A fundamental property of lasers is the ability to propagate and be focused to very small spots with little divergence, termed beam quality. The ability to achieve high power low divergence operation (high brightness) is of paramount importance for many applications, both existing and potential, of laser devices. Effective ways to scale output power without compromising beam quality are limited and often lead to increased complexity and reduced flexibility and efficiency. The main problem hindering laser brightness scaling is heat generation, which leads to a spatial variation in temperature, internal stresses in the laser materials and consequent deterioration in laser quality. The HiCORE project proposes an innovative approach, based on recently published observations, to the key problems associated with the power and brightness scaling of bulk solid-state lasers using Conical Refraction (CR). CR laser devices represent a novel way to mitigate thermal management issues and improve beam quality while reducing cost, complexity and size, all key drivers of competitive advantage in almost every laser market sector. The 5 SME partners have come together to define the research required to enable a supply chain to be formed and advance this exciting technology to market. The RTD performers have been selected as the research leaders in this novel line of photonics to carry out the research necessary property of lasers is the ability to propagate and be focused to very small spots with little divergence, termed beam quality. The ability to achieve high power low divergence operation (high brightness) is of paramount importance for many applications, both existing and potential, of laser devices. HiCORE results can be expected to reinforce Europe's lead in photonics and enable the SMEs to profit from exploitation of the IP they will acquire.