Lutz Aschke, managing director of the Mahr Group, has been elected president of Photonics21. The board of stakeholders of the European technology platform for photonics also elected two members to its executive board. Eric Belhaire will serve as chair of Working Group 5 (Safety, Security, Space, and Defense) and Chris van Hoof will serve as chair of Working Group 6 (Agriculture and Food).

Before joining the Mahr Group as managing director, Aschke was managing director of the photonic components division within the TRUMPF Group.

Belhaire belongs to the technical Directorate of Thales Optronics Business Line. Its main specialties are the electro-optical technologies and infrared and visible image sensors. He is currently leading an international transverse group dedicated to the management of those key technologies.

Van Hoof is general manager of OnePlanet Research Center and part of the management team of OnePlanet. He is responsible for the R&D direction and business strategy of R&D teams across four imec locations: Wageningen and Eindhoven in the Netherlands, and Leuven and Ghent in Belgium.