The United Kingdom has taken another decisive step toward democratizing photonic integrated circuit (PIC) development with the launch of the CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre (C-PIC) Open Platform—an initiative that promises to redefine how researchers and industry collaborate in silicon photonics. As the UK’s leading Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) for silicon photonics, C-PIC is spearheading an effort to make high-end photonics tools, designs, and data freely accessible through an open-source framework hosted on GitHub.
The C-PIC Open Platform marks a major milestone for the photonics ecosystem, inviting global participation from academic institutions, independent researchers, and private companies. It embodies the organization’s vision of an open, inclusive environment where innovation thrives through shared resources and transparent design exchange. By providing free access to Process Design Kits (PDKs), building blocks, and verified design elements, the Open Platform aims to shorten product development cycles, reduce duplication, and empower cross-sector collaboration in one unified space.
According to C-PIC, its new platform is designed to simplify how photonic systems are developed, tested, and deployed. Instead of individual teams rebuilding similar design structures from scratch, researchers can now reuse trusted, pre-validated components, accelerating the transition from concept to prototype. This approach not only reduces time and cost but also fosters collective progress across critical application areas—from datacom and telecom to biosensing, quantum technologies, and aerospace systems.
The first publicly available releases include two cornerstone PDKs compatible with the CORNERSTONE Foundry:
A silicon-on-insulator (SOI) 220 nm active PDK, tailored for high-speed datacom and telecom applications.
A silicon nitride 300 nm PDK, engineered for broader-spectrum applications such as quantum technologies, biosensing, and space instrumentation.
These initial toolkits mark the beginning of an expanding portfolio of open-source resources. C-PIC plans to introduce additional platforms optimized for specialized uses, including germanium-on-silicon for mid-infrared sensing and defence technologies, suspended silicon for gas and environmental monitoring, and SOI 340 nm and 500 nm variants for high-performance optical systems. Another upcoming release—silicon nitride 200 nm—is being developed specifically for visible light biosensing applications, further broadening the accessibility of photonic design capabilities to the biomedical sector.
In a collaborative spirit that defines open-source innovation, the platform will feature contributions from the wider research and industrial community. Early participants include CSA Catapult, Tyndall National Institute, and experts from universities such as the University of Pavia and the University of Sheffield. Their shared resources already range from educational kits and discrete optical components to fully designed photonic circuits, signaling strong early adoption among both academic and commercial users.
“The Open Platform represents a significant milestone in open-source photonics,” said Emre Kaplan, PDK Manager at C-PIC. “By enabling the sharing of photonic integrated devices and circuits we can help users accelerate research and industry innovation, allowing the photonics community to build on each other’s work rather than starting from scratch.”
Backed by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Account and the University of Southampton, the Open Platform not only reflects C-PIC’s commitment to accessibility and collaboration but also reinforces the UK’s position as a leader in the global silicon photonics landscape. The platform is now live on GitHub, serving as a digital hub where the photonics community can explore, contribute, and collectively advance the next generation of integrated photonics technologies.
The launch of the C-PIC Open Platform represents more than a technological milestone—it’s a bold statement about how innovation in photonics can evolve through openness, collaboration, and shared progress. In a sector historically characterized by proprietary systems and guarded intellectual property, C-PIC’s initiative reflects a transformative philosophy: that the future of photonics integrated circuits (PICs) depends on collective intelligence and the democratization of design tools.
C-PIC’s vision aligns with the growing global momentum toward open-source hardware development, particularly in the semiconductor and optical communications sectors. By offering open access Process Design Kits (PDKs) and standardized component libraries, the centre is breaking down barriers to entry for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), start-ups, and academic innovators who may lack the financial resources to license commercial design environments. This shift ensures that breakthroughs in photonics are no longer confined to large corporations or elite research institutions—anyone with an idea and technical capability can now participate.
Beyond hardware, the Open Platform introduces an expanding Open Data environment, encompassing simulation models, test results, and experimental datasets. This dimension of the project is particularly impactful because photonic research often requires access to extensive empirical data for calibration and verification. Traditionally, such data has been difficult to obtain or replicate, slowing down innovation. Through the Open Platform, researchers can now validate new designs more efficiently, referencing real-world data shared by peers and industry partners. C-PIC predicts that this open data initiative will significantly accelerate the development cycle, cutting months or even years off the process of creating reliable, high-performance photonic devices.
Importantly, the Open Platform’s design also reflects the interconnectedness of modern photonics applications. Each released PDK and shared dataset is mapped to a range of use cases across telecommunications, healthcare, quantum computing, defence, and aerospace. For instance, the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platforms cater to next-generation data transmission systems requiring ultrafast optical modulation, while silicon nitride-based platforms support quantum sensing and biosensing technologies that demand ultra-low optical loss. The upcoming germanium-on-silicon platform is expected to open new opportunities for mid-infrared spectroscopy, crucial for applications in environmental monitoring, industrial safety, and even medical diagnostics.
One of the most notable aspects of C-PIC’s approach is how it integrates the CORNERSTONE Foundry’s fabrication ecosystem into this open framework. Unlike traditional foundries that operate under closed contracts, the CORNERSTONE model embraces openness at every level—from design to manufacturing. By connecting the Open Platform directly with fabrication-ready processes, C-PIC ensures that researchers can transition from design to prototype production seamlessly, reducing the friction that typically slows down photonics innovation.
The platform’s collaborative structure also enables community-driven verification, where uploaded components and circuits are peer-reviewed and tested by multiple contributors before being widely adopted. This shared validation framework builds trust and ensures that only reliable, performance-proven designs become part of the ecosystem. It mirrors the peer-review model in academic publishing but tailored for photonics engineering—a hybrid of scientific rigor and engineering practicality.
C-PIC’s leadership emphasizes that this initiative is not only about accelerating innovation but also about fostering sustainability and transparency within the industry. By reducing design redundancy, the Open Platform minimizes resource waste and unnecessary manufacturing cycles. The reuse of proven designs reduces both cost and energy consumption, aligning with broader sustainability goals in advanced manufacturing and green technology sectors.
Early contributors like CSA Catapult and Tyndall National Institute underscore how this initiative transcends national borders. These organizations bring specialized expertise—from compound semiconductor integration to optical testing—into a shared environment that benefits participants globally. The presence of universities such as the University of Paviaand the University of Sheffield also highlights how academic and industrial research can now converge under a unified ecosystem, accelerating the path from discovery to deployment.
With this launch, the CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre is effectively laying the groundwork for a new model of technological collaboration, one that balances openness with excellence. The implications reach far beyond silicon photonics: it’s a potential blueprint for how other deep-tech fields—such as quantum computing, materials science, and nanoelectronics—could evolve through open-source principles.
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