Swiss Business Incubation Centre of CERN Technologies

Two entrepreneurs were awarded the 2019 Swiss BIC of CERN Technologies at PARK INNOVAARE, in Villigen, Switzerland. Arc Power and TERAPET will be joining the program for the next 2 years to advance space exploration and MedTech.

Based in three countries (Switzerland, Germany and Poland), the teams participating in the final pitch event at the 2019 Switzerland BIC of CERN Technologies come from the following technologies: radiation sensors, real-time imaging, power electronics, quantum computing, drones and automation. Each innovative idea presents a variety of possible applications.

Launched in 2018, the Swiss BIC of CERN Technologies is a high-tech incubator focused on accelerator-based technologies. The status, exceptional know-how and extensive experience of our jury members are indicative of our competition’s high quality and its far-reaching impact on the high-tech startup world. 

Designing and building a particle accelerator requires exceptional technical and engineering expertise. But it does not end there. Operating such facilities, not to mention maintaining and controlling them, takes the very latest state-of-the-art technologies. These help ensure the smooth work of the complex machines, the successful realization of the experiments or measurements carried out, and, last but not least, the staff’s safety. This expertise is also put to work outside the walls of a particle accelerator tunnel. This is why we decided to dedicate our second blog post of the series “Particle accelerator toolbox” (read Part I here) to the technological solutions that help run particle accelerators.

Nowadays, cities face the ever-rising challenge of ensuring security, be it a low crime rate, reliable infrastructure, or safe traffic. At the same time, however, cities have less and less money to provide more services. Securaxis SA, a start-up in Geneva and the first incubatee of the Swiss BIC of CERN Technologies, is working on a very special solution to this problem. Using CERN’s unique know-how in large-scale data-gathering and control, it has developed a novel acoustic monitoring system for smart cities. In his interview with PARK INNOVAARE, Securaxis CEO Glenn Meleder talks about his invention, its main fields of application, and the way the Swiss BIC program has affected his business.

Particle accelerators are mighty complex machines. It takes decades and hundreds of highly-specialized experts to build and operate one. It is not surprising that a sheer mention of it is intimidating, even though they are much more common than we are used to thinking (read our blog on this topic here). However, if you take those engineering masterpieces apart, piece by piece, technology by technology, you might see them in another light – a goldmine of technological solutions applicable to almost any industry. In this series of blog posts, we will take a peek into a particle accelerator toolbox and where it can come in handy.

The Business Incubation Centre (BIC) of CERN Technologies, launched this summer by PARK INNOVAARE, CERN, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of North-Western Switzerland (FHNW), is pleased to announce the winner of the new entrepreneurship program and its first incubatee: Securaxis. The official awards ceremony took place this Monday, November 12, 2018, at the StartUpForum Aargau in Brugg-Windisch.

Launched this summer by PARK INNOVAARE, CERN, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), the Business Incubation Centre (BIC) of CERN Technologies is off to a good start. With over thirty interested founders, startups and SMEs from eleven countries, the program is of interest for a large variety of technologies and applications.

Christian Brönnimann has spent half his working life at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). Until twelve years ago, he was group leader of the Swiss Light Source (SLS) Detectors group at PSI. The 52-year-old now heads the company Dectris in Baden-Daettwil; it employs over 100 people and has revenues of more than 30 million Swiss francs. In his interview to PARK INNOVAARE he shares his experience of spinning-off and bringing technology to the market.

Based on CERN's core competencies such as radiation, cooling, ventilation and materials technology, scientists use accelerators, detectors and information technology to generate research results that are incorporated into the fields of medical and biomedical technologies, aerospace, security, industry 4.0, cultural heritage and new technologies.

Giovanni Anelli, Head of the Knowledge Transfer Group at CERN, explains how the international organization promotes the establishment of start-ups.

Accelerator technology has helped push research forward in many areas in the past. In the future, too, this technology will also help drive progress and open up previously undreamt-of possibilities for people – in many areas, from medicine to security technology.

Prof. Dr. Leonid Rivkin, Deputy Director at the Paul Scherrer Institute, explains how accelerator technology will continue to generate groundbreaking innovations in the future.

Physicists use particle accelerators to answer the fundamental questions about our universe – how it was created, why objects have mass, what antimatter is, and so on. Truly, particle accelerators, like the ones at CERN or the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), are the epitome of pure research instruments. Are they, though? If you think these machines have no use outside of research, you are in for a surprise.

What is it, a particle accelerator? On a basic level, a particle accelerator produces a beam of charged particles that can be used for a variety of purposes. It is any kind of installation that accelerates particles – electrons, protons, neutrons, muons – from energy A to energy B. Its size is essentially determined by the energy needed for a specific application or an experiment.

New high-tech incubator based on accelerator technology opens its doors at PARK INNOVAARE. Start-ups and young, small high-tech companies will be supported by a focused funding program. Joining CERN as partners are the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW).

PARK INNOVAARE is a unique innovation center situated in close proximity to the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). Here, driven by PSI’s expertise, innovations in the fields of accelerator technology, advanced materials and processes, humans and health, and energy are transformed into marketable products and solutions. In order to create the best conditions for industrial research and spin-offs, PARK INNOVAARE connects innovative minds from the world of science and business.

Founded in 1952, CERN is the European Council for Nuclear Research; it hosts the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments (purpose-built particle accelerators and detectors) for studying the basic constituents of matter. The research conducted here has proven many theories, deepened our understanding of the matter, and given the world some of the most widely-spread technologies.

The Paul Scherrer Institute PSI is the largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences within Switzerland. It performs world-class research in three main subject areas: matter and material; energy and the environment; and human health. Thousands of world-leading scientists and engineers from all over the world are using its unique infrastructure to realize projects that would be impossible anywhere else.

FHNW is one of Switzerland’s leading universities of applied sciences and arts, actively involved in teaching, research, continuing education and service provision. It organizes one of the biggest start-up competitions in Switzerland – Swiss Startup Challenge – offering extensive business mentoring programs for highly innovative young entrepreneurs.