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CERN-Kjerne- og partikkelforskning

The CERN Technology Project 2016-19

Alternative title: CERN-teknologi

Awarded: NOK 11.0 mill.

The overall goal of the "CERN technology project" in the period 2016-19 has been to exploit CERN's membership benefits and develop competences for Norway, in particular through training of Norwegian students at CERN. CERN's most important task is to build accelerators and detector systems for research in particle physics. In order to achieve this advanced technologies are required and new technological solutions are being developed in to remove or circumvent existing limitations, or to test new ideas. The CERN technology project has supported three related activities that have ensured Norwegian participation in research and technology development at CERN. The Norwegian technical-student program for master and undergraduate students at CERN is partly financed by the project and partly by CERN. Thirty students from technical colleges and universities have each stayed on average 12 months at CERN as part of their masters or undergraduate assignments/projects. These students have been integrated into research groups at CERN and their projects cover a wide range of topics, such as materials technology, electronics, superconductors, control systems, IT and sensor technology. Five PhD students at Norwegian universities have carried out their PhD projects in research groups at CERN, within accelerator and detector R&D, as part of the CERN technology project. The PhD projects cover from CMOS technology in LHC experiments to accelerator studies for future accelerators. A number of industry and technology transfer measures have been implemented focusing on recruitment, technology transfer and industrial contracts for Norwegian industry. Relevant contracts at CERN are forwarded to potential suppliers in Norway. CERN has made purchases for just over NOK 100 million in Norway during the project period, from 80 suppliers. About 1,000 Norwegian school students visit CERN annually. Well over 150 meetings between CERN researchers / groups and Norwegian industrial companies have been arranged. Norwegian entrepreneur master students from NTNU have started several companies based on CERN technology and four of these exist today. In general, all these measures are based on coordinated efforts and funding from many sources. Norwegian Universities contribute with students and supervisors. Shorter visits are also effective, for example, NTNU's entrepreneurial students annually visit and evaluate technologies at CERN. School-classes in Norway find the necessary funding to visit CERN. CERN provide around 80% of the support for the Norwegian students mentioned and CERN employees use part of their time supporting the project including supervision. CERN technology project participants organize visits, programs and meetings at CERN. The Norwegian industry liaison and technology transfer officer is directly funded by the project, and central to the coordination and implementation of the activities and the results obtained.

The project has supported five Univ. of Oslo PhD projects where the students have spent most of their time at CERN. The PhD projects cover accelerator and detector R&D for CERN's particle physics programme. Around 40 master and bachelor students have been supported to carry out projects at CERN. These students, from NTNU, UiA and HVL primarily, have studied within research groups at CERN working on technology development including IT. The Industry Liaison and Technology Transfer work related to CERN has been carried out with close contacts/presentations to a large number of Norwegian Companies, Universities and Institutes. The focus has been recruitment to CERN posts including student grants, and promotion of Technology Transfer and Industry contacts to Norwegian companies. Several industry events for Norwegian firms have been arranged, as well as outreach actions as school visits in Norway and arranging school class visits to CERN, teacher training at CERN, and Norwegian media visits.

The CERN Technology Project, covering the period 2016-19, has as focus three related areas: Accelerator Physics, the Norwegian Technical Student programme, and the Industry and Technology Transfer activities - all related to enhancing the CERN membership benefits and impact for Norway. These three central activities in the project are well integrated to address the declared major focus of the CERN related activities for the forthcoming period, namely to increase the number of young scientists involved and trained, in particular students, in CERN related projects and at CERN. These students can be at master or PhD level, and this training is often the first step towards CERN recruitment posts, and as such the programme is also aimed at improving the Norwegian staff situation at CERN. Direct recruitment campaigns for students and potential staff are also included under the responsibility of the Industry and Technology Transfer area. The project builts on experiences gained in previous project period 2012-2015 with direct focus on accelerator science with is the by far the largest activity at CERN, and including a PhD programme to bridge between master positions and CERN recruitment posts. CERN co-finances the student-grants very significantly and only 1/3 of the costs are carried by this project.

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Funding scheme:

CERN-Kjerne- og partikkelforskning