ESADE and CERN participate in an initiative to promote start-ups based on technology developed at the research centre

ESADE and CERN, together with other research infrastructures and universities, will promote co-innovation including start-ups and business projects able to develop products based on the scientific breakthroughs achieved by researchers. The challenge is to find new ways to ensure that the research teams’ discoveries impact society and improve people’s lives.

Professor Jonathan Wareham, Dean of Faculty and Research at ESADE, and Sergio Bertolucci, Director for Research at CERN, signed a Letter of Intent this morning expressing their interest in collaborating in ATTRACT. The initiative, carried out with select institutions from around Europe, aims to accelerate and bring to market the new technologies developed at the centre.

The detection of the Higgs boson and the data from the imaging telescope are breakthroughs on the front lines of science. Researchers have made similar progress in fields such as magnets, detectors, cameras, computers, networks and software. However, many of these discoveries simply do not exist on the market today. As a result, says Dean Wareham, "Their development could be a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs, investors, companies and other institutions able to find new commercial uses for them."

For his part, Dr. Bertolucci was confident that ESADE would bring to the programme its proven connection with the world of business and its expertise in managing open innovation projects. "ESADE will be a key partner in the effort to ensure that our science has a real social impact and that we can help to improve people’s lives", he said. For the director for research of Europe’s largest research centre, the project "could foster major synergies between the public and private sectors and generate economic growth in Europe in terms of both jobs and a greater return on Europe’s scientific investment".

Under the ATTRACT, and in conjunction with other participating partners, ESADE will carry out actions to promote the creation of new business projects, engaging experts from its faculty, partner companies and students. Many of the activities and projects will be linked to the ESADECREAPOLIS innovation centre headquartered on ESADE’s international campus. Attention should also be drawn to the first edition of the Challenge Based Innovation (CBI) programme, under which ESADE MBA students, working in multidisciplinary teams with students from other schools, have been developing new product applications based on CERN’s scientific breakthroughs. This year’s pilot experience received extraordinarily positive reviews from the ESADE MBA students and plans exist to expand and consolidate it over the next academic year.

CERN experts believe that their research can have an especially strong impact in the following fields:

• Imaging detection and radiotherapy in healthcare.
• Satellite imagery applied to consumer goods and industrial services.
• Massive data management in sectors such as electricity or urban traffic management.
• European ICT companies specialized in advanced manufacturing, robotic arms, remote sensors and opto-mechanical assembly.