I have never been one to leave a party early, much less when the band is just warming up. But this, sadly, will be my final editorial column for Photonics Spectra. Fortunately, my next professional endeavor will not carry me entirely beyond photonics, because all signs indicate that this industry has barely hit the dance floor. Regular readers will have noticed that, though some photonics sectors have become almost commoditized, the overall industry still regularly sets the stage for Nobel-winning research as well as headline-making technological leaps. Additionally, as this column has observed, photonics technology is itself undergoing a sea change. One general theme defining this change is that many large, complex systems are becoming substantially smaller — from synchrotrons to spectrometers to supercontinuum lasers. Paralleling this trend is the blurring boundary between photonic and electronic “components” as the former is increasingly integrated more deeply with the latter. This is not just more cheerleading. Management consulting firm McKinsey & Company recently published an article titled “Imperatives for photonics companies in the next wave of growth1.” Most notable to this reader was the always-surprising reminder that, to “outside” people, photonics is still a comparatively small industry despite its incredible technological diversity. All told, by McKinsey’s measure, photonics-enabled systems amount to a $1.4 trillion market — roughly equivalent to NVIDIA’s market capitalization today. Less astonishing was the article’s foregone conclusion, underscored by its title, that the photonics industry is characterized by one growth wave after another. This pattern is largely due to photonics’ technological diversity: Always, there is some internal sector offering a new solution for whatever downstream market is the current darling of Silicon Valley. Accordingly, McKinsey’s article cites trends familiar to Photonics Spectra readers, such as the demand for silicon photonics in the data center or the growing use of ultrafast lasers for cold materials processing. Though relatively small, the photonics industry consistently punches above its weight when it comes to foundational innovation. This has made it the best of all possible industries for a trade editor to cover. It is small enough for me to have been able to engage with leaders in every corner, and yet innovative enough to always find something new and interesting to keep the magazine brimming with content each month. Other sectors, such as manufacturing, medicine, consumer electronics, communication networks, and even quantum computing, might dominate mainstream headlines. But the photonics industry is where other sectors come to shop for their next breakthrough. The narratives emerging from photonics research, engineering, and integration are endless and compelling. As much as I will miss shaping those narratives, what I will miss even more is the many dedicated and creative people I’ve had the pleasure to meet on this path. Thank you for helping to make this industry and this magazine what it is today. And stay in touch. 1. McKinsey & Company. Imperatives for photonics companies in the next wave of growth, www.mckinsey.com/industries/semiconductors/our-insights/imperatives-for-photonics-companies-in-the-next-wave-of-growth.