Global Photonics Engineering Contest 2026

    Terms and Conditions

    Entry Information:

    • All entries must be submitted by 19 June 2026.
    • The opening date for entries is 19 January 2026. The closing date of the challenge is 19 June 2026 ("Closing Date"). Entries received after this time will NOT be considered. Organisers of the competition reserve the right to adjust these dates and extend the deadline.
    • PhotonDelta accepts no responsibility for competition entries that are not successfully completed, submitted or received by the Closing Date for any reason, including, for example, due to a technical fault or other equipment failure of any kind.
    • PhotonDelta, Wevolver and sponsors claim no intellectual property rights over the material you provide to the Challenge. Your submitted designs remain yours. Your submission does not constitute an invention assignment to PhotonDelta, Wevolver or Sponsors.
    • By submitting your entry, you acknowledge that neither the work nor its use infringes the intellectual property rights (whether a patent, utility model, functional design right, aesthetic design right, trademark, copyright, or any other intellectual property right) of any other person.
    • If you are selected as a finalist, you may need to supply additional video and/or documents for 'proof of concept'. Failure to provide files may disqualify you from the challenge.
    • If you are selected as the Challenge winner then you commit to executing a partnership with PhotonDelta in a pilot/project throughout 2026. You also commit to documentation (video, interviews, etc.) of the journey during the partnership and execution for joint marketing purpose (feedback and inspire the community).

    Eligibility Criteria:

    • The submission must clearly articulate how the project utilizes Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) in the proposed application and demonstrate a clear use case for the technology in solving real-world engineering challenges.
    • The challenge is open to engineers, researchers, OEMs, hardware manufacturers, startups/scale-ups, and research teams working on innovative PIC applications. Participants may enter as individuals or as part of a team.
    • The submission must be the original work of the entrant or team. Entrants must own the intellectual property for their submitted project or have explicit permission from all relevant parties.
    • The submitted idea is not related to the creation of weapons or illegal material.
    • This competition is not open to anyone living in a country, province, or state where this competition is prohibited, taxed, or otherwise restricted under national, federal, provincial, state, or local laws, rules, or regulations.
    • This competition is not open to employees (or their immediate family members) of PhotonDelta or any other sponsor/partner of this challenge.

    Judging the Competition:

    • The competition entries will be judged by a panel of judges who determine the solution that most closely fulfils the criteria for the competition.
    • The decision of the panel of judges (acting reasonably) will be final, and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into.

    Prize Information:

    • 1 Overall Winner/Winning Team
    • €100,000 in services from the PhotonDelta ecosystem to help make the winning idea market-ready. These services include:
      • Design & Testing: A professional PIC design expert will review, validate, and optimize your design for manufacturability, ensuring alignment with industry protocols to facilitate smooth production.
      • Manufacturing & Prototyping: Access to Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) runs or pilot lines, depending on project maturity.
      • Packaging & Assembly: Full packaging and assembly services.
    • Up to €2 million in pre-seed funding: The winning company must be registered and based in the Netherlands to qualify for this funding opportunity.
    • Two tickets (including travel and accommodation) to pitch your idea at PIC Summit Europe 2026.
    • PR Coverage: The winning team will receive international media coverage, including articles, videos, and other forms of promotion to increase visibility.

    Additional Notes:

    • Prizes are non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash or other services unless stated otherwise.
    • The €100,000 in services is designed to assist in bringing the product to market, covering areas such as design, prototyping, and packaging. The provision of services and the allocation of associated prize money are contingent upon the project's relevance and the discretionary selection by participating sponsors involved in supporting the product's development.
    • Pre-seed funding up to €2 million is contingent upon the company being based in the Netherlands and meeting the eligibility criteria for funding.
    • Travel and accommodation for the tech event will be arranged by the organizers, and details will be provided to the winning teams.

    Judging the Competition:

    • The challenge entries will be reviewed by a multidisciplinary jury panel of experts from PhotonDelta, ALUVIA Photonics, Bright Photonics, Epiphany-Design, imec, Ligentec, LioniX International, PHIX Photonics Assembly, SMART Photonics, XIVER MEMS Foundry, New Origin, PhotonVentures, and SBT Industries.
    • The judging process will take place from June 20th to July 31st. Organisers of the competition reserve the right to adjust these dates.
    • Criteria for judging are:
      • Level of innovation in the application.
      • How the entry addresses current engineering challenges and pushes the boundaries of the industry.
      • Quality of submitted diagrams and visuals to support the idea.
      • Feasibility of solution, technically and commercially.

    Winner Announcement:

    • Winners will be announced via social media within 2026.
    • Winners will also be notified by email (using the details provided at entry) as soon as reasonably practicable after the Announcement Date.
    • In order to claim the overall prize you must enter into a discussion with PhotonDelta to determine the scope of the prize and its implementation within 60 days of being notified of winning.

    General

    • By submitting an entry entrants will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. PhotonDelta reserves the right to refuse entry or to refuse to award the prize to anyone in breach of these Terms and Conditions.
    • Insofar as is permitted by law, PhotonDelta or any of the challenge' partners will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate the winner or accept any liability for any loss, damage, personal injury or death occurring as a result of taking up the prize except where it is caused by the negligence of PhotonDelta, or its agents or employees. Your statutory rights are not affected.
    • If you are a winner of the competition, you agree that PhotonDelta, Wevolver and Sponsors may use your name, image, town or country of residence to announce the winner of this competition and for any other reasonable and related promotional purposes.
    • Every entry PhotonDelta or any of the challenge' partners decide to publicly share prior to the end of the challenge, is purely based on the material provided and there is no intention to promote any entry. To provide us with permission to share your entry if needed, do so by checking the according tickbox on the submission form.
    • Entries made on the internet will be deemed made by the authorised account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of entry. In the event of a dispute, potential winners may be required to provide proof that the potential winner is the authorised account holder of the e-mail address associated with the potentially winning entry.
    • PhotonDelta will process your personal data as set out in: https://www.photondelta.com/privacy-policy/. By entering the competition, you agree, in particular, that any personal information provided by you with the competition entry may be held and used by PhotonDelta and Wevolver or its agents and suppliers to administer the competition and may be passed on to third party suppliers if required for fulfilment/delivery/arrangement of the prize. In addition, submissions may be reviewed by the following challenge partners and sponsors for the purposes of judging and evaluation of the competition:
      • ALUVIA Photonics – processed in accordance with its privacy policy
      • Bright Photonics – processed in accordance with its privacy policy
      • Epiphany-Design – processed in accordance with its privacy policy
      • Ligentec – processed in accordance with its privacy policy
      • LioniX International – processed in accordance with its privacy policy
      • PHIX Photonics Assembly – processed in accordance with its privacy policy
      • PhotonVentures – processed in accordance with its privacy policy (pop-up at the bottom contact form)
      • SMART Photonics – processed in accordance with its privacy policy
      • XIVER MEMS Foundry – processed in accordance with its privacy policy
      • SBT Industries – processed in accordance with its privacy policy
      • New Origin – processed in accordance with its privacy policy
      • imec – processed in accordance with its privacy policy
    • PhotonDelta reserves the right to hold void, cancel, suspend or amend the competition where it becomes necessary to do so.
    • By entering this challenge, you agree to allow PhotonDelta and Wevolver to contact you using the provided information for communication purposes related to the Contest.
    • The promoter/data controller of this competition is PhotonDelta, High Tech Campus 32, 5656 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands and the host/processor is Wevolver, A'DAM Tower Overhoeksplein 1, 1031 KS Amsterdam, The Netherlands.