Beam diagnostics, beam-profile measurements and quality-assurance methods are of the utmost importance for every accelerator or facility, and especially for radiotherapy beams. While researchers strive for better instruments and methods, industrial companies look towards the research community for turning clever ideas and working prototypes into commercial products with improved accuracy and efficacy.
To foster the transfer of technologies based on high-energy physics, the HEPTech network has launched a series of workshops called “Industry – Academia matching events”. These include summary talks from both industry and the research community, with a poster gallery and live demonstrations. These are aimed at maximizing contact and collaboration between industrial companies and those researchers active in a particular field. The first event, on silicon photomultipliers, was held in February 2011 (p33).
The second event, on the technology and the opportunities for beam instrumentation and measurement, took place on 10–11 November. It was held at GSI Darmstadt, home to much of the early work on heavy-ion radiotherapy. Some 84 participants, including representatives from 18 industrial companies, gathered at the new GSI Conference Building. The next event is planned to take place at DESY this spring and will focus on position-sensitive silicon detectors. It will be organized by the collaboration for Advanced European Infrastructures for Detectors and Accelerators (AIDA) with the support of HEPTech.
