A photonic circuit design system comprising: a photonic circuit design tool adapted to receive user inputs to generate a photonic circuit netlist (14, 50) comprising photonic design components and electronic design components associated with a photonic circuit design; a memory system adapted to store the photonic circuit netlist (14, 50) and a component library, wherein the component library comprises a plurality of predetermined photonic design components from which the photonic design components are selected and physical data associated with physical characteristics of the plurality of predetermined photonic design components, wherein the physical characteristics comprise at least one of: physical dimensions, number of ports, size of ports, orientation of ports, proximity constraints and orientation constraints; and a photonic circuit generator adapted to: - access the photonic circuit netlist (14, 50) from the memory system and the associated photonic design components from the component library based on the photonic circuit netlist (14, 50), and - implement a hierarchical algorithm associated with a physical layout and an optical interconnection of the photonic design components in a photonic circuit package based on the physical characteristics to generate the photonic circuit design to fabricate an associated photonic circuit, wherein the hierarchical algorithm, when implemented, causes the photonic circuit generator to, in the following order: (i) access package constraints including at least one of: number of ports, location of ports, size of the package, dimensional considerations of the package, and contingencies responsive to design-rule-checks, (ii) provide placement rules for the photonic design components, (iii) provide interconnection rules for the photonic design components, (iv) provide layout rules for the electronic design components, (v) provide interconnection rules for the electronic design components, and (vi) define final placement and interconnections of the photonic and electronic design components in the photonic circuit design, wherein the photonic circuit generator comprises a positional layout algorithm that is implemented to associate a physical layout of the electronic design component relative to the plurality of photonic design components. a photonic circuit design tool adapted to receive user inputs to generate a photonic circuit netlist (14, 50) comprising photonic design components and electronic design components associated with a photonic circuit design; a memory system adapted to store the photonic circuit netlist (14, 50) and a component library, wherein the component library comprises a plurality of predetermined photonic design components from which the photonic design components are selected and physical data associated with physical characteristics of the plurality of predetermined photonic design components, wherein the physical characteristics comprise at least one of: physical dimensions, number of ports, size of ports, orientation of ports, proximity constraints and orientation constraints; and a photonic circuit generator adapted to: - access the photonic circuit netlist (14, 50) from the memory system and the associated photonic design components from the component library based on the photonic circuit netlist (14, 50), and - implement a hierarchical algorithm associated with a physical layout and an optical interconnection of the photonic design components in a photonic circuit package based on the physical characteristics to generate the photonic circuit design to fabricate an associated photonic circuit, - access the photonic circuit netlist (14, 50) from the memory system and the associated photonic design components from the component library based on the photonic circuit netlist (14, 50), and - implement a hierarchical algorithm associated with a physical layout and an optical interconnection of the photonic design components in a photonic circuit package based on the physical characteristics to generate the photonic circuit design to fabricate an associated photonic circuit, wherein the hierarchical algorithm, when implemented, causes the photonic circuit generator to, in the following order: (i) access package constraints including at least one of: number of ports, location of ports, size of the package, dimensional considerations of the package, and contingencies responsive to design-rule-checks, (ii) provide placement rules for the photonic design components, (iii) provide interconnection rules for the photonic design components, (iv) provide layout rules for the electronic design components, (v) provide interconnection rules for the electronic design components, and (vi) define final placement and interconnections of the photonic and electronic design components in the photonic circuit design, (i) access package constraints including at least one of: number of ports, location of ports, size of the package, dimensional considerations of the package, and contingencies responsive to design-rule-checks, (ii) provide placement rules for the photonic design components, (iii) provide interconnection rules for the photonic design components, (iv) provide layout rules for the electronic design components, (v) provide interconnection rules for the electronic design components, and (vi) define final placement and interconnections of the photonic and electronic design components in the photonic circuit design, wherein the photonic circuit generator comprises a positional layout algorithm that is implemented to associate a physical layout of the electronic design component relative to the plurality of photonic design components.