With more than 1150 exhibiting companies, the SPIE Photonics West exhibition will feature the latest innovations in lasers, sensors and optical materials and systems for research, medicine, imaging and manufacturing. The largest-ever Photonics West exhibition will run Jan. 25-27 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. In addition, more than 180 companies will show biomedical optics, imaging and nanotechnology tools and applications for medical diagnostics, treatment and research at the Biomedical Optics (BiOS) exhibition Jan. 22-23. The show’s technical events and exhibition are expected to draw an international crowd of 18,000. The technical programs, featured talks, professional education program and other technical and networking events will run from Jan. 22-27. The exhibition will feature the launch of more than 150 new products, as well as product demos. Booths will include pavilions from photonics clusters from four US states and eight international regions and countries. The technical program will feature an opportunity for attendees to have a say in the direction of a new study aimed at strengthening the industry, via an open forum. The “Future of Photonics” panel, moderated by Erik Svedberg of the US National Academies and Eugene Arthurs of SPIE, will gather industry input for an updated version of the 1998 Harnessing Lighting report, produced by the National Academies and its operating arm, the National Research Council. On Jan. 26, winners of the 2010 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation will be announced at a banquet. Sponsored by SPIE and Photonics Media, the awards will be presented by industry leaders from companies including CVI Melles Griot, Schott, IPG Photonics, Hamamatsu, Naval Research Lab, Edmund Optics, Incubic Management, Jenoptik and IMRA America. SPIE is an international society for optics and photonics that was founded to advance light-based technologies. For more information, visit: www.spie.org