowledge to the development of telecommunications infrastructure, products and services
  140 companies

Photonics industry growth

We estimate that the UK Photonics sector could be worth approximately £11.7bn by 2027, based on the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.1%. Below you can see the five year turnover forecast for the RTIC from 2023 to 2027.

Get your free Photonics report

Dig deeper into the UK’s Photonics Economy with our free 2023 RTIC report, which includes:

– Summary of RTIC data & industry performance
– Overview of key verticals
– Geographic analysis & breakdown
– Key insights & trends

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Real-Time Industrial Classifications (RTICs)

At The Data City we’re mapping the emerging economy through accurate and reliable real-time data. We’ve produced Real-Time Industrial Classifications (RTICs) for some of the UK’s fastest growing sectors, across over 350 industry verticals, including the Photonics industry.

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