INTERVIEW how basketball is the dominant sport in Lithuania, despite Europe’ s strong focus on football, the success of our companies and their ability to produce high-quality products has attracted more young people into the field. Physics students, especially those studying laser physics, make up a large proportion of graduates. This has helped make laser physics a popular field in Lithuania.
What makes Lithuania such a hub for photonics? It goes back to the early days of laser research. Lithuania has been involved in laser technology since the 1960s. This early start, combined with solid scientific developments, laid the foundation for the laser industry we have today. The success of our laser companies, just like the success of Lithuanian basketball, creates a positive feedback loop— more success attracts more talent, which leads to even more success. So, while Lithuania is small, the laser sector has managed to grow significantly, and we’ re positioned to continue leading in this specialized field, despite having fewer resources than larger countries.
What are your growth prospects for the company? How do you see the technologies evolving? Our growth has been strong, and we’ re convinced that we’ ve grown faster than the sector itself. Over the last decade and a half, we’ ve increased our market share. We still see opportunities for growth, and we continue to be at the forefront of new developments. We’ re technology-driven and product-driven, with a strong focus on customer satisfaction. Many of our managers have experience in service, which helps ensure that we maintain strong relationships with our customers and meet their needs effectively. This customer-centric approach allows us to keep growing in a niche market.
How do you view the global photonics market and its challenges? The photonics market is huge, but it’ s not always visible to the public. Photonics is a key enabling technology in many industries, but the value is often captured by the application companies rather than the technology providers. Many times, the full value of photonics is not monetized by the companies that drive the technology. While it’ s great to enable new applications, it’ s important for the technology developers to be able to capture more of that value. This also means that photonics, especially in lasers, is a highly innovative and fast-moving field. Unlike industries where a single innovation can sustain a company for 20 or 30 years, here we’ re constantly adapting and innovating. It’ s fun to work in this environment, but it can also be tough, especially when technology is overlooked in favor of other aspects like financial investment.
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