Collaboration agreement ESS Bilbao-INEUSTAR

Collaboration agreement between the headquarters in Bilbao of the European Neutron Spallation Source (ESS-Bilbao) and the Spanish association for the Industry of Science (Ineustar)

Today, the two institutions have signed an important agreement for industrial and technological collaboration which highlights even further the pull of the headquarters of the European Neutron Spallation Source currently being built in Lejona, Bilbao. As a result of the agreement signed by the Director General of the ESS-Bilbao, Francisco Javier Bermejo and the Chairman of the Association, INEUSTAR, Miguel Ángel Carrera, Spanish companies active in the design, manufacture and supply of equipment and systems for scientific installations, will have a direct liaison which will facilitate participation in the design and supply contracts of the complex equipment forming part of the core of the experiments to be developed and of the services and installations which will contain the former. The total investment budget of the ESS-Bilbao amounts to 180 million Euros and is of significant value as a technological reference for other similar installations.

The agreement also considers the optimisation of such singular equipment with the potential use of the equipment by industry at times when the equipment may be idle. In this way, and with the collaboration of INEUSTAR, the iron and steel industries –among others- will have access to design and testing services of an advanced nature, without the associated high investment normally required.

The agreement also considers the joint creation and participation in projects, training programmes, etc.

Both Francisco Javier Bermejo and Miguel Ángel Carrera stress the importance of the agreement, which serves to demonstrate the relevance of the ESS-Bilbao not only as a scientific and technological installation for the development of Particle Science in Spain, but also as a driving force behind the competitiveness of the related industrial sectors.

The ESS-Bilbao is the Spanish installation of the European neutron Spallation Source, whose main installation is to be built in Lund (Sweden).

INEUSTAR is the Spanish Association for the Industry of Science, which develops joint promotional activities aimed at increasing the return of Spanish industries which supply the leading scientific installations in Spain and abroad. Particle Science, Fusion, Astrophysics, Space, Energy and Biology are some of the sectors in which INEUSTAR focuses activity.

• Source: ESS Bilbao

• Date: 2010/07/07