CERN-PH-ADO-MN-190413 For Internal Discussion ATTRACT Initiative Markus Nordberg Marzio Nessi
Introduction ATTRACT is an initiative for managing the funding of radiation detector and imaging R&D work. It stands for breakthrough innovation programme for the detector/infrastructure ecosystem, proposed to be co-funded by the European Union and administered by CERN, on behalf of the related scientific community and industry. ATTRACT brings together and fosters scientific collaboration, innovation and relevant educational activities. T he current document is intended for internal discussion related to an identified need to fund and facilitate longer-term detector R&D activities in Europe, while relying on ambitious scientific projects involving large centres like CERN and on external funding from the European Union. BACKGROUND 1. Background Among several other fields, detector R&D efforts are Future performance needs intensifying in the LHC collaborations as the performance Upgrade R&D of the LHC accelerator increases. By extrapolating from the External funding current machine performance, all LHC experiments must possibilities undergo a significant re-haul by the end of this decade to sustain the projected energy and luminosity increase. As an order of magnitude, the total construction effort across the LHC experiments alone is estimated to reach ca. 800 MCHF over the next year, excluding the required earlystage R&D. While waiting for the funding scenarios for the upgrades to pan out during the next coming years, the scientific collaborations have been meanwhile exploring for other sources of new funding for the early-stage R&D. During the past few years, funding possibilities offered by the European Union (EU) have become more interesting for international scientific collaborations. There are several reasons for this. First, national funding agencies encourage collaborating institutes to seek for matching funds from more diversified sources such as the EU. Second, during the past decade new, potentially interesting technologies have emerged in industry that current physics detector R&D could either contribute to or benefit from. Third, EU funding offers also opportunities for young researchers and technical students to make 1
meaningful contributions in large international R&D and training networks. For example, at CERN large experiments have gained positive experiences from the latter form and have in place ITN Marie Curie-programs related to upgrade detector R&D activities. DETECTOR R&D FUNDING 2. A Possible New R&D Funding Framework and Status Indisputably, the driver of the detector R&D needs in basic Could EU fund it? research is the scientific discovery potential. The question Could industry has been asked whether the way international research contribute? collaborations are organized and run in the true spirit of Could the young benefit? open innovation 1, could also be extended to foster innovation with selected industrial partners as well as training of young researchers and students - and all of this to be externally funded. In essence: could detector technology R&D offer at the same time a platform of new ideas and opportunities for the collaborating industry and young researchers? If so, could CERN facilitate such a process and how? As an example, ATLAS at CERN is currently addressing these questions through a platform or interface it has recently created to integrate EU-funded projects into its upgrade project structures in a structured way. It is called ATLAS Technology Lab or ATLAB in short. ATLAB has currently under its umbrella two EU-funded projects, TALENT (Semiconductor based sensors) and EDUSAFE (Augmented Reality). The purpose of ATLAB is to offer its industry partners, mostly Small and Medium-sized enterprises or SMEs, an opportunity to share and develop technologies together that may have relevance beyond the scientific needs. ATLAS provides an experimental environment for its partners where young researchers and students can contribute to innovation in a meaningful way, both in fulfilling the scientific goals of ATLAS as well as for purposes outside the domain of particle physics. CMS is currently considering similar activities. CERN is providing administrative support to these EU-projects, among others. This includes providing guidance for interfacing with Brussels, human resources management, legal help in drafting contracts, financial help in accounting and reporting. The experiments welcome further help and involvement in finding new industrial partners and in project management, as well as in organizing supporting 1 Open Innovation is here to suggest making available public goods. This approach has several IPR implications. In the ATLAB concept, some of these have already been addressed and put in place. More thought is needed how it could be expanded upon. 2
events such as topical seminars around latest technology developments in e.g. solid state sensors, ultra-fast optical switches, ICT and precision robotics. IDEAS & INNOVATION 3. Creating Powerful Ideas and Innovation for Europe The agenda of European Union s Europe-2020 program contemplates seven Flagship Initiatives conceived as new engines to boost sustainable growth and jobs in Europe. These are grouped into three themes: smart growth, sustainable growth and inclusive growth. The new Horizon-2020 (H2020) framework 2 reflects how the funding priorities and thematic will be organized and deployed towards achieving the above Europe 2020 key objectives, in line with the Flagship Initiatives. Whereas the 7 th Framework Programme has fostered research, H2020 will be fundamentally oriented towards European innovation and competitiveness, where innovation is understood to extend from ideas to jobs. Moreover innovation is mainly oriented towards solving the Key Societal Challenges that European citizens will face in the coming decades (i.e. aging population, need to live in sustainable cities, smart and clean transport, etc.). Some of these may require breakthroughs in technological performance improvements and novel interactions between a wide range of actors in research and industry. H2020 Key challenges Role of RIs H2020 already foresees a more active role of European Research Infrastructures especially in relation to fully exploit their potential for scientific advance and innovation, in domains such as scientific instrumentation. The aim of H2020 is to encourage Research Infrastructures acting as early developers and adopters of technology and promoting R&D partnerships with industry therefore facilitating industrial use and further engagement with the industrial community (especially SMEs). In such a sense the EC has acknowledged the need to establish new collaborative models with industry overcoming the existing barriers. 2 http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/index_en.cfm?pg=home&video=none. 3
