The Flagship for Photonics Research and Innovation aims to increase the visibility of photonics and educate the general public about the possibilities light-based technologies. PREIN participates in events targeted at the general public and arranges activities to children and youngsters in Finland.
In these activities PREIN partners with the outreach experts in the partner organizations (LUMA -centers) and the photonics industry’s umbrella organization Photonics Finland.
The aims to increase the visibility of photonics and educate the general public about the possibilities light-based technologies can offer are important for PREIN and therefore PREIN participates in events targeted at the general public and arranges activities targeted at children and youngsters. In these activities PREIN partners with the outreach experts in the partner organizations and the photonics industry’s umbrella organization Photonics Finland.
General public
Raising the awareness of policy makers and the general public is done through media and popularizing events. The main popular event is Suomi Areena, an annual public debate forum broadcasted by the Finnish TV-Channel MTV3. Suomi Areena panel discussions are mainly targeted to the general public, politicians and stakeholders.
Popularizing scientific research results is also done through newspapers and magazines. Photonics research and flagship activities are visible in the Finnish media with 20-30 stories about the flagship activities published annually. Visibility in media has systematically developed with collaboration with Tekniikka & talous where there has been a photonics blog and the series of thematic stories in Tiede – magazine with a feature story series on photonics applications.
Children, young people and schools
The Flagship for Photonics Research and Innovation wants to promote photonics to children and young people in Finnish schools. In the outreach activities targeted at schools PREIN partners with the national and regional science education experts (LUMA- centers) in the partner universities. The aim is to deliver hands-on learning experiences to children and youth from preschool to secondary school.
PREIN and the LUMA-centers together arrange regular outreach events such as the Week of Light activities in May to celebrate the International Day of Light. In addition, PREIN participates in outreach activities organized by the partner universities.
