Europe’s Bid for Photonic Chip Leadership Begins in Barcelona
Barcelona hosted PIXEurope Connect, an event driven by the European PIXEurope initiative — a pilot line backed by a €400 million investment to accelerate the photonic chip market and strengthen European technological sovereignty.
Following their participation in the event, Spain’s Minister for Digital Transformation and Civil Service, Óscar López Águeda, the Minister for Research and Universities of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Núria Montserrat, and the Government Delegate in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto Gómez, visited the ICFO facilities to see first-hand the latest advances in photonic chip technologies.
On 21 May 2026, Barcelona hosted PIXEurope Connect – Industry Ecosystem Building Day, an event organised to align visions and expertise, and to reinforce the extraordinary technological potential and transformative capacity of the PIXEurope Pilot Line in accelerating collaborations and driving innovation in photonic chip technologies across Europe.
The event brought together, in the auditorium of Torre Glòries in Barcelona, the leading players in the semiconductor and photonics sector — including policymakers, scientists and technologists, manufacturers and end users — to strengthen Europe’s position in next-generation chip development and ensure its technological sovereignty in the photonic chip industry.
The event succeeded in bringing together more than 300 field experts, industry players and institutional representatives, and was attended by Óscar López Águeda, Minister for Digital Transformation and Civil Service of Spain; Carlos Prieto Gómez, Government Delegate in Catalonia, Núria Montserrat, Minister for Research and Universities of the Generalitat de Catalunya; Jari Kinaret, Executive Director of the Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU); Werner Steinhögl, Head of Sector of the Microelectronics and Photonics Industry Unit of the European Commission; and Oriol Romero-Isart, Director of ICFO, the coordinating institution of the PIXEurope Pilot Line. In their speeches, all of them underscored these institutions’ commitment to advancing Europe’s strategy for integrated semiconductor and photonic chips.
Following the welcoming remarks from the ICFO Director, Minister Núria Montserrat opened the institutional addresses. “PIXEurope is a strategic project, a European project conceived and designed from the outset to ensure the generation of knowledge, as well as sovereignty in terms of capacity and technology in integrated photonics, to be developed here in Europe, rather than relying exclusively on regions outside this part of the world”, noted Montserrat. The minister recalled that “in Catalonia we also want to play a leading role, and we want to do so because we have a world-class scientific ecosystem in which ICFO is one of our long-standing research institutes, alongside other institutions working in photonics in collaboration with our universities, and also because we want to understand and be part of this twenty-first century technological race.”
Minister Óscar López expressed during his address “the honour of taking part in the institutional launch of this industrial ecosystem. A day of construction, a gathering that highlights the potential of PIXEurope”. López stressed the need for European momentum in terms of knowledge, talent, innovation and collaborations such as those represented by PIXEurope. López also noted that the country is driving science forward with a wide range of initiatives linking academia, talent and industry across various strategic areas. “Those who dare today to imagine the unthinkable could become tomorrow’s pioneers. Our country puts its trust in light to transform our future and our GDP. That is why we believe in this pilot line to achieve self-sufficiency in Spain’s photonic supply chain by 2030. Soon, this technology will be crucial for any superpower, and Spain is getting ready to seize the opportunity.” concluded the minister.
Following his participation in the PIXEurope Connect event, Minister Óscar López, accompanied by Minister Núria Montserrat and the Government Delegate in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto Gómez, had the opportunity to visit ICFO’s facilities in Castelldefels to see first-hand the advances in photonic chip fabrication technology.
During the tour, accompanied by the Director General of Research and Universities, Teresa Sanchís, the Rector of UPC, Francesc Torres, and the Director of CERCA, Laia Pellejà, they visited various laboratories and the Nanofabrication Laboratory (NFL), a new facility where state-of-the-art photonic chip prototypes are designed and developed. The visit allowed the minister to witness first-hand the work being carried out by ICFO researchers in advancing integrated photonics, semiconductors, quantum communications and other technologies key to strengthening European digital sovereignty. The tour also included a visit to ICFO’s new building, whose renovation — funded through the Singulars project of the Generalitat de Catalunya — will help reinforce the photonic chip programmes and the so-called Quantum Valley.
The event concluded with brief remarks from the minister and minister to the members of ICFO’s research community. López emphasised that Spain is “at the forefront” of photonics thanks to the talent of its researchers and the support provided by public policies. Finally, he reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to developing these technologies as a pillar of European competitiveness and technological sovereignty.