"Photonics is an important enabling technology for a wide range of applications in diverse areas. The photonics industry in Europe accounted for revenues of €49 billion in 2006, and is expected to soon exceed that of microelectronics. In the training network proposed here, a cohort of 14 early stage researchers and 5 young experienced researchers will be trained in the full gamut of skills required for a career in photonics, including materials growth, device fabrication, characterisation, design, theory, and commercialisation. A carefully-chosen, well-balanced consortium of 9 academic partners, 4 full industry partners and 2 associated partners are well placed to provide the training in these skills, with European and worldwide reputations as leaders in each field. These skills will be applied in four application areas; mode-locked lasers for Communications applications, solar cells for Energy applications, gas sensing for Environment applications, and fast tunable laser sources for OCT in Life Science applications. Each researcher will experience both academic and commercial environments thanks to the strong industrial involvement, resulting in multi-skilled, industry-focused graduates. PROPHET thus directly addresses the need for additional skilled photonics professionals, as identified by the European Technology Platform, Photonics21."