New project to develop technological expertise and innovation in northern Sweden

Starting this autumn, Big Science Sweden, together with Luleå University of Technology (LTU) and LTU Business, will be surveying the technological expertise of companies in the region to help raise the profile of Big Science in their R&D activities.

"SMEs, with their specialised solutions, play an essential role in the technological development at large international research facilities. We believe that industry in Västerbotten has a number of highly specialised, export-focused, high-tech companies that are well-suited for the Big Science market. We want to find them and help them take the steps needed to get into the market," says Adam Wikström, Business Developer and Project Manager at Big Science Sweden.

Greater knowledge transfer 

"We aim to strengthen the companies’ innovation capacity with a focus on the Big Science market through advisory services, technology transfer, innovation support, and capacity-building activities. We are, for example, looking for existing collaborations to see how we can help strengthen them. We also want to find new opportunities to increase knowledge transfer from the Big Science facilities through collaborations between academia and companies in the region."

Promote collaboration

Today, advanced technological development is often based on close collaboration between industry, universities, and research institutes.

"By utilising the combined expertise of regional actors, we’ll be supporting the companies’ ability to improve skills, develop new knowledge, and create new products. Initiatives such as joint R&D projects and knowledge-building activities are some examples of how we can promote collaboration."

Strengthen competitiveness 

The aim is not only to build capacity for high-tech delivery to the Big Science Market.

"In the long run, we believe this project will strengthen Västerbotten’s competitiveness in digitalisation, sustainable energy systems, and manufacturing industry as a whole," concludes Adam Wikström.

The project is co-funded by the EU.