STRASBOURG, France, April 30 -- More than 2400 scientists, researchers, product developers and vendors attended the inaugural Photonics Europe, held this week in Strasbourg, France. A total of 850 papers from 43 countries were presented in 17 technical conferences, and over 160 companies displayed their products and services at the exhibition. The event was sponsored by SPIE Europe. General Chairs Hugo Thienpont (Vrije Univ. Brussel), Giancarlo Righini (Istituto di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara-CNR, Italy) and Patrick Meyrueis (Univ. Louis Pasteur, France) crafted a broad-based event to serve the interests of the greater European community, according to the organizers. "Higher-than-expected attendance and strong support from steering committee members -- such as Hans Tiziani (Univ. Stuttgart, Germany), Malgorzata Kujawinska (Warsaw Univ. of Technology, Poland) and Klaus Biedermann (Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) -- from Europe and abroad point to the need for such an event, especially one which allowed for ample networking opportunities on the future of photonics in Europe," SPIE said. Receptions, a business program and an optics and photonics cluster event complemented the technical program. At a Hot Topics in Photonics" session on Monday, more than 400 enjoyed the insights of leading researchers such as Henri Rajbenbach (European Commission, Information Society Directorate) and Ayman El-Fatatry (BAE Systems UK). Conferences on biophotonics micro and nano-imaging, organic optoelectronics and photonics and micro-optics, VCSELs and photonic interconnects attracted large audiences. Topics included plant phototropins as a basis for optical switches and the use of proteins for making high-capacity memory chips. The exhibition of 160-plus companies attracted more than 600 walk-in visitors in addition to the 1000 technical attendees. Due to the technical content of the meeting, SPIE said it expects new exhibitors in organic optoelectronics and solid-state devices to participate in Photonics Europe in the future. For more information, visit: www.spie.org/conferences/calls/04/epe/