Among the photonics industry players are some with a long tradition like Schott, Carl Zeiss and Jenoptik and some of them are global market leaders like Trumpf and Osram. 85 percent of the enterprises are small and medium-sized.

Due to the R&D intensity the cooperation between science and industry is of great importance for photonics. Therefore the setting up of scientific institutions located in the surrounding of enterprises has become an essential component for the success of photonics in Germany, including the four photonics clusters, which are funded in the framework of the Excellence Initiative, the facilities of the Fraunhofer, Leibniz and Max Planck Societies as well as numerous institutions and activities of the federal states.