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ARIES to launch innovation fund

Jennifer Toes — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 15:28:32 +0000

ARIES to launch innovation fund
by Jennifer Toes (CERN)

ARIES Proof-of-Concept fund opens in December 2017 (Image: CERN)

In December 2017, the ARIES project will launch a call for proposals to its Proof-of-Concept (PoC) fund. By offering funding to new and novel projects, the fund aims to foster innovation and enhance the impact of accelerator technology in society.

By bridging the gap between the seed stages of research and their full commercial application, the fund will reduce the financial risks associated with early-stage innovation.

A total of €200,000 will be initially available for up to four projects based on accelerator science, with clear potential to go beyond the realm of scientific research within particle physics.

Selected projects should focus on the possible societal and commercial applications of their ideas within fields such as medicine, energy, security, and any others of relevance where accelerator technology may be of use.

ARIES will manage the fund through a dedicated Work Package, WP14 Promoting Innovation, led by Marcello Losasso of the CERN Knowledge Transfer Group. WP14 will foster technology development in key areas, strengthen relationships with commercial partners, and provide advice to ARIES members on intellectual property (IP) management and licensing.

With this in mind, the PoC funding may be used to investigate the commercial feasibility of a new concept, as well as identifying opportunities for partnerships, licences and IP positions.

Via a competitive two-step selection process, projects will shortlisted for interview based on the quality and potential impact of their project, as demonstrated in their proposal. The Evaluation Panel will make their final recommendations following the presentation and interview of shortlisted candidates.

“The Proof-of-Concept fund is a key component of the ARIES innovation strategy,” says Maurizio Vretenar, ARIES project Scientific Coordinator, based at CERN in Switzerland. “Our community is very creative and it is important to stimulate this talent towards applications that could have an impact on society.”

The fund will officially open its call for proposals as of 14^th December 2017, and will remain open for at least four months. The final deadline for submissions is expected in April 2018.

Further information about the fund will be posted on the ARIES project website soon. Interested parties are invited to check the site regularly for updates.

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issue 22

ARIES

proof of concept

innovation

From EuCARD-2 to ARIES

Sabrina El Yacoubi — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 14:29:31 +0000

From EuCARD-2 to ARIES
Jennifer Toes (CERN)

ARIES project members attend the kick-off meeting talks at CERN, 4-5^th May 2017 (Image: CERN)

As the particle accelerator R&D project EuCARD-2 comes to an end, its entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit lives on in ARIES, Accelerator Research and Innovation for European Science and Society, which kicked off at CERN in May 2017.

EuCARD-2 officially ended its activity in April 2017, after four years of international collaboration between academics and members of industry. The project aimed to connect different European actors in accelerator science, enhance collaboration and concentrate common resources on shared goals.

Mobilising more than 350 people, EuCARD-2 produced a wealth of novel ideas for future accelerators and their energy management and applications. Highlights of the final results include patents and crucial advances in four fields: high-temperature superconductivity, materials for accelerators, superconducting coatings, and high-quality plasma-accelerated beams.

EuCARD-2 results in numbers (Image: CERN)

Building on the knowledge, technology and partnerships established under EuCARD-2, ARIES will bring together 41 participants from 18 European countries, including 7 industrial partners. The project officially launched its four-year activity programme as of 1^st May 2017 and gathered at CERN over 4-5^th May for a kick-off meeting. The project is co-funded via a contribution of €10 million from the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme.

The project participants include major European accelerator laboratories, universities, scientific and technical institutes, and industrial partners. This consortium increases the opportunities for international collaboration, knowledge and technology transfer across different fields of scientific research and to society, and puts particular focus on innovation of new technology, with a view to maximising its attractiveness to industry.

This effort ultimately aims to upgrade and enhance current accelerator infrastructures and their related technology, secure the sustainability of accelerator science for the future, and further integrate the accelerator research community in Europe.

The work programme of the project will pay particular attention to developing new accelerator concepts, creating new technology for superconductors and superconducting coatings, and optimising accelerator energy efficiency and thermal management.

The ARIES Coordinator, Maurizio Vretenar (CERN), said, “ARIES is a new major step in collaborative research for particle accelerator R&D. By integrating more countries and more industry and by enhancing innovation, training, access to test facilities and societal applications, the project will have a strong and long-term impact on European science and society.”

