Colloidal nanocrystals (NCs), recognized by this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry, are a versatile solution processed family of inorganic semiconductors which have already found applications in diverse fields like displays and lighting. Their spectral versatility combined with strain-free and CMOS compatible incorporation into silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs) primes them also for photonic applications going beyond spontaneous emission, such as lasing. After over 20 years of research into optimizing the nanoscale architecture using NCs for optical gain, UGent identified last year a – now patented – concept of bulk nanocrystals (BNCs). These materials demonstrate efficient lasing through photonic crystal surface emitting lasers (PCSELs). However, to build a laser one needs to pay equal attention to the photonic design. Not only can this cavity decrease the pump threshold, it is also instrumental to control device area and emission patterns. The ‘NITRIDE’ project starts from the excellent opto-electronic materials, the BNCs, and will identify a set of design rules to deal with the massive design freedom found in hybrid (B)NC-PICs such as the in-plane crystal architecture and out-of-plane layer stacking. This aspect of hybrid PICs has remained underexplored, and is necessary to achieve breakthrough conceptual (B)NC-PIC demonstrators, such as micrometer sized laser arrays and gap-free spectral tuning – both of which are envisaged as tangible output of NITRIDE.