The BDO actively works with industry to create customised collaborations and partnerships.  

These interactions put special emphasis on projects that catalyse and develop industrial use of our facilities, either with pre-competitive R&D and/or proprietary work. Within such collaborations, we offer the possibility to fund studentships and post-docs based at the ESRF which allows an efficient access to facilities for an extended period of time.

We believe that partnerships and grants are excellent ways to push research forward. The ESRF is an active partner in seeking grant support to industrial and applied R&D. We can be a full partner or act as an expert for specific outsourced requirements to the project. Please contact us for more information.

CURRENT COLLABORATIONS

Sunstone

Sunstone involves eight key European and Middle Eastern research infrastructures and organizations, with the Paul Scherrer Institut as an associate participant. The main goal of SUNSTONE is to ensure the sustained consolidation of SESAME, a pivotal research infrastructure serving eight member countries—Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine, and Turkey—while extending its focus towards Africa. The project aims to enhance SESAME's scientific capabilities, service provision, and standing as an international hub of research and excellence.

The ESRF is coordinator of this project, which is funded under the EU's Horizon Europe framework program for research and innovation under grant agreement n. 101177314.

Start date: 01/06/2024 - End date: 30/11/2027

InnovaXN

InnovaXN is a doctoral training programme bringing together the expertise of large-scale research infrastructures with the R&D needs of European industry. 40 PhD students will study a wide variety of subjects driven by industrial challenges, focussed on exploiting the advanced characterisation techniques of the large-scale European facilities in Grenoble, at the ESRF and ILL.

The ESRF is coordinator of this project, which is funded under the EU Horizon 2020 MSCA COFUND programme.

Start date: 01/10/2019 - End date: 30/09/2024

IRT NANOELEC

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The public-private partnership Institut Recherche Technologique (IRT) NanoElec is funding a 6.5M€ Pathfinder Programme to better open the European research infrastructures European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) to European micro- and nano-electronics industry R&D and innovation. 

The IRT NanoElec programme is focused on 3D assembly integration, nanophotonics on silicon and via technologies, supported by technological infrastructure including a pathfinder programme for Industrial Micro- and Nano-Electronics Characterisation using neutrons and synchrotron X-rays.

The NanoElec funding is providing staff to support electronics R&D at ESRF and ILL, as well as complementary facilities at the CEA Nano-Characterisation Centre. Off-line sample preparation facilities and characterisation processes from industry device to on-line experiment design and performance with data analysis will be made available as the large-scale facilities and industry learn how to work together. The experience gained and platform facilities will be available for European and international companies, as will opportunities for training in the synchrotron and neutron techniques.

NANOSCIENCE FOUNDRIES AND FINE ANALYSIS (NFFA)

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NFFA is creating an integrated, distributed research infrastructure as a platform supporting comprehensive user projects for multidisciplinary research at the nanoscale extending from synthesis and nanolithography to nanocharacterisation, theoretical modelling and numerical simulation, through a coordinated open-access to complementary facilities. As well as user access, NFFA is developing novel complementary nano-fab and characterisation tools and promoting awareness to academic and industrial user communities through outreach and training.

To allow access to this platform NFFA is funding transnational access (TNA). NFFA is encouraging users from various sectors of nanotechnology to access to the distributed research infrastructure, both from academia and from industry. In particular, for industry, an ad-hoc networking activity has been put in place. If you are a potential academic or industrial user and you are interested to know more, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Transnational Access: Procedure for ESRF users to obtain NFFA-supported access to CEA-LETI facilities

NFFA infrastructure is distributed across various core sites spread all around Europe, where proximity between Nanotechnology Centres and Large Scale Facilities is exploited to provide unique capabilities of manufacturing and characterisation at the nanoscale. Access to the NFFA infrastructure is supported via the TNA scheme. Interested users need to apply via a proposal and acceptance will be submitted to a peer review evaluation process.

ESRF, together with the CEA-LETI are the members of the Grenoble NFFA cluster. As a consequence, ESRF users who apply for beam time at the ESRF have also the possibility to apply for the use of certain CEA-LETI equipment.

The application process is the following:

1) The user submits an expression of interest while filling in the ESRF proposal for beam time, ticking the appropriate box in the “Support Lab” section.

2) If the ESRF proposal is successful, the user will be contacted by the Grenoble NFFA Technical Liaison.

3) The request will be submitted for authorisation to the NFFA Committee.

4) If the request is successful, the proposal is accepted and the NFFA-supported access to CEA-LETI is scheduled.

It is important to point out that it is not compulsory to have the access to the CEA-LETI synchronised with that of the ESRF. Moreover, no support for travel, food and accommodation will be reimbursed for the access to CEA-LETI. The NFFA TNA grant will only contribute for CEA-LETI access costs (equipment and technical assistance).