Under the ARIES Transnational Access programme, 14 facilities will be made available to researchers for material, magnet, radio-frequency, plasma acceleration, and electron and proton beam testing.

Transnational Access facilities

Developing partnerships with industry and understanding areas of common interest is crucial for transferring knowledge and technology between fields, and ensuring future technologies are viable in the market.

As such, ARIES will organise a series of “Academia meets Industry” events, and will provide of a “Proof of Concept” innovation fund, which will offer researchers the opportunity to develop spin-off technology with societal applications.

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ARIES and Industry

Livia Lapadatescu — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 12:53:42 +0000

ARIES and Industry
by Livia Lapadatescu (CERN)

Collaboration between academia and industry has long been a hot topic in many R&D projects, but for the first time in an accelerator Integrating Activity project there is a consistent industrial participation. In ARIES, the new H2020 Integrating Activity on “Accelerator Research and Innovation for European Science and Society”, industry has become a crucial partner in achieving common R&D objectives and in identifying and further exploring industrial and societal applications of accelerators.

The ARIES consortium includes eight industrial partners contributing to activities such as the development of accelerator applications, materials for extreme thermal management, HT superconductors, timing electronics, and acting as consultants on the activity of the innovation work package.

The reasoning behind having industry as partners was to provide academia with more information about the market demands, moving from the old “technology push” to a new “market pull” approach. ARIES set two targets for the collaboration with industry: short/medium term goals and long-term goals.

Short & Medium term goals aim to breach the gap of innovation. ARIES proposes three pillars of innovation to achieve these goals:

The Proof of Concept Fund to support perspective studies/projects on industrial application of the ARIES technology;
Academia meets Industry events to encourage the networking between academia and industry on ARIES related subjects;
Projects co-run with industry in the work package on “Promoting Innovation”.

Long term goals aim to create a common language and a common working ground between academia and industry.

Schematic representation of the ARIES collaboration with industry (Credit: Livia Lapadatescu, CERN)

The first ARIES Industrial Meeting took place during the project kick-off meeting on 5 May 2017 at CERN. The meeting brought together about 40 participants, with large industrial participation, to discuss the involvement of industry in ARIES, how to enhance the collaboration with industry, and possible future actions.

A follow-up meeting will be organized in Brussels at the end of 2017 with the aim of collecting success stories for industrial collaboration and innovation from both industry and the European Commission. This will help to identify ways for further industrial involvement in the future Research Infrastructures programmes of the European Commission.

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ARIES approved by European Commission

Jennifer Toes — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 10:04:03 +0000

ARIES approved by European Commission
by Jennifer Toes (CERN)

The ARIES project has been approved by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation and will receive €10M in EU funding as requested in its proposal.

The full title of the project is Accelerator Research and Innovation for European Science and Society. It will serve as the spiritual successor to the EuCARD-2 Integrating Activity project, which is due to end in April 2017. The start date for ARIES is yet to be agreed upon, but is foreseen for May 2017, to allow a smooth transition between the two projects.

The total budget of the project will be €24.8M over the four-year study period, which includes the EU contribution and €14.8 M from the involved beneficiaries. The overall evaluation score of ARIES was 14.5 out of 15. This is the highest score compared with previous EU funded accelerator R&D projects such as CARE, EuCARD and EuCARD-2.

ARIES aims to develop novel concepts and improve existing accelerator technologies; to provide access to top-class accelerator research and test infrastructures to European researchers and industry; to further integrate the European accelerator community; and to develop a joint strategy towards sustainable accelerator S&T.

ARIES will bring together 41 beneficiaries from 18 different European countries, one International European Interest Organization (CERN) and one European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ESS). The beneficiaries are based in the following 18 countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The evaluators of the project highlighted the clarity of the project’s innovation strategy, the integration such a large variety of partners, the extent of the Transnational Access programme, the intended creation of an e-learning course, the proof-of-concept fund, and the development of compact accelerators as particular areas of interest within the proposal.

During its grant preparation, the Project Coordinator, Maurizio Vretenar (CERN), will agree on a start date for the project with the European Commission and a kick-off meeting for all project collaborators will be arranged.