Burgdorf brings Switzerland’s photonics talent together for Energy and Sustainability

Last Spring, a 360 CARLA Career Symposium on Energy and Sustainability took place on 7 and 8 May 2026 at the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) in Burgdorf. Organised by Swissphotonics in collaboration with 19 academic institutions and 20 companies, the event drew students from 14 Swiss universities and 5 institutions in Germany, Denmark and Italy, becoming a genuinely national gathering dedicated to career opportunities, research and innovation in photonics for energy and sustainability.

Over two days, the symposium combined three keynote presentations and several company pitches and a career panel discussion on working in the photonics industry, alongside a 16-company exhibition featuring highlights such as the ETH Zürich solar racing car from Acentauri. Students also took part in B2B meetings with 7 companies and one institute, lab tours of BFH’s facilities, and an evening of networking and lab visits, with online access to all lectures via Teams.

A total of 124 students from 32 different nationalities attended, mostly in person, alongside 20 speakers representing both industry and academia. Feedback was strongly positive, with an overall rating of 4.47/5: 92% of respondents reported increased interest in a photonics career, 87% said their network had grown, and 84% felt more industry-ready after the event.

Students particularly valued the diversity of companies and startups present, the well-paced programme, and the chance for genuine, first-hand conversations with industry professionals; one participant highlighted a company talk that “gave a genuine insight into what it’s like to work at the company”. Company representatives were equally positive, with all respondents finding the symposium useful.

Organised as part of the 360 CARLA project, the symposium showed the value of bringing together academia, industry and students at a national scale. Sponsorship from 16 companies made it possible to offer a richer programme than the project budget alone would have allowed, reinforcing the case for close, sustained collaboration between Swissphotonics, its university network and the photonics industry in future editions.