Helmholtz innovation platform Hi-Acts to be continued

The Helmholtz Association has decided to continue the Hi-Acts innovation platform (Helmholtz Innovation Platform for Accelerator-based Technologies and Solutions) on a permanent basis. Following a successful evaluation by an independent international committee, the project, which was launched in 2023 and initially funded for three years, will now be continued and thus anchored in the Helmholtz portfolio for the long term. "I congratulate Hi-Acts on this success and wish the initiative every success and great achievements in transfer in the years to come," writes Helmholtz President Otmar D. Wiestler in a letter to the executive boards of the participating Helmholtz Centres. The committee attested that the consortium offers excellent scientific expertise and unique technological infrastructure.

DESY launched Hi-Acts together with four other leading Helmholtz centres: HZDR, GSI, HZB and Hereon. The aim is to work with industry to develop more innovations and technologies based on the particle accelerator facilities operated by the five centres and make them available for use by society. Hi-Acts connects research institutions and industry partners to create new applications in areas such as new materials and analysis, electronics and energy, and health and medicine. Since its launch, more than 116 companies and research organisations have joined the platform. Over 200 experts regularly exchange ideas via the Hi-Acts platform to carry out joint innovation projects.

Hi-Acts offers a range of services. One key tool is the Use Case Initiatives, which support collaborations between research and industry with start-up funding of up to €100,000 per year. This funding volume will be doubled to almost €1 million by 2026. To date, the platform has raised a total of around €22 million in third-party funding for joint projects.

With Hi-Acts Connect, the platform also offers industry easy access to help it overcome industrial challenges in research and development with the assistance of the Helmholtz Centres: companies can submit these challenges online using a simple form, and Hi-Acts will find the right research partners. In addition, the platform organises workshops, webinars and meet-ups between industry and research. Five Technology Labs give external partners targeted access to accelerator-based methods and infrastructures at the Helmholtz Centres. The Technology Labs have proven themselves as a bridge between scientific findings and their concrete market-ready applications and, starting in 2027, will be opened up to all five centres with a selection process similar to the Use Case Initiatives. Each Technology Lab can receive up to 1.2 million euros over three years.

‘Hi-Acts has quickly become a central hub for technology transfer in the field of accelerator technologies,’ says Dr Sabine Brock, member of the Hi-Acts Steering Committee and Head of Industry Relations and Deputy CTO at DESY. ‘The consolidation of the platform sends a strong signal for the sustainable transfer of knowledge from large-scale research to practical applications.’