Exhibit 12.1



CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER PURSUANT
TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002





I, Suresh Venkatesan, certify that:



|1. | I have reviewed this annual report on Form 20-F of POET Technologies Inc.;
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|2. | Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement
of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under
which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
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|3. | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information
included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows
of the company as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
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|4. | The company’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining
disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15
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(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial
reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the company and have:



| | a) | designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure
controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the company, including
its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this
report is being prepared;
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| | b) | designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such
internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability
of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles;
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| | c) | evaluated the effectiveness of the company’s disclosure controls
and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures,
as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
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| | d) | disclosed in this report any change in the company’s internal control
over financial reporting that occurred during the period covered by the annual report that has materially affected, or is reasonably
likely to materially affect, the company’s internal control over financial reporting; and
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|5. | The company’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based
on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the company’s auditors and the audit committee
of the company’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
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| | a) | all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation
of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the company’s ability to record,
process, summarize and report financial information; and
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| | b) | any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant
role in the company’s internal control over financial reporting.
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|Date: April 27, 2018
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|By:                 
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