PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES

DESY Innovation Factory

An incubator for entrepreneurs and visionairies in Life Sciences

A centre for start-ups in the emerging fields of life sciences, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and new materials is being created. The "DESY Innovation Factory", a technology and start-up centre, is intended to identify innovations and business opportunities and make them available to society. The start-ups profit from the outstanding infrastructure of the Bahrenfeld research campus, from top-equipped laboratories and offices to tailor-made concepts for development. The costs for construction, installation, and the first years of operation are estimated to be 105.5 million euros, 90% of which will be financed by the German federal government. DESY is responsible for planning and implementation of the project. In order to be able to start operations as soon as possible, the plan is that different facilities will be opened in phases until 2027. More information on DESY Innovation Factory.

Hi-Acts (Helmholtz Innovation Platform for Accelorator-based Technologies and Solutions)

Innovative solutions for industry and society with accelorator-based technologies

The Hi-Acts innovation platform makes accelerator-based technologies more accessible for industry and medicine. The five Helmholtz centers Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin are matching their expertise and offering access to their numerous accelerator facilities and research groups via one Single-Entry-Point.

Hi-Acts offers its members and partners unique opportunities for networking and co-creation through its portfolio. Industry partners benefit from numerous advantages. Partners can approach the network with a technological challenge via a compact process called Hi-Acts-Connect in order to find the right Helmholtz center partner with whom to develop joint solutions. They benefit from advice on technologies, patent issues, possible funding, further training opportunities and close dialogue within the growing network with proven experts and industries.

In addition, they can be co-partners and idea providers for the Hi-Acts Use Case Initiatives, a lean funding programme within the framework of Hi-Acts. Furthermore, in interaction with the Technology Labs, the players gain early insights into proven future topics: These range from novel AI solutions and radiopharmaceuticals to fight cancer to compact accelerators - for use in energy or medical technology, in the development of new smart materials or the production of high-performance semiconductors. The aim of Hi-Acts is to integrate pioneering deep-tech solutions more quickly into industrial value chains and thus accelerate sustainable innovation breakthroughs for society.

More information on the Innovation platform Hi-Acts

"CNF Materials": A DESY initiative for bringing sustainable biomaterials into application

The world's strongest biomaterial known to date was developed at they synchrotron PETRA III in a research collaboration between DESY and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. This material is spun from cellulose nano-fibrils (CNF). The international team of researchers has succeeded in visualizing the production method for biodegradable artificial cellulose fibers. They optimized the production process  so that the threads spun from them are stronger than steel and even spider silk - the latter considered the strongest biological material to date. This new material is based on wood, is biodegradable, transparent, ultra-thin, high-strength and - above all - can be functionalized. Since the nano-fibrils can not only be spun into threads but also processed into ultra-thin layers by the means of spraying, the material is interesting for many applications. Applications vary from sprayable solar cells to thin, scratch-resistant coatings. DESY is already now working to bring this development into application - for industry in construction, in energy generation, for security applications or even for sustainable consumer products.

The Innovation & Technology Transfer department at DESY recognized the opportunities for this at an early stage and is building up an alliance with partners from applied research and industry on this research topic. The goal is to identify concrete applications as quickly as possible and to transfer them into these, for example through joint validation projects.

The project "Sunny Cellulose" explores the application of these new materials as a sun shade doubling as a solar cell and thus contribute to sustainable energy alternatives. More info

"TransferWelten" - Combining social impetus and technological innovations

With the "TransferWelten" project, DESY and the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg) are combining their expertise in the transfer sector to initiate new innovation processes between science, business, society, and politics that would not otherwise exist in conventional innovation environments. As an example, the project seeks to network basic research more closely with stakeholders from the fields of art, culture, and media and to advance collaborative innovations.

The aim of "TransferWelten" is to address issues, ideas, and business models from as many areas of society as possible and to use science to develop solutions to challenges in the Hamburg region. This combines DESY's basic research and HAW Hamburg's application-oriented research in order to create collaborative opportunities for new projects and initiatives.

TamaTA

TamaTA (short for: Tailor-made for SMEs Trans-national Access) promotes access to snychrotron and neutron radiation sources for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the framework of the EU project LEAPS-INNOV. From feasibility studies to experiments and analysis activities, there are several funding opportunities for research and development activities of companies within the EU or associated countries.

The EU-funded pilot project LEAPS-INNOV aims to address key technological challenges for Europe's accelerator-based light sources - synchrotron radiation facilities and free-electron lasers - with their tens of thousands of users. Long-term partnerships between industry and the photon science community will be established to set the stage for long-term industry engagement with the League of European Accelerator-Based Photon Sources (LEAPS). LEAPS was established in 2017 to create synergies among accelerator-based light sources in Europe. For more info, visit Wayforlight.