Photonics Days Berlin Brandenburg 2026
Updated: Oct 9
This year's Photonics Days innovation conference was packed with more than 100 speakers who shared their insights and knowledge in more than 25 sessions at one of Europe’s leading networking events for the photonics and quantum technology community from Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany and the world, especially from this year´s partner countries Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
Oliver Völckers held a talk in the session "Microintegration und Advanced Packaging" with the subject “Must DeepTech Be HighTech? How to Create Disruptive Innovation with Seemingly Simple Technology”. Thank you to the Optec-Berlin-Brandenburg (OpTecBB) e.V. and its Managing Director Dr. Adrian Mahlkow for the exciting discussions and meetings!
Location: Rudower Chaussee 17, 12489 Berlin
Date: October 7 and 8, 2026
Full video of presentation (English language, 18 min):
Summary of Oliver Völckers’ Presentation
“Must DeepTech Be HighTech? How to Create Disruptive Innovation with Seemingly Simple Technology”
Oliver Völckers, a computer scientist and founder of BeST Berliner Sensortechnik, argues that true disruptive innovation is not the automatic outcome of large laboratories, large budgets, or high-tech infrastructure. It requires individual, tenacious inventors who combine years of experience with a fresh perspective on customer needs.
Historical Examples
- Light bulb (Thomas Edison): The real breakthrough was not the filament technology, but the E27 screw base. It made it possible for anyone to replace the bulb without tools, thereby opening up the mass market.
- Computer mouse (Steve Jobs): The mouse, with its rubber ball and simple optical encoders, already existed, but the Apple Macintosh was the first complete, affordable system (GUI + software + hardware) that made the desktop computer accessible to ordinary users.
- Blue LED (Shuji Nakamura): Years of intensive work led to the blue and thus white LED. This enabled energy-efficient lighting, adaptive lighting systems, and Blu-ray, and is now a standard feature in every display, smartphone and modern car.
His Own, Smaller Inventions
Völckers illustrates these same principles through his own projects:
- Resistive trackpad for remote controls (Philips, 2013)—a battery-friendly alternative to capacitive pads.
- Gait analysis sensor—a flexible membrane with a special resistive pattern in shoes for measuring force while walking or running.
- Wastewater sensor system for Deutsche Bahn – a robust, battery-powered IoT/edge solution capable of monitoring irregular wastewater flows (liquid + gas + solids) to reduce malfunctions of train restrooms.
Key Message
Disruptive innovation is not linear progress. It requires:
1. In-depth expertise and years of experience
2. A fresh perspective on unsolved customer problems
3. Above all, 99% hard work (perspiration) and only 1% inspiration (Edison quote)
Great ideas often seem simple and trivial in hindsight — but in their historical context, they were extremely difficult to implement. Anyone with the necessary perseverance has a realistic chance of creating something new.