ATTRACT ROLE 4. The proposed role of ATTRACT If funding support from the EC was made available, Collaborative model CERN could consider the possibility of helping in creating Ecosystem a new, collaborative model between the radiation sensor Role of industry or detector R&D community and industry for radiation sensor R&D. The model would be based on the international scientific collaborations CERN fosters, and incorporating industry as equal partners. This collaborative model would therefore aim to respond to the objectives of Horizon 2020 with respect to the future role of European Research infrastructures and the need to establish new cooperation frameworks with industry beyond the existing ones. The ATTRACT-programme would fund specific projects in the domain of radiation sensor R&D and related technologies, following defined work programs, open calls and independent review processes in a co-innovation relationship between the detector community and industrial players. The interdisciplinary nature of detector R&D connects directly with the thematic and innovation philosophy of H2020 and especially with the development of revolutionary Key Enabling Technology applications with a high potential to boost the European industrial leadership as well as produce a positive impact towards the mitigation of the Key Societal Challenges. The unique in the world know-how and environment already available in the detector ecosystem allows the creation of new, advanced technologies and therefore pave the way for shortening the product adaptation life cycle for possible new applications and markets. This identified opportunity has the potential to position the European industry at the forefront of competitiveness as compared to other parts of the world economies. CERN could run the administrative arm of ATTRACT, provided that the radiation sensor R&D community, industry and the EC are willing to co-lead it form the necessary decision-making bodies. These together would form the ATTRACT Industry-Detector Ecosystem. By industry here we mean both large and small companies. Although the driving force behind ATTRACT is meeting the technological challenges to make advancements in fundamental research, it can nevertheless definitely strongly and effectively contribute to innovation, as well. In this sense the detector ecosystem in Europe, represents a unique scenario of which Europe 4
can take advantage of. It is the endeavour of developing complex research infrastructures to explore the frontiers of science that pushes existing technologies to unforeseen performance limits and/or inventing new revolutionary technologies in several domains (i.e. ICT, materials, etc.). This codevelopment allows industrial companies to reach the market faster, in the spirit of open innovation, especially as complex research infrastructures provide a very demanding testing environment. Towards the industrial community this could be an additional key incentive, as is the availability of foreground IP would be available for the industry partners to exploit it. This would favour European industry to better position itself at the forefront of innovation and competitiveness. STRUCTURES 5. Structures and Decision-making The governance structure of ATTRACT requires a new Partnership form of partnership, as it would need to incorporate the Call organization research community, industry, and the EC. CERN could Possible CERN role act as an ex-officio member, but not deciding on the allocation of funding for the submitted projects which follow from launching several open calls. Instead, the research community would need to get itself organized to set up the programs together with industry, organize the calls and carry out the entire the review process, based on established scientific rigour and EU guidelines. In case a given call would be of interest to CERN, it can apply but is then subject to the same rules as anyone else. CERN would perform the administrate functions of ATTRACT and offer project management support for the selected projects when necessary, also enabling interactions across the projects in a structured manner. In operational terms CERN s experience, know-how and established administrative structures could be of help in the agile daily management of ATTRACT. 5
NEXT STEPS 6. Next steps CERN is in regular contact with the European Commission Regular EU discussions and through its current collaboration agreement is Input to H2020 providing insights and suggestions for the orientations of Input from community the future EU programme for research and innovation 3. The priority areas of thematic cooperation include Research Infrastructures, Knowledge Transfer & IP Management, Researcher Career & Mobility, Open Access and Science Communication. It appears that all of the above elements are also present in the current R&D funding request plans of the detector R&D communities. Should the detector R&D communities, extending beyond particle physics, express interest in including radiation sensor technology development and imaging in future EU-funded programs and calls, CERN is ready to consider bringing up such wishes in its regular discussions with the European Commission. It should be stressed, however, that such requests would benefit from clarity as to which groups, experiments or collaborations support this kind of an initiative and what type of detector R&D they consider as appropriate for the framework offered by H2020. While waiting for this possible input, CERN intends to learn more about the practical implementation aspects of H2020, as this information becomes available. Among several open key questions remain the precise meaning of the intent of the Commission to external 75% of the funding (management) of H2020 budget; the scope of possible co-funding schemes; legal settings of the possible EU-partnership arrangements; details of the Research Infrastructure program guidelines and budget levels etc. 3 The current Memorandum of Understanding is signed in 2009 and its implementation is monitored through a periodically updated work plan. The latest one covers the time period 2012-2013 (CERN-Council-S/091/Corr.). 6