Equipment accessible at CEA-LETI

The LETI laboratory offers the following nano-characterisation and sample preparation equipment:

  • TEM
  • SEM
  • Plasma-FIB
  • Dual-Beam-FIB
  • Nano-AES
  • Cathodoluminescance
  • Photoluminescence
  • (UHV)AFM
  • Raman
  • EC nanocaracterisation: ToF-SIMS, MEIS, XPS, XPEEM.

LAAAMP

The ESRF one of the light sources working with an IUPAP-IUCr project within the 2016-2019 ICSU grants programme called Utilisation of Light Source and Crystallographic Sciences to Facilitate the Enhancement of Knowledge and Improve the Economic and Social Conditions in Targeted Regions of the World to enhance Advanced Light Sources (AdLS) and crystallographic sciences in Africa, the Middle East, Mexico and Caribbean.

OCAS

Starting in September 2016, OCAS is funding a post-doctoral researcher is based at the ESRF's ID06 beamline. OCAS develops alloys and coatings for its customers by co-developing steel applications and by processing and testing of metal-based samples.

ReMade@ARI

This Horizon Europe project aims to support research into circular materials by offering academic and industrial researchers transnational access to over 50 European research infrastructures from the ARIE network (arie-eu.org) comprising light sources, neutron sources, lasers, electron microscopes, ion and positron beams, and high magnetic field facilities. Going beyond the usual service offer, ReMade@ARI will provide guidance and experimental assistance to circular materials researchers. In addition, two offers tailored to industry will (i) aim to involve research and technology organisations (RTOs) to translate industry problems into RI experiments, and (ii) provide small and medium enterprises with fast-track access. The areas of recycling prioritised by the European Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) are covered by this project: Electronics and ICT; Batteries and Vehicles; Packaging; Plastics; Textiles; Construction and Buildings; Food, Water and Nutrients.

The project has 44 partners and is coordinated by HZDR.

Start date: 01/09/2022 - End date: 31/08/2026

STREAMLINE

The EU-funded STREAMLINE project is ensuring that the groundbreaking facilities at the ESRF will be used with optimal efficiency. Accommodating more users, more varied experiments and more data requires a new business plan including training of user communities, updated access modes and innovative service packages. STREAMLINE will foster sustainability and high-impact exploitation. The ESRF is the sole beneficiary of this project.

Start date: 15/11/2019 - End date: 14/05/2024
 

COMPLETED PROJECTS

CALIPSO

The ESRF is the leader for the CALIPSO "European Light Sources for Industrial Innovation" work package. This will allow better networking amongst the European light sources for industrial interaction, as well as providing support to create an international Industrial Advisory Board for the light sources and for a series of workshops at the light source centres with industry.​​

CRISP

ESRF is involved in the CRISP industrial interaction work package which has funding to run a series of events of industrial interest - particularly in technology development for large-scale infrastructures.

ENRIITC

ENRIITC is the European Network of Research Infrastructures and Industry for Collaboration. We are 11 Partners and 60+ Associates working together to establish a pan-European network of Industrial Liaison and Contact Officers (ILOs/ICOs) to improve the RI-industry cooperation and boost the innovation ecosystem in Europe.

OPEN SESAME

The ESRF was the Co-ordinator of the OPEN SESAME project (INFRASUPP-2016-2017 call to support SESAME). The OPEN SESAME project ensured optimal exploitation of the Synchrotron light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) light source. With this aim, OPEN SESAME had three key objectives:

1. To train SESAME staff in the storage ring and beamline instrumentation technology, research techniques and administration for optimal use of a modern light source facility.

2. To build-up human capacity in Middle East researchers to optimally exploit SESAME’s infrastructure.

3. To train SESAME staff and its user community in public outreach and corporate communications, and to support SESAME and its stakeholders in building awareness and demonstrating its socio-economic impact to assure longer term exploitation.

By the end of the project, over 200 researchers, engineers, technicians and administrators were supported in mobility, with over 20,000 hours of training provided

OPEN SESAME key figures

The OPEN SESAME consortium was composed of ten European institutes: six light sources: ALBA CELLS, DESY, ELETTRA, ESRF, INFN, Synchrotron SOLEIL, as well as The Cyprus Institute, CERN, CNRS and Instruct) along with SESAME itself.

SAINT-GOBAIN

Saint-Gobain has provided funding for a post-doctoral fellow to be based at the ESRF working on the EXAFS suite of beamlines for catalysis R&D. The Saint-Gobain team benefits from beam time for proprietary work, whilst there is also a joint R&D programme with publishable results.