Big Science ecosystem in focus at BigScience@RISE

Monica Ringvik, CTO at RISE, opened the seminar by explaining RISE’s role in the Big Science ecosystem. RISE uses the research facilities for experiments, and supports Swedish companies that wish to use or become suppliers to the facilities.

“For us it’s important to listen to industry’s needs. We need to learn more about the research facilities and make more contacts, so that we can help both companies and research facilities.”

Sweden is becoming firmly established as an important Big Science nation. Monica Ringvik feels we have built up a large bank of knowledge, but that the market is still immature. More can be done to make better use of the knowledge and to generate business.

“One way is to regularly talk about the opportunities ahead, so this type of seminar is important. It increases our internal understanding. Big Science is brought into focus and knowledge is broadened about the advanced research taking place, with findings that can be spread to other areas.”

Big Science Sweden – the hub in the landscape

Catarina Sahlberg, Programme Director at Big Science Sweden, was one of the speakers. She talked about the benefits of large-scale research infrastructures, which are important for both academic research and for R&D in industry.

“I see Big Science Sweden as the hub in the Big Science landscape,” she explained. “We are at the centre of a unique network comprising industry, academia, research institutes, and the Big Science research organisations. Academia often comes into the picture earlier than industry in the process regarding new projects, and I see our task to be a mediating link, getting industry involved in preliminary discussions.”

The moderator, Sven-Christian Ebenhag, Senior Scientist at RISE and Business Development Officer at Big Science Sweden, led the concluding discussion on strategies to make RISE a Big Science cornerstone.

“We want to incorporate Big Science in our strategy,” he said. “We will identify our areas of expertise that are important for Big Science, broaden our networks, and involve our experts in meetings at the research facilities.”

Speakers:

• Monica Ringvik Chief Technology Officer (CTO), RISE
• Mathias Hamberg Senior Research Officer, Swedish Research Council
• Niklas Lorén Scientist, SP Food and Bioscience
• Anne Norén Vice President-Research and Business Development, Safety and Transport, RISE
• Catarina Sahlberg Programme Director, Big Science Sweden
• Håkan Nilsson Senior Adviser, RISE, and Business Development Officer, Big Science Sweden
• Sven-Christian Ebenhag Senior Scientist, RISE, and Business Develop Officer, Big Science Sweden