Pilot Photonics secures €10.4 million EIC backing as Europe bets on photonic infrastructure
Left to right: Enterprise Ireland Senior Advisor Digital Technologies Melissa Feddis, Enterprise Ireland National Director for Horizon Europe Kevin Burke, Pilot Photonics CTO Frank Smyth, Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, and Pilot Photonics CEO, William Oppermann (photo: Pilot Photonics)
Irish photonics company Pilot Photonics has been approved for a recommended investment of up to €10.4 million through the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator, one of the European Union's flagship programmes for scaling deeptech businesses. Announced on 2 July, the support is intended to help the Dublin-based company qualify products, expand manufacturing capabilities and strengthen supply chains as demand grows for photonic technologies used in artificial intelligence infrastructure, satellite communications and future wireless networks.
The award places Pilot Photonics among a select group of European companies backed through a programme designed to bridge the gap between scientific breakthroughs and industrial deployment. It also reflects growing interest in photonics as computing systems consume more power, data volumes increase and communications networks become more complex.
Light instead of electrons
Pilot Photonics develops integrated photonic technologies that use laser light to generate highly stable radio-frequency signals. These technologies are intended for applications including AI data centres, satellite communications, 5G and future 6G networks.
Photonics, the science and application of light, already underpins much of the world's digital infrastructure. Fibre-optic networks carry internet traffic across continents, while optical components are embedded in telecommunications equipment, sensors and semiconductor manufacturing systems.
What is changing is the extent to which photonic functions are being integrated directly onto chips.
As processors become more powerful and data volumes continue to increase, moving information efficiently between computing systems has emerged as a growing challenge. Electrical interconnects consume energy, generate heat and encounter limitations at ever higher transmission speeds.
Optical technologies offer an alternative. Light can transmit large amounts of information with lower energy losses and reduced signal degradation, characteristics that are increasingly attracting interest from companies building data centres and communications infrastructure.
Pilot Photonics specialises in optical frequency comb technology, laser sources capable of producing multiple precisely spaced wavelengths from a single device. Such technologies can simplify optical systems, reduce component counts and improve performance in applications ranging from telecommunications to sensing and space communications.
From university research to commercial scale-up
Pilot Photonics traces its origins to academic research carried out in Ireland's photonics community.
The company was founded in 2011 as a spin-out from Dublin City University (DCU), building on research in optical communications and integrated photonics conducted in collaboration with institutions including the Tyndall National Institute in Cork.
Pilot Photonics is led by chief executive William Oppermann and co-founder and chief technology officer Dr Frank Smyth.
Smyth has spent much of his career working in optical communications and integrated photonics, publishing extensively in the field and contributing to the development of frequency comb technologies. Oppermann brings experience in technology commercialisation, having previously founded data storage company MPSTOR, which was acquired by electronics manufacturer Sanmina in 2016.
In its early years, Pilot Photonics concentrated on frequency comb technologies and specialised optical components. Over time, the company expanded its focus towards integrated photonic engines intended for telecommunications networks, data centres, satellite systems and emerging wireless applications.
Its development has been supported through a combination of venture investment, public funding and institutional contracts.
Pilot Photonics raised close to €1 million in 2018 through investment led by Kernel Capital, with support from Dublin Business Innovation Centre. In 2022, the company secured a further €1.8 million investment through the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Growth Fund II.
European programmes have also played an increasingly important role.
In 2024, Pilot Photonics obtained €2.5 million through the EIC Transition programme to advance coherent co-packaged optics technologies intended to improve data transfer efficiency inside future AI-oriented data centres. The project focused on integrated comb lasers, modulators and signal-processing technologies.
The company subsequently secured a €1 million contract supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) aimed at preparing its Optical Frequency Generator Unit for deployment in satellite communications systems.
The newly announced EIC Accelerator support therefore represents a different phase in the company's development. Earlier projects concentrated primarily on technology maturation, while the latest investment package is intended to support product qualification, manufacturing readiness and supply-chain expansion.
