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CERN launches its new startup support programme

Ilona Trtíková

The new programme, CERN Venture Connect, aims at support of deep-tech startups in all of CERN´s Member States, including Czech Republic. The programme will help the startups succeed by giving them access to selected CERN technologies and partner investor companies or venture incubators that will provide further possibilities for investment, expert mentoring and service providers. In the Czech Republic, CERN cooperates with three important players in local startup support environment – Tensor Ventures, Startup Kitchen and Business and Investment Development Agency CzechInvest.

(CERN Venture Connect, Image: CERN)

The technologies developed in CERN have applications in various areas like metrology, interferometry, telecommunications, finance, quantum computing and smart grids which may be used to create game-changing solutions in the domains of healthcare, aerospace or environment. For the moment, following state-of-the-art CERN technologies spanning a wide range of fields, from laser technology and cryogenics to data management and precision-synchronization are available under CERN Venture Connect programme (CVC):

 Czech startups seeing potential in using CERN technologies are invited to apply on a continuous basis. Selected applicants will benefit from access to CERN technologies and a CVC support ecosystem – network of venture capitalists, incubators, mentors and service providers.

(The Timepix3 chip developed by the Medipix3 collaboration and used by several Czech startup companies, Image: CERN)

In the Czech Republic, there are already several examples of commercialization of CERN technologies and knowledge transfer from CERN. The company Advacam is using the Timepix/Medipix detectors developed in CERN in imaging cameras for industrial and academic applications. Radalytica, a provider of portable robotic 3D computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound scanning, is using the same technology, as well InsightArt which uses x-ray imaging technology to assist art restoration experts and to unmask forgeries. The Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences is co-developer and co-owner of licence for the generation of special optical structured beam (laser), which is already exploited by a Dutch start-up for developing technologies for a next-generation telecommunication links.

CERN is an international research and development organisation, which operates the world’s largest laboratory in the field of particle and nuclear physics. The Czech Republic is a Member State of CERN since 1993, resp. Czechoslovakia as of 1991. CERN currently has 23 Member States. The Czech contribution to CERN amounts to approximately 14,5 million CHF per year (i.e. approximately CZK 380 million), while its payment is ensured by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, which is also responsible for the Czech membership in CERN.