International Year of Light 2015
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly 68th Session proclaimed 2015 as the International Year of Light (IYL2015) and Light Based Technologies. UN recognizes the importance of raising global awareness about how light-based technologies (photonics) promote sustainable development and provide solutions to global challenges in energy, education, agriculture and health. Light plays a vital role in our daily lives and is an imperative cross-cutting discipline of science in the 21st century. It has revolutionized medicine, opened up international communication via the Internet, and continues to be central to linking cultural, economic and political aspects of the global society.
Canada is the top ten producers and exporters of photonic technology based product and services in the world. The annual revenue attributes to photonics based technology in Canada is over US$5B. There are over 400 companies in the Photonics sector; the majority of them are SME with a total skilled workforce of 23,000 strong. Canada also has many world class researchers and research facilities.
IEEE Canada is an official supporter of IYL 2015. IEEE Canada will team up with other professional organizations and institutions to promote the public awareness and generate the enthusiasm for photonics for the benefit of Canada and Canadians. This year, all three IEEE Canada conferences will introduce elements related to Photonics. Likewise, every IEEE Canada section will attempt to host an event related to the IYL 2015.
For more information and volunteering opportunities, please contact Kexing Liu (email: kexing.liu at ieee.org), who is a member of the IYL2015 Canadian Coordination Committee.
