NOVAE

Their core work

NOVAE is a French manufacturer of ultrafast laser systems, producing high-performance pulsed laser sources that operate at petahertz and terahertz frequencies — the frontier of attosecond science and quantum optoelectronics. Their commercial products feed directly into research consortia tackling some of the most technically demanding photonics challenges in Europe. Beyond laser sources, they bring hands-on manufacturing competence in optical coatings, pulsed-laser deposition, grating structures, and lithography — the full stack of components needed to build precision laser optical systems. They sit at an unusual intersection: an industrial company with the technical depth to participate meaningfully in FET Open and MSCA research programs alongside leading academic groups.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both of NOVAE's projects launched simultaneously in 2019, so the keyword split reflects thematic breadth across two parallel projects rather than true chronological evolution. PETACom anchored them in frontier quantum optoelectronics — attosecond timescales, terahertz frequencies, petahertz electronics — while GREAT brought in the manufacturing and component layer: coatings, gratings, deposition, lithography. Read together, these two simultaneous engagements suggest NOVAE was already operating across both ends of the laser value chain in 2019: source generation and optical component fabrication. There is no visible pivot — the picture is one of consistent specialization at the high end of ultrafast photonics.

NOVAE's simultaneous presence in a FET frontier science project and an MSCA industrial training network suggests they are positioning as a preferred industrial anchor for European photonics consortia — a company that can supply hardware, host trainees, and engage with blue-sky research in one package.

How they like to work

NOVAE participates exclusively as an industrial contributor — never as coordinator — which is consistent with a commercial laser manufacturer supplying technology and expertise to research-driven consortia rather than leading them. Their engagement across both a FET Open project (PETACom) and an MSCA training network (GREAT) in the same year shows flexibility in consortium type and willingness to take on training and knowledge-transfer obligations. Working with NOVAE means accessing a hardware supplier embedded in the research process, not a passive subcontractor.

Despite only two projects, NOVAE has engaged with 22 unique consortium partners across 6 countries, which reflects their participation in large, well-connected research networks typical of FET Open and MSCA instruments. Their network is European in scope, concentrated in countries with strong photonics research communities.

What sets them apart

NOVAE occupies a rare position as a non-SME private laser manufacturer that participates in frontier academic research rather than only selling products into the market — making them credible as both a technology supplier and a scientific partner. Few companies in the H2020 database combine petahertz-scale quantum optics expertise with hands-on manufacturing capabilities in coatings, deposition, and grating fabrication. For a consortium coordinator in photonics or ultrafast science, NOVAE provides industrial grounding and hardware supply capacity that purely academic partners cannot offer.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PETACom
  A FET Open project pushing communication technology to petahertz frequencies — one of the most technically extreme projects in H2020 — where NOVAE's participation as an industrial partner signals genuine frontier-science capability, not just commercial involvement.
• GREAT
  An MSCA Innovative Training Network on laser grating reflectors where NOVAE contributed as a third-party industrial host, providing manufacturing-level expertise in coatings and optical components to doctoral researchers across Europe.