Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Sylinda (Synchrotron Light Industry Applications)
Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2024-06-30
Sylinda aimed at boosting the research and development capabilities of SOLARIS, the Polish Synchrotron facility, based on the experience brought by the partners’ consortium. Attracting industry customers in addition to users from academia has been highly desirable for SOLARIS, to fully utilize the potential of conducting research projects in this largest research facility in Poland and only synchrotron facility in the EU-13. The scientific side of the project was based on the X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) ASTRA beamline of SOLARIS. Thanks to the project implementation its science profile has become very attractive for academic and industrial users dealing with low atomic number elements studies. New industry cooperation as well as increasing the interest of world-class XAS experts in the SOLARIS infrastructure has been established and noted, among others, through the successfully conducted Industry Workshop and SYLINDA Symposium. SOLARIS staff has been strengthened quantitatively and qualitatively by hiring new people and by preparing and implementing dedicated training courses for ILO, Funding Officer or beamline scientists. The communication and dissemination plan was implemented so effectively that SOLARIS has been leveraged by SYLINDA in the European scene of big science.
The stated outcomes of the SYLINDA project have been realized. The selection of consortium partners and their expertise made it possible to carry out the most important tasks in the project successfully. Study visits of young researchers to HN, SOLARIS and ALBA have been a great success. Young scientists not only had the opportunity to learn about research techniques at partner facilities, but also, through the knowledge gained, to build their own scientific awareness, which is reflected in the prepared publications or grant applications. The commissioning of the XAS ASTRA line proved to be another success. The range of measurements enabled by the ASTRA beamline makes it very popular. Is worth emphasizing that until the end of June 2024 more than 50 user groups have used the ASTRA beamline and more than 12 papers have been published or submitted for publication. Preparation and execution of two large events, namely the Industry Workshop and the SYLINDA Symposium (of which SOLARSI was an organizer) was a buckle that tied together the activities undertaken in the project in the sphere of developed cooperation with industry, as well as with the scientific community. Both events were attended by more than 340 people. It is worth emphasizing that the SYLINDA Symposium was attended by outstanding experts in the field of XAS from facilities in Thailand, the USA or Israel.
The interim and final results of the project were widely disseminated at numerous conferences or through the information channels of the project partners. The consortium as a whole disseminated the results of the SYLINDA project by participating in 9 conferences, 5 workshops and 3 exhibitions. In addition, information about the project was popularized by publishing 26 messages on social media, as well as by publishing 14 press releases.
The interim and final results of the project were widely disseminated at numerous conferences or through the information channels of the project partners. The consortium as a whole disseminated the results of the SYLINDA project by participating in 9 conferences, 5 workshops and 3 exhibitions. In addition, information about the project was popularized by publishing 26 messages on social media, as well as by publishing 14 press releases.
The implementation of the project allowed a better understanding of the important role SOLARIS can play in building bridges between the world of science and business practice. Being the operator of a large-scale research infrastructure, SOLARIS remains active in many multidisciplinary fields of science at the same time. Having such a wide range of expertise creates an enormous potential to respond to the needs reported by the industry, without the risk of limiting possible responses to one path only. Another barriers that SOLARIS has broken are the communication differences between scientists and entrepreneurs. The key role in this process was the role of an appropriately qualified Industrial Liaison Officer who supported the effective exchange of information. Thanks to the development of cooperation with scientific networks with apparatus and complementary knowledge, SOLARIS has become an important contributor to the development of the knowledge-based economy. The project partners have been also supported the Center's employees to discover the unique research opportunities created by the fact that the SOLARIS synchrotron is a medium and low energy device, which makes it competitive on a global scale, especially in the area of applied research, closest to potential industrial implementations.
It is important to emphasize that the project and its results had the opportunity to reach a large audience, which was not only the scientific community (passed more than 5400 recipients), but also general public (5265).
It is important to emphasize that the project and its results had the opportunity to reach a large audience, which was not only the scientific community (passed more than 5400 recipients), but also general public (5265).