Tag: Construction

Groundbreaking ceremony for new technology and start-up centre at DESY

Groundbreaking ceremony for new technology and start-up centre at DESY

Construction of the DESY Innovation Factory in the centre of Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld has begun.

A combined total of more than 8,500 square meters of workspace will be created in just three years of construction at two locations: the main site on the DESY campus and a second very close by in the Altona Innovation Park. Complex laboratories, offices, and open working environments will be built to optimally foster the flow and transfer of knowledge and technology from research to industry and society.

From 2027 onward, the DESY Innovation Factory will serve pre-founders, start-ups, and scale-ups, as well as partners from applied research and collaborations with industry as an innovation centre for life sciences, new materials, and quantum technologies. It will bolster a unique ecosystem in Germany in which these stakeholders can not only optimally develop their ideas, but also benefit from a wide range of networking, events, and advice.

“The DESY Innovation Factory offers founders excellent conditions to bring new ideas from research into practice even faster. In the heart of Science City, an important flagship for Hamburg’s new future-oriented district and our science location is being created. It will bring together bright minds from science and business to work together on sustainable solutions for pressing issues of the future,” says Katharina Fegebank, Second Mayor of Hamburg and Senator of the Science, Research, Equality and Districts Authority of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

The centre targets research disciplines, sectors, and subjects that are particularly promising for the future of society: In the context of Life Sciences, these are active ingredient and vaccine research, medical technology, and diagnostics. In New Materials, the focus is on sustainable and intelligent materials that are particularly durable or efficient to use. Quantum Technologies focuses on modern forms of computing, sensor technology, and quantum materials.

“Research at the Hamburg site offers enormous potential for social progress: what is developed here has what it takes to make life better. The DESY Innovation Factory enables the transition from research to marketable solutions. It will become a workbench for innovation, where bright minds and creative entrepreneurs work together to find answers to the pressing questions of our time – for a sustainable future and innovation through technology,” says Melanie Leonhard, Senator for Economic Affairs and Innovation of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

For DESY, the DESY Innovation Factory is a further milestone in its strategy to continuously develop the campus into a centre of deep-tech innovation. The globally unique large-scale research facilities and their specially trained staff will also increasingly benefit companies in the future in order to jointly develop cutting-edge products and technologies.

“By working closely together, research and industry can identify solutions to socially relevant challenges, for example in materials development or for the environment, more quickly and often more cost-effectively. With the DESY Innovation Factory, we offer the ideal environment for new deep-tech innovations,” says Arik Willner, DESY’s Chief Technology Officer.
“The DESY Innovation Factory will play a pivotal role in Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld and greatly expand Germany’s potential as a science and technology location,” says Helmut Dosch, Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors.

Read more on DESY website

Image: Breaking ground for the DESY Innovation Factory (from left): Helmut Dosch (DESY), Volkmar Dietz (Federal Ministry for Education and Research), Melanie Leonhard (Hamburg Senator for Economics), Eva Gümbel (Hamburg State Councillor for Science), Arik Willner and Hansjörg Wiese (both DESY).

Credit: DESY, Axel Heimken

CHESS celebrates construction milestone with Wilson West open house

CHESS celebrates construction milestone with Wilson West open house

On Wednesday, November 15, CHESS had an open house for members of the Cornell community in the new Wilson West expansion project. The project recently received its temporary certificate of occupancy, which marks a milestone in the construction project.

Wilson West houses a new large experimental hall to accommodate the upcoming High Magnetic Field X-ray Beamline. Guests were invited to tour the new building, including future beamline caves, server rooms, electronics and vacuum labs, sample preparation rooms, and an ADA-accessible chemistry room.

The new milestone marks a point in the project when efforts will begin to move from building construction to installing highly specialized experimental equipment.

Read more on CHESS website

Image: The high bay area of the new Wilson West building

New phase of CIRI beamline construction.

New phase of CIRI beamline construction.

The CIRI beamline has received another piece of its infrastructure. Under construction since 2019, CIRI – Chemical InfraRed Imaging – uses infrared radiation for advanced microscopy experiments.

The SOLARIS Center is continuously improving and expanding its infrastructure. This past week saw the long-awaited installation of the first part of the front-end – the optics component that introduces the IR beam from the accumulation ring – on the CIRI beamline.

– It is a modified dipole chamber that will allow the M1 mirror to be moved a short distance from the electron beam and, as a result, allow infrared (IR) radiation to be reflected out of the chamber. This operation required great precision in both the fabrication of the chamber itself and its positioning relative to the rest of the ring. The next step will be to observe the IR beam once the synchrotron is operational – said Dr. Tomasz Wróbel, supervisor of the CIRI beamline.

Read more on SOLARIS website

Two powerful universities join forces in a common cause.

Two powerful universities join forces in a common cause.

The SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre will soon be the site of a joint project by Jagiellonian University and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. In the hall of only Poland’s synchrotron will house a beamline for research into viruses, drug and vaccine carriers and nanomaterials.

The Ministry of Education and Science, in the framework of the investment grant ‘Construction of a measurement line for small-angle X-ray scattering research’, has decided to award funding for the construction of a new beamline at the SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre, operating within the structures of the Jagiellonian University. This will be the first line in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe dedicated to the study of biological molecules, polymers and their composites, viruses, drug carriers and nanomaterials. Its creation will be possible thanks to the cooperation of scientists from two leading Polish academic communities, from the Jagiellonian University and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan.

The rectors of the two universities met on 13 July at the NSRC to discuss collaborative spaces, and plans to develop new experimental techniques and learn about the specifics of shared research centres such as SOLARIS.

– The persistence of scientists from our universities in achieving the success of the joint project is an excellent example of exemplary relations between two powerful academic centres in Poland. I am delighted that, after so many months of perturbations to obtain ministerial approval, we have been able to obtain approval for this project. I wish that in three years’ time, we will all have the opportunity to meet here and together open a new line of research that will enable us to make breakthrough discoveries. – said Prof. Jacek Popiel, Jagiellonian University Rector.

– Science always has two dimensions: the present – the local – but also the global. Projects such as the joint research line project take us to this higher dimension of science.  I am a firm believer that global science does not succeed without collaboration. Our two universities have shown that such cooperation has yielded excellent results for many years. – said Professor Bogumiła Kaniewska, PhD, Rector of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan.

Read more on SOLARIS website

Civil engineer plays key role in construction of Brazil’s light source

Civil engineer plays key role in construction of Brazil’s light source

Sirius is the only light source in Latin America and is located at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials. Mayara Adorno is a civil engineer and her role has been to oversee the technology control of the structures that house the synchrotron machine.

In her #LightSource Selfie, Mayara explains how she was attracted by the opportunity to work on a large project, taking it from paper plans through to completion. As with all large scale science facility construction projects, there were daily challenges for Mayara and her engineering colleagues. She says, “I’ve learned a lot from the project and this was very important for my professional and personal growth. I would advise any young engineer not to give up on your dreams and, this way, become a person who always wants to be open to learn and teach.” “It makes me really proud to know that Sirius has turned into the great science infrastructure from the efforts and dedications of many professionals from different areas, including myself.”

Mayara Adorno, Civil Engineer, at Sirius