The long and arduous road from a science and engineering breakthrough to a productized solution isn’t unique to photonics. But in a field such as ours, which is much more easily defined by its applications than its technologies (as several who have authored this column have suggested over the years), the payoff is often profound for those who manage to navigate this road. This is due to the considerable opportunity that photonics and photonics-enabled solutions have in global marketplaces. Optical and quantum-optical sensors for positioning, navigation, and timing systems; light-enabled test and measurement protocols for advanced manufacturing; and ultrafast processing capabilities to meet anticipated data demands are among the photonics solutions with direct throughlines to some of society’s most important applications. Here, both the solutions and the applications exist on the cutting edge. Yet innovation in photonics R&D spans more than newly developed solutions for futuristic applications. The laser famously lacked any application, futuristic or otherwise, during the first chapter of its history. And micro-LEDs, arguably one of today’s most sophisticated photonics systems, are still carving out a niche as fabricators work to overcome challenges to mass production. In both of these cases, one half of the solution-application equation qualifies as new: the laser — initially a solution without an application — and micro-LEDs, for which engineers have yet to develop the pathways to high-volume production necessary to ensure sustained application. The umbrella of photonics innovation reaches even farther, covering a third category. Consider the company Avalon Holographics and its efforts to bring true holographic displays to commercial markets. The company has released a holographic display table that takes 3D content or a digital twin and delivers detail-rich holograms to be used for improved decision-making or information gathering. According to the company, users do not need glasses or headwear. The company Axiom Holographics also occupies this commercial space. Earlier this year, it launched a “hologram zoo” experience in the U.S. Solutions such as these represent unquestioned innovation, attracting broad interest far beyond the optics and photonics fields. Both companies take the technology of holography and package it for consumer use in a new way. At the same time, the type of equation that describes a chip-scale lidar for precision navigation — or the earliest laser, famously a solution without a problem — hardly applies to a holographic table capable of generating an immersive display. Holography, though its creation predates the laser by 12 years, has not become nearly as widespread commercially. That productization is alive and well across such a broad range of photonics and photonics-enabled disciplines, however, proves the point that the road from research innovation to commercial viability is especially dynamic in this space. What’s more, there is every reason to believe that the point at which these two intersect will always merit close monitoring.