"The support gives us the platform to move from breakthrough innovation to industrial scale-up, building a stronger team in Ireland, qualifying our products for global customers, and establishing the supply chain required to compete internationally," Oppermann said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
The EIC Accelerator explained
For many companies developing deep technologies, access to capital becomes increasingly difficult once research activities move towards commercial deployment.
The EIC Accelerator was established partly to address this challenge.
The programme sits within Horizon Europe, the European Union's €95.5 billion research and innovation framework covering the period from 2021 to 2027. While Horizon Europe supports scientific research across universities, laboratories and industry, the EIC was created specifically to help companies commercialise breakthrough technologies.
The Accelerator targets start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises developing innovations considered high risk, strategically relevant and capital intensive.
Support is generally provided through blended finance, combining grants of up to €2.5 million with equity investments of between €0.5 million and €10 million through the EIC Fund.
Companies undergo a multi-stage selection process involving written applications, technical assessments and interviews before independent expert panels.
Competition is substantial. Recent funding rounds have produced selection rates below 50 per cent among companies reaching the final stages of evaluation. The latest Accelerator cohort announced in June 2026 included 38 companies from 16 countries receiving approximately €90 million in grants alongside planned equity investments amounting to more than €200 million.
Many of the selected companies operate in sectors including semiconductors, quantum technologies, energy systems, advanced materials and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Beyond financing, the EIC provides mentoring programmes, access to investors and business acceleration services intended to support international expansion.
A global race in photonics
Pilot Photonics operates within an increasingly competitive international photonics landscape.
Several companies developing optical technologies have raised significant amounts of capital in recent years as AI infrastructure places growing pressure on computing and networking architectures.
US company Ayar Labs has emerged as one of the most prominent businesses in silicon photonics, developing optical interconnect technologies designed to replace traditional copper connections inside high-performance computing systems.
Lightmatter is pursuing photonic networking technologies for AI clusters and has established manufacturing relationships with semiconductor companies including GlobalFoundries.
Europe has produced its own photonics ecosystem.
Dutch company EFFECT Photonics develops optical communication systems for telecommunications and data-centre applications. French firm Scintil Photonics focuses on integrated laser technologies, while UK-based Salience Labs is developing optical computing approaches aimed at artificial intelligence workloads.
Pilot Photonics occupies a somewhat different position within this ecosystem.
Rather than concentrating exclusively on optical computing or chip-to-chip communications inside AI accelerators, the company has focused on optical frequency generation, integrated comb lasers and photonic engines intended for telecommunications, space systems and high-frequency wireless communications.
Its recent ESA-backed project illustrates that diversification strategy. While data centres are receiving increasing attention, satellite networks and future wireless systems are also expected to require technologies capable of transmitting growing volumes of information efficiently.
Europe's scaling challenge
European policymakers have long expressed concern that the region excels in scientific research but often struggles to transform laboratory breakthroughs into globally competitive industrial companies.
Photonics illustrates both Europe's strengths and its challenges.
The continent hosts internationally recognised research organisations including the Tyndall National Institute, IMEC in Belgium and specialised photonics clusters in the Netherlands, France and Germany.
At the same time, some of the largest private funding rounds in integrated photonics have taken place in the United States.
Programmes such as the EIC Accelerator are intended to support companies during a stage that can prove particularly difficult for hardware businesses. Unlike software companies, photonics firms frequently face lengthy product qualification cycles, complex manufacturing requirements and significant upfront investment costs.
Pilot Photonics has now reached that stage.
The company has demonstrated its technology through research projects, attracted private investment, secured European funding and established collaborations with organisations including ESA.
The next phase centres on manufacturing capability, customer qualification and supply-chain development.
For Pilot Photonics, the latest EIC backing is intended to support that transition from research-driven innovation towards industrial deployment.
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