“Our Future is Light” Campaign Kicks off 2022 International Day of Light
An action-packed video styled as a blockbuster-movie trailer provides the linchpin for this year’s International Day of Light (IDL) campaign, “Our future is light. Play your part.” Released today, Day of Light features diverse characters successfully solving global-level problems using photonics-enabled technologies.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220516005150/en/
Sponsored by SPIE, Optica, and IEEE Photonics Society, this year’s International Day of Light celebration showcases exciting, critical career opportunities in optics and photonics. (Graphic: Business Wire)
Three professional societies – SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, IEEE Photonics Society, and Optica, Advancing Optics & Photonics Worldwide – partnered to create the video and the accompanying 2022 IDL campaign. “Our future is light. Play your part” promotes the importance of light-based technologies and interesting careers in optics and photonics, while raising awareness of the annual IDL celebration on 16 May. From technologies that improve vision and power smartphones to those that provide tools to study Earth and Space, from healthcare to communications at the speed of light, photonics is the key enabling technology of a brighter future.
The video, its look and feel inspired by the 2010 science-fiction thriller Inception, features Dawn, an optical-engineer action hero, who is busy saving the world with light-based technologies such as prisms, solar panels, spectral imaging, lasers, and lidar. The video also issues a lively invitation to real-life future scientists, technicians, engineers, and industry leaders: consider a career in photonics.
In conjunction with the video’s release, the related website includes an overview of the technologies mentioned in the film; depictions of professionals working in the field of optics and photonics, from optical engineers and laser technicians to academic researchers; and a selection of downloadable resources for education and careers.
“Many of the devices we use every day are comprised of light-based technologies made possible by the optics and photonics community,” said Optica CEO Elizabeth Rogan. “On the International Day of Light, we celebrate these contributions from our community and hope this celebration inspires others – particularly students – to study and work in light science and technology.”
“The International Day of Light is the perfect time to highlight the many varied and exciting career opportunities in optics and photonics,” noted SPIE CEO Kent Rochford. “Light-based technologies are providing much-needed solutions to some of our biggest global challenges and will continue to do so. This is a terrific time to be considering a career in the industry and we hope this year’s IDL campaign will reach and inspire future scientists, engineers, and technicians.”
"Each International Day of Light, we celebrate the long and rich history of optics and photonics that has brought so much to our everyday lives," said IEEE Photonics Society Executive Director Doug Razzano. "By continuing to advance light science and make known to the world the importance of the technologies derived from it, we will help to grow and support this vibrant technical community."
About the International Day of Light
The International Day of Light (IDL), celebrated annually on 16 May, is a global initiative highlighting the central role that light and light-based technologies play across science, culture, education, and sustainable development, in areas as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy. The 16 May date honors the anniversary of the first successful demonstration of a laser by physicist and engineer Theodore Maiman in 1960; the broad theme of light allows many different sectors of society worldwide to participate in activities that demonstrate how science, technology, and art, can help achieve the goals of UNESCO – education, equality, and peace. lightday.org.
About IEEE Photonics Society
The IEEE Photonics Society is the professional home for a global network of scientists, engineers and allied professionals who represent the laser, optoelectronics, and photonics community. As a Technical Society of the IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity, the IEEE Photonics Society inspires community through highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. www.photonicssociety.org.
About Optica
Optica (formerly OSA), Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, is the society dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica’s renowned publications, meetings, online resources and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement. Learn more at optica.org.
