\ Innovazione \ Trieste Welcomes Third Edition of Big Science Business Forum: Oct 1st – 4th, 2024

Italy is set to host the third edition of the Big Science Business Forum (BSBF2024) in the city of Trieste from October 1 to 4, 2024, at the Generali Convention Center in Porto Vecchio. Among the numerous scheduled initiatives, a packed program of meetings will culminate nearly two years of intense promotional activities between Italy and Europe. There will be over 150 stands representing institutional participants and companies from across Europe in the exhibition space. These significant numbers aim to surpass the success of previous editions in Copenhagen and Granada, which brought together about 1,000 delegates from 500 organizations and 30 countries to discuss the future of the Big Science market.

BSBF2024 is organized by ten leading European Big Science Organizations (BSOs): CERN, ESA, ESO, ESS, ESRF, European XFEL, FAIR, F4E, ILL, and SKAO, with the support of PERIIA, the pan-European network of national Industry Liaison Officers (ILOs).

The bid to host BSBF2024 in Trieste was supported by the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in collaboration with ILO Network Italy, composed of representatives from CNR, ENEA, INAF, and INFN, as well as Area Science Park in Trieste and PromoTurismo FVG. Therefore, the Big Science Business Forum 2024 will be a business-focused event, bringing together Europe’s leading research infrastructures and international companies in high-tech and innovation sectors. The aim is to expand future prospects for creating a European Big Science market, including technological developments, economic investments, and facilitating entrepreneurial opportunities across the continent.

To achieve this, BSBF2024 has launched a series of calls for proposals over the past months, published on its official website. These calls are the main tool for enabling European companies to connect and participate in the European Big Science market. This initiative has facilitated the involvement of new SMEs (26 selected from 14 different countries, including 2 from Italy) and the selection of other scientific organizations affiliated with BSBF (9 from 5 different countries, including 3 from Italy).

Some calls are still open, such as the Technology Transfer Track Call (TTT Call, deadline June 30), which will highlight technology transfer experiences and proposals within the Big Science sector. Another call aims to select companies that have already had multiple contracts with various BSOs to outline proposals for building a common European market for Big Science, the so-called Big Science Common Market call (BSCM call, deadline June 18).

BSBF2024 in Trieste this October represents a unique opportunity for live interaction among European companies and organizations to participate in a market valued at nearly €10 billion annually. These funds are managed through international public tenders directly by the BSOs according to specific rules and procedures, which participants will have the opportunity to explore in-depth during the four-day event.

Following the handover to the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region at the previous edition in Granada, BSBF TRIESTE 2024 was officially presented in Rome on February 1, 2023, by Governor Massimiliano Fedriga, with regional councillors Alessia Rosolen and Sergio Emidio Bini.

Alongside them, as speakers, were Minister for University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, Minister for Enterprises and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, Minister for Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Maria Tripodi, and the presidents of the National Research Council, Maria Chiara Carrozza, the National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Antonio Zoccoli, the National Institute for Astrophysics Marco Tavani, and Area Science Park Caterina Petrillo. Director of BSBF 2024 initiatives is Paolo Acunzo (ILO Network Italy, ENEA), in collaboration with Ketty Segatti, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Research of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region.

The Big Science Business Forum has conducted a real roadshow across Europe in recent months, in collaboration with the Central European Initiative (InCE), with institutional meetings in Belgrade (February 27, 2024), Bratislava (March 20, 2024), Prague (March 21, 2024), Warsaw (April 16, 2024), Budapest (May 7, 2024), Zagreb (June 13, 2024), and Ljubljana (June 14, 2024), in the presence of Italian ambassadors and numerous stakeholders.

BSBF presentations have also been held in scientific, institutional, and entrepreneurial contexts throughout Italy and Friuli Venezia Giulia, including IOD’23 – Industrial Opportunity Days in Naples (June 2023), Trieste Next (September 2023), Barcolana Sea Summit (October 2023), Confindustria Alto Adriatico (November 2023), and Confindustria Udine (January 2024). Additional presentations took place at the University of Tuscia (January 2024), IUPAP Industry & Education Projects in Trieste (March 2024), and at the Italian-Belgian Chamber of Commerce in Brussels (April 11, 2024). The forum has also participated in international conferences such as EPS Forum in Berlin (March 26, 2024) and Deep Tech Atelier in Riga (May 17, 2024).

Throughout 2023 and the first half of 2024, the BSBF2024 organizing team has provided hundreds of European entrepreneurs the opportunity to visit the major European Big Science Organizations, including Fusion for Energy (F4E) at ITER Organization (Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France, October 2023), European XFEL (Schenefeld, Germany, January 2024), CERN (Geneva, Switzerland, February 2024), and ESA (Noordwijk, Netherlands, March 15, 2024). Online webinars are available, such as “Women in Big Science Projects”, focusing on female presence in Big Science.

Registration for BSBF2024 is open on the official website, where more information is available: www.bsbf2024.org.