Page 114 - ILLS Annual Report 2018

EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES
European collaborations
EUROPEAN PROJECTS
SINE2020—Science and Innovation with Neutrons in Europe in 2020—was launched in October 2015. It is a four-year, 12 M€, infrastructure development project under the Horizon2020 Framework Programme, bringing together 18 facilities and academic partners. Its main objective is twofold: prepare the European community for the first neutrons at ESS in 2020, and explore the potential for innovation of neutron facilities and their scientific partners.
SINE2020 is largely user-oriented. Its Joint Research Activities (JRAs) focus on key techniques for present and future neutron experiments. This covers sample preparation techniques,
more sophisticated sample environment facilities and
software development. For example, the project is actively involved in the Mantid data reduction project (http://www.mantidproject.org), a framework for high-performance computing and the visualisation of materials science data across specialised European facilities.
Given the promising but under-exploited potential of research collaboration with industry, SINE2020 is engaged in strengthening direct links with industrial users, demonstrating
the potential of neutron techniques and the value of access to the network’s neutron facilities. Thanks to SINE2020, industrial users can now easily perform feasibility studies in eight different European neutron centres, in areas such as failure analysis or materials and component development. SINE2020 also has a special focus on the education of users new to neutrons. To this end, the virtual e-learning platform has been developed further and support is being provided for introductory and specialised neutron schools all over Europe. The opportunities now encompass a wider range of audiences, applications and levels of learning, and as a consequence demand is rising.
SINE2020 illustrates the ever-growing commitment of the European neutron community to exploiting the potential of neutron science. It is expanding the capacity of the neutron user community to provide tailor-made solutions, thus boosting innovation and addressing the challenges society is facing. More information is available at: http://sine2020.eu.
Unlike most of the other projects funded by the European Commission, FILL2030 is a mono-beneficiary project entirely dedicated to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the ILL business model. FILL2030 is part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and has been granted 3.98 M€ to achieve its mission. This budget will finance the development of new service packages for academia and industry, innovative improvements to the ILL’s funding model, tools to identify emerging user groups and show cases illustrating the socio-economic impact of ILL research.
FILL2030’s overall objective is to achieve an increase of
5 M€ in the ILL’s annual budget (~5 % of its current budget). Initial efforts will concentrate on securing continuous income from the existing Associate and Scientific Member countries. Relations are being strengthened in this respect, focusing on the needs and expectations of each partner country. The ILL is now actively communicating on the impact of the neutrons it produces and the return on investment received by its funders, country by country.
Simultaneously, FILL2030’s outreach activities (tours of the installations, roadshows, workshops and media communications) will extend the pool of potential new partners, in Europe
and beyond.
The ILL’s strategy of engaging with new users and attracting sources of additional funding is based on obtaining a much clearer picture of the European neutron scattering landscape. The aim is to identify new international partners, attract new scientific communities and ensure that users are fully exploiting the European potential.
FILL2030 is therefore developing a set of bibliometric tools capable of analysing the activity of European and other neutron scattering communities. This will help unravel the existing complex, transnational networks of collaboration and identify potential areas of growth. By arranging relationships with new member states, FILL2030 will almost certainly be changing
the framework conditions. Existing paradigms will be adapted and extended, with the introduction of new mechanisms for access and funding corresponding more closely to the new communities’ needs. Last but not least, as part of FILL2030’s ‘Transnational Access’ scheme, beamtime is granted to users from new communities, either in existing Associate and member states or in non-member countries. Priority will be given to new users from non-member countries. For more information, go to: http://www.fill2030.eu/.
The project ATTRACT is a pioneering initiative bringing together Europe’s fundamental research and industrial communities to lead the next generation of detection and imaging technologies.
ATTRACT is currently selecting breakthrough technology concepts across the above-mentioned domain. In total 17 M€ will be awarded as seed funding for 170 disruptive projects.
Discover the project at: https://attract-eu.com/.
ANNUAL REPORT 2018