Accelerators in the Service of Industry – and Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

At the RTI Summit 2025 in Copenhagen, Hi-Acts joined leading European research infrastructures, policymakers, and industry representatives to discuss one key question: How can Europe strengthen its innovation capacity through research and technology infrastructures?

Representing Hi-Acts, Martina Bauer from GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research and Sabine Brock from Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY contributed to the session on Accelerators and Superconducting Magnets, chaired by Henrik Bak Jeppesen (DTI). The discussion centered on how Europe can leverage its world-leading expertise in big science technologies to create sustainable industrial and societal impact.

In her presentation, Martina Bauer shared best-practice examples of technology and knowledge transfer from GSI and Hi-Acts, illustrating how research infrastructures can successfully bring accelerator-based technologies into industrial use. She highlighted how Hi-Acts, as a distributed technology infrastructure, drives innovation through close collaboration among its five partner institutions.

“To keep Europe’s leadership in accelerator technologies, we must strengthen the collaboration between research infrastructures, technology infrastructures, and industry — translating technological excellence into innovation together,” Bauer emphasized.

Sabine Brock joined the subsequent panel discussion, where she reflected on the importance of structured collaboration — both within Hi-Acts and between research infrastructures and companies. She noted that such cross-sector cooperation plays a key role in accelerating innovation and strengthening Europe’s global competitiveness.

At the exhibition, Anna Anochin, Paul Harten, and Dr. Sonia Utermann represented Hi-Acts, showcasing how the platform’s distributed approach enables industry partners to access cutting-edge technologies, facilities, and expertise from across Europe. Their contributions underlined how Hi-Acts acts as a bridge between research and application — helping industry harness the full potential of accelerator technologies.

Hi-Acts extends its warm thanks to the hosts and to the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU 2025 for creating such an inspiring and forward-looking event.

At Hi-Acts, we continue to learn from Europe’s leading innovation actors — and to demonstrate what’s possible when distributed research infrastructures work together: turning scientific excellence into tangible innovation impact for industry and society alike.