Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF

Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF

This was the Photonics Days Jena -
your career event for photonics and optics students

 

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

The Photonics Day Jena 2026 took place on September 15, 2026 as an on-site event held in English.

This years program offered a varied and entertaining mix of lectures, keynotes, workshops and networking opportunities.

 

If you were unable to attend this year’s Photonics Day, don’t worry! The Photonics Day is an annual event, and we are happy to tell you, that it will take place again in 2027! We are looking forward to spending a pleasant and informative time with you then!

The registration period is expected to begin in late May or early June. So be sure to check back!

Until then: Take a tour through past Photonics Days Jena

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 expected to open in late May or early June.
When and where does the event take place?

 

This year's Photonics Day took 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.

The day is known to 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 the program 2026 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.  

Photonics Day Jena 2026 was kindly supported by:

 

If you would also like to present your company as part of the program at the Photonics Days Jena 2027, 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 was organized by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF and the Max Planck School of Photonics.

Impressions of past Photonics Days events