At its 68th session, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) proclaimed 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL2015) recognizing the importance of light-based technologies in meeting the needs of humankind. Examples include improving access to information,
promoting sustainable development, increasing societal health and well-being, achieving environmental goals by saving energy and reducing global warming, and also the influence of light-based technologies on human culture and art through the visual arts and cultural heritage.
The International Year will also be an auspicious occasion to commemorate a series of important milestones in the history of the science of light, dating back 1000, 200, 150, 100 and 50 years. In 1815, Fresnel in France introduced the theory of light as a wave; in 1865, Maxwell in England described the electromagnetic theory of light; in 1915, Einstein in Switzerland developed
General Relativity which confirmed the centrality of light in both space and time;
and in 1965, Penzias and Wilson in the United States discovered the Cosmic Microwave Background, an echo of the origin of the universe. In addition, the year 2015 represents a millennium that has passed since the publication of the great works on optics by Ibn al-Haytham, during a period of an incredible
blossoming of creativity and innovations called the Islamic Golden Age.
The celebration of the IYL2015 will provide a tremendous opportunity for educational and capacity-building activities worldwide, and will also raise awareness among the citizens of the world about the importance of light and optical technologies in their life, for their futures, and for the development of society. In this context, the Opening Ceremony of the International Year, to be held on 19 and 20 January 2015 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, will gather 1500 people, among them eminent scientists, industrialists, high officials, decision-makers, and promising young researchers, and thus will certainly provide a suitable setting for scientific and policy sharing on science and technology. I attach for your consideration the programme of this main launch event, which I anticipate will be memorable.

ICRI 2014 offers a high level international forum where key stakeholders can meet, discuss and contribute to bringing forward global issues related to Research Infrastructures. Co-organised by the European Commission and the Greek EU Presidency of the European Union, it will take forward the recommendations of ICRI 2012, which took place in Denmark and the 3rd EU-Australia Research Infrastructure workshop that took place in Canberra in November 2013.

The conference is expected to attract more than 700 international participants during three days and will include an exhibition of demonstrations and videos of international research infrastructure projects. It will include intense deliberations, discussions and exchange of knowledge, opinions and ideas among the leading people in RI development today around the globe! And in just the right place: Greece, where science and research were raised to one of humanities most prominent and valuable pursuits!

Picture: P. Antici with Gilles Patry, president of the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, in front of the ALLS stand.