The European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC) is a not-for-profit association with headquarters in Paris, France. EPIC serves the photonics community through a regular series of workshops, market studies and partnering. EPIC focuses its actions on LEDs and OLEDs for lighting, optical fiber telecommunications, laser manufacturing, sensors, photovoltaics and photonics for life sciences. EPIC coordinates its activities internationally through its membership in the International Optoelectronics Association.EPIC was founded in 2003 by T.P. Pearsall. The five founding company members were: Aixtron, CDT, Osram, Philips, and Sagem. Today, more than 500 companies, research organizations, universities, and other industry stakeholders are members of the consortium, making EPIC one of the world's principal industrial photonics organizations. The membership works together to execute the mission by proposing and implementing influential initiatives of significant impact on the industrial landscape. The strength of EPIC comes from its capacity to represent the European photonics industry with a clear and articulate voice.
Industry associations such as EPIC have a key role to play in identifying market opportunities and in helping their members to work together to capture the opportunity. The European photonics industry is made up of a broad community of highly innovative small companies. When economic pressures create turbulent markets and make planning difficult, an association can help companies to create partnerships and find a better way through the crisis by finding new revenue streams.