About SPIE
SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, brings engineers, scientists, students, and business professionals together to advance light-based science and technology. The Society, founded in 1955, connects and engages with our global constituency through industry-leading conferences and exhibitions; publications of conference proceedings, books, and journals in the SPIE Digital Library; and career-building opportunities. Over the past five years, SPIE has contributed more than $22 million to the international optics community through our advocacy and support, including scholarships, educational resources, travel grants, endowed gifts, and public-policy development. www.spie.org.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220516005150/en/
Contact information
Daneet Steffens
Public Relations Manager
daneets@spie.org
+1 360 685 5478
@SPIEtweets
Ashley Collier
Corporate Communications Manager
ACollier@optica.org
+1 202 416 1419
@OpticaWorldwide
Kristen Mahan
Marketing Manager
k.mahan@ieee.org
+1 732 562 6694
@IEEEPhotonics
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Tabelog, Japan's Largest (*1) Restaurant Search and Reservation Service, Launches Multilingual App for International Visitors23.12.2025 15:00:00 EET | Press release
Tabelog (https://tabelog.com/en/), Japan's largest restaurant search and reservation service operated by Kakaku.com, Inc., launched its multilingual smartphone application (iOS/Android) for international travelers on Monday, November 17, 2025. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251221963753/en/ The Tabelog Multilingual App for International Travelers — Japan's Largest Restaurant Search and Reservation Service With approximately 100 million monthly users(*3), Tabelog is Japan's premier service widely used by Japanese locals for daily restaurant discovery. Its database is unrivaled domestically, featuring information on approximately 890,000 establishments nationwide and over 85 million reviews and photos(*4). Unlike global map services or travel sites, Tabelog is built on "authentic ratings and reviews from local Japanese users," enabling travelers to discover truly exceptional restaurants beloved by locals — not
BeOne Medicines to Present at the 44th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference23.12.2025 13:01:00 EET | Press release
BeOne Medicines Ltd. (NASDAQ: ONC; HKEX: 06160; SSE: 688235), a global oncology company, today announced it will participate in the 44th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, with a presentation at 7:30 am PST. Live webcasts of these events can be accessed from the investors section of the Company’s website at https://ir.beonemedicines.com, https://hkexir.beonemedicines.com, https://sseir.beonemedicines.com. Archived replays will be available on the Company’s website. About BeOne Medicines BeOne Medicines is a global oncology company based in Switzerland that is discovering and developing innovative treatments that are more accessible to cancer patients worldwide. With a portfolio spanning hematology and solid tumors, BeOne is expediting development of its diverse pipeline of novel therapeutics through its internal capabilities and collaborations. With a growing global team of nearly 12,000 colleagues spanning six continents, the Company is committed to
I-care Becomes a Unicorn23.12.2025 11:45:00 EET | Press release
I-care announces the completion of a €20 million fundraising and refinancing operation, carried out as a round reserved for existing shareholders and employees. Based on this operation, the group's valuation reaches €1 billion, making I-care a unicorn. "Becoming a unicorn is a symbolic milestone. To achieve this, we chose to invest before reaping the rewards: we bet on AI when few believed in it, we prioritized R&D, and we built our own production unit. These choices were sometimes difficult, but they were essential to staying ahead of the game. Today, our results confirm that this strategy was the right one," explains Fabrice Brion, CEO of I-care. This fundraising round is the first step in a three-phase development plan. Following the “Eau Rouge” operation in 2022, which enabled I-care to become the world leader in predictive maintenance, the company has now set itself a clear objective: to accelerate its growth in order to increase its market share. The second phase of this plan wil
Liquid Reply Joins the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) to Advance Open, Trusted Agentic AI23.12.2025 11:00:00 EET | Press release
Liquid Reply, specialising in platform engineering and cloud-native technologies within the Reply Group, today announced that it has joined the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF). The newly established foundation was launched under the auspices of the Linux Foundation and provides a neutral, open governance framework for the development of agent-based AI systems. Members collaborate transparently to develop tools, protocols, and specifications that remain available as open-source resources for the global community. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251223604862/en/ Through its membership, Liquid Reply will engage the AAIF community and actively support the establishment of open standards for the next generation of AI-powered applications. By joining the AAIF, Liquid Reply reinforces its commitment to open-source and community-driven innovation, and supports the creation of shared technical foundations for the responsi
Rajant Kinetic Mesh® Proves Subterranean Connectivity During NATO ARRC “Ex AVENGER TRIAD 25” Exercise23.12.2025 11:00:00 EET | Press release
Rajant Corporation, the exclusive provider of peer to peer, private Kinetic Mesh® networks consisting of BreadCrumb® wireless nodes powered by InstaMesh® routing, today announced the successful completion of a subterranean communications trial during NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps’ (ARRC) primary exercise of the year, Ex AVENGER TRIAD 25, which was conducted in October–November 2025. During the exercise, Rajant provided the communications equipment that delivered robust underground bandwidth in a retired mine in England. The Rajant network operated as a transport-agnostic, multi-bearer networking overlay that unified disparate communication technologies into a single resilient transport fabric, integrating cleanly with existing network transports and mission systems. ARRC users and the British Army’s 22 Signal Regiment recognized the utility of the approach and identified avenues to exploit the capability further, most notably a wireless subterranean headquarters concept, while also
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom