Business survey of research facilities

CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) is located outside Geneva and is one of the leading laboratories in the world for high-energy physics and particle physics research. At CERN, the group learned about the facility's prerequisites, opportunities to deliver products and services, and about its sustainability work. Among other things, the facility handles an extremely large amount of computing through what the experiments generate, and therefore at CERN there is a huge computer hall that communicates with research facilities all over the world.

- What was most exciting was the anti-matter department. At CERN, experiments are underway to investigate hydrogen atoms, where it has also been shown its antiparticle. The difficulty in producing and collecting antiparticles is that when they come into contact with a hydrogen atom, they “neutralize” each other. CERN has solved the storage of antimatter by storing the anti-hydrogen floating in a container of magnetic and electric fields, says Per Persson, then head of business in Lund Municipality.

The group also visited GIANT (Grenoble Innovation for Advanced New Technologies) which is a link between, among other things, research and industry to promote technological breakthroughs of the future. After initial presentation of the history and operating conditions of the research facility, the group was given a tour where they got to see prototypes of innovative products generated from different research areas and possible future applications. The group noted that the ability to visually present and market industrial applications, which can benefit society, was very good.

ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) in Grenoble is a joint research facility supported by 22 countries, including Sweden. The research facility is of the Synchrotron type. The ESRF was inaugurated in 1994 and has an annual budget of approximately SEK 1 billion, 630 employees and more than 7,000 guest researchers per year. The facility was updated between 2018 and 2020 and is now called ESRF-EBS (Extremely Brilliante Source).

By Invest in Grenoble Alpes the network was given a description of the entire Grenoble innovation ecosystem by its director Nicolas Béroud. Karen Amram presented the High Level Forum (HLF) business of which she is director. Lund is a member of this network and is represented by Christian Lindfors, CEO of Science Village. The next HLF meeting will take place in Finland in November 2022.

The network also made a visit to Alfa Laval in Fontanil (just outside Grenoble). The group was received by Jo Vanhoren, President Business Unit Welded Heat Exchangers from Alfa Lava and also received a lecture on heat exchangers.

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