Industry News

STFC:  The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and CERN have announced the start of a major new joint initiative that will enable small high-tech businesses to bridge the gap between basic science and industry, as they translate some of the world’s most innovative technologies developed at CERN into viable and profitable companies in the .

The CERN-STFC Business Incubation Centre (CERN BIC), which will be located at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, will nurture small businesses with innovative ideas based on technologies developed through high energy physics at CERN (home to the Large Hadron Collider) and develop these ideas into marketable services & products.

Under the new scheme, 5 companies per year, over a period of 2 years, will benefit from an impressive support package that includes up to £40k funding, 40 hours of free access to technical expertise and facilities across STFC, as well direct access to CERN’s technologies, expertise & intellectual property.

Press release & links

STFC:  A recent conference, 'Accelerating Science, Accelerating Business', has enabled industry to gain a deeper insight into the technology requirements that drive accelerator-based scientific research and to identify opportunities for them to collaborate with the  UK's  research organisations
Press release & links

STFC:  The European Space Agency’s Business Incubation Centre Harwell (ESA BIC Harwell) has hit its target of signing up 10 tenants within a year of launch.  The ESA BIC, which is managed by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, is now home to 10 hi-tech, pioneering start-up companies, each of which will translate cutting edge space technologies into viable & profitable businesses in non-space industries.

The main mission of the ESA Technology Transfer Programme is to facilitate the use of space technology and systems for non-space applications. The office has transferred over 260 technologies since the programme start and is supporting directly & indirectly around 100 new start-ups a year.  TTPO has also initiated as a limited partner the Open Sky Technology Fund, a €100m venture fund which invests in start-ups using space technology.

Press release & links

Dstl:  The Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) is looking for ways to provide the best medical capability to the UK's armed forces on the front line – See ‘In the News’ section for more information.

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