Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF

Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF

Welcome to the Photonics Days Jena -
your career event for photonics and optics students

 

The Photonics Days Jena offer you a free of charge international career and networking event:
students and doctoral candidates in the fields of optics and photonics get in direct contact and exchange with attractive possible employers from the industry.

We are happy to offer you a varied and entertaining program again this year
and are looking forward to spending a pleasant and informative time with you!

 

Once we have finalized the program, you will find it under the button below. The registration period is expected to begin in late May or early June. So be sure to check back!

 

 

Program      Register here

Impressions of past Photonics Days events

Overview information

Who can participate?

Undergraduate and doctoral students studying and conducting research in the field of physics with a special interest in photonics in Europe. 

If you do not belong to neither of these groups, please contact us directly by email. We will then inform you personally about possible participation.
What are the costs and how to register?

Participation is free of charge. Registration is required, for certain program items you have to apply in the registration form.

Registration is open from end of July 2026.

If you are not able to attend after successful registration, please send an email until September 2026. Otherwise, we will have to charge you­ 50 EUR for the catering costs.
When and where does the event take place?

 

This year's Photonics Day will take place on September 15, 2026. The venues will be at Fraunhofer IOF and directly adjacent Abbe Center of Photonics (ACP) at Beutenberg Campus Jena.

 
What can participants expect?

Participants in the Photonics Days Jena can generally expect a full program of different formats.

Your days will be filled with lectures by our research scientists as well as renowned professors and Nobel Prize winners, workshops on various aspects of your research career, lab tours through the Fraunhofer IOF laboratories, showrooms, a career brunch with industry representatives, and, above all, networking opportunities. Over the years, we have also been able to offer hackathons or escape room games.

You can find more information about last year's program here.
What is the goal of the event?

The event aims to offer young researchers in the key technologies of optics and photonics direct future prospects in Thuringia and Germany as a business/industrial location. The Jena region and Germany offer students enormous potential to drive forward innovative and pioneering developments through their own research.

For this reason, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, in cooperation with the Max Planck School of Photonics, organizes the annual "Photonics Days Jena" as a networking and career event.  

The Photonics Days Jena 2025 were supported by:

 

If you would also like to present your company as part of the program at the Photonics Days Jena 2026, we are happy to get in touch!

For detailed information please visit:  Become a partner.

If you are already interested, we are happy if you contact us right away:

Contact us

Take a tour through past Photonics Days Jena

The organizers

 

The event Photonics Days Jena is organized by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF and the Max Planck School of Photonics.