During the past year, the UK’s Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) has begun an innovative approach to strengthening technology transfer with CERN. In September 2001, the UK Office of Science and Technology awarded PPARC £200,000 (€300,000) to appoint a UK Technology Transfer Coordinator for CERN. This role has been contracted to a Cambridge and Oxford-based firm, Qi3, whose task is to foster closer links between CERN and industry. The goal is to bring greater exploitation of science by encouraging wider and more rapid transfer of new ideas, products and processes to UK business.
CERN and PPARC share an interest in technology transfer. Particle physics research naturally pushes existing technologies beyond customary limits and can lead to novel technologies, so CERN’s member states have encouraged the laboratory to introduce an active technology transfer policy to demonstrate clear benefits from the research. Technology transfer is now an integral part of CERN’s mission, and is implemented via the Technology Transfer Service set up in 2000.
One of the main objectives of PPARC’s technology transfer work is to increase the return on its investment in CERN, which currently stands at about £90 million per year. Money to support the new initiative has been awarded from the UK’s Public Sector Research Establishment (PSRE) fund. This has been possible because PPARC argued that as the UK has no national particle physics accelerator facility, CERN is effectively the UK’s PSRE in the area of high-energy physics.
The Qi3 team of Nathan Hill, John Attard and David Rafe are now working to help UK businesses benefit from the diverse range of technologies developed by scientists at CERN and the associated laboratories in UK universities. Business partnerships, technology licences and spin-out companies will all form routes to commercialization for technologies developed at CERN. The team has already started looking at several opportunities, including novel semiconductor packaging materials, high-speed imaging cameras, accelerator components and cost improvements in the printed circuit board manufacturing process.
For information about this UK initiative, contact Qi3 (nathan.hill@qi3.co.uk or john.attard@qi3.co.uk).
Further reading
For information about CERN’s Technology Transfer Service, see http://www.cern.ch/ttdb.
