EEOF/TOPFOT: Photonics Industry & Entrepreneurship Workshop

At the XXI Optics and Photonics Workshop (TOPFOT) and the XVI Meeting of Optics and Photonics Students (EEOF), held from May 13 to 15, 2026, at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires (FCEyN UBA), there will be a Photonics Industry and Entrepreneurship Workshop. In 2026, the EEOF TOPFOT will focus on a strategic axis: the photonics industry, entrepreneurship, and technology transfer from the science and technology sector. It will be a space to connect scientific research with social and productive development.

The event will take place over three thematic days. On the first day, the finalist projects will be presented, and the winning teams of the TOPFOT Crea competition will be awarded . Prior to this, and as part of the competition, an intensive six-session training program, co-organized with CITES , will be held, focused on transforming ideas born in the laboratory into real products. The competition will award USD 500 to the winning team and USD 250 to the runner-up , and is open to teams of doctoral students and researchers. An express training course will also be offered at the EEOF for those who did not participate in the competition.

During the other days there will be testimonies from companies, chambers and institutions with successful cases of transfer and development in photonics, analysis of regional and sectoral strategies, intellectual property, science and technology policy, history, present and future of optics and photonics in Argentina and Latin America, with the participation of teachers, researchers, entrepreneurs, managers and officials of the national and regional science and technology system.