Ian Alderton, Owner, CTO and Technical Sales Director at Alrad Instruments, has just been announced as the final addition to the line-up for an Electro Optics panel discussion examining the changing role of distribution in the UK photonics industry.
Alderton will join fellow industry leaders Elaine Blackwood, Director of Sales and Marketing at Photonic Solutions, and Peter Collins, New Markets Director at Laser 2000, for the session, which will be chaired by Mark Elliott, COO of Electro Optics publisher Europa Science.
Titled ‘UK Photonics Distribution: What Manufacturers, Startups and OEMs Need to Know’, the panel will take place at 1pm on 29 September as part of the Photonics UK programme at Microelectronics UK, which runs at ExCeL London on 29 and 30 September. It is timed to coincide with the launch of UK Photonics Uncovered, the indispensable photonics resource for the UK and Ireland, which returns for a second year with a premium print edition. The magazine will be officially launched by Lewis Hill, the new General Manager of the influential Photonics Leadership Group.
The panel discussion is intended to go deep into the traditional distributor-manufacturer relationship, addressing how the role of distribution is changing as the UK photonics market responds to new technologies, evolving customer requirements, funding pressures and the drive to commercialise research.
Alderton brings several decades of experience to the discussion. He has been with Alrad Instruments since the early 1980s and has played a key role in developing the company's portfolio across scientific, imaging, photonics and machine vision technologies. He has also served as Chairman of the UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA).
The panel will explore what manufacturers should expect from their distribution partners – and, equally, what distributors need from the companies whose technologies they represent.
The discussion comes as the UK photonics sector continues to look for ways to translate its strength in research and innovation into commercial growth. The wider Photonics UK programme at Microelectronics UK brings together speakers from across defence, space, telecommunications, quantum technology and optical engineering, reflecting the increasingly diverse markets being served by photonics.
Microelectronics UK predicts it will bring together more than 4,000 industry professionals, more than 170 exhibitors and more than 120 speakers across its programme, with semiconductors, photonics and embedded systems represented under one roof. Electro Optics will again be hosting the Photonics UK programme, with Elliott delivering the keynote address at the start of the first day of the show.
