The third event of its kind after Copenhagen and Grenada, BSBF 2024 attracted more than 1000 delegates from more than 500 organisations and 30 countries to discuss the future prospects for a Big Science Common Market.
BSBF is a key event which brings together European research infrastructures (RIs) and a wide range of relevant industrial suppliers. Industry is a key partner for RIs and by expanding their industry network, RIs can improve their supply chains and the fair return on investment for their stakeholders.
A major opportunity concerns transfer of technology and knowledge from RIs to industry for co-development of high tech components and their wider deployment. In some cases, this technology deployment will spread well beyond the sphere of RIs and may be truly disruptive, the most famous example being the development of the world wide web at CERN.
It should noted, as well, that industry has key skills in terms of technologies and standards that are of major benefit to RIs. Also, by working collectively as RIs, the market size can be increased and rendered more stable over time for industry, increasing in turn the attractiveness of this market, particularly if there is a significant effort required to enter it, for example in the case of highly regulated sectors like the nuclear industry.
A true common market based on a close collaboration between RIs and extensive partnerships with industry is a long-term vision but there are many, simple but important and effective first steps to take in this journey.
