Collaboration agreement between Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste and Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Trento (Press review)

Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste and Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) in Trento have signed a scientific collaboration agreement to promote joint opportunities for research, development, technology transfers, and innovation.

Over the next two years, Elettra and FBK will join forces in the fields of materials science, microtechnology, and nanotechnology in order to participate in joint national and international projects. Elettra’s Chief Executive Officer Alfonso Franciosi and the Director of FBK’s Centre for Materials and Microsystems Massimo Gentili will represent the two institutions.

Fondazione Bruno Kessler is a non-profit research foundation active in science, technology, and the humanities. One of its sectors focuses on innovative materials and micro-systems and works closely with the local, national, and international industrial and business sectors in order to encourage industrial research and technology transfers.

Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste is an international research centre housed in Trieste’s AREA Science Park and specializing in the study of materials using synchrotron light. Its state-of-the-art technology and research instruments are able to reveal the structure and behaviour of atoms and molecules. Elettra works with the scientific and industrial communities to provide answers and solutions in various sectors: chemistry, biology, pharmacology, nanotechnology, protection of the environment and of cultural heritage, and much more.

 “The agreement we signed – remarks Massimo Gentili – will allow us to strengthen, through the sharing of laboratories and research staff exchanges, some of the most strategic lines of research for the Centre for Materials and Microsystems. Joint fields of research include the study of innovative materials such as graphene, the development and characterization of micro- and nano-devices for detecting radiation, and the development of biological sensors, with the goal of improving the capacity of these products to penetrate national and international research and business markets”.

"Our collaboration with FBK – adds Alfonso Franciosi – is borne out of our research centres’ shared vision and objectives: our outlook is markedly international, and we aim for the increasingly effective cross-pollination of quality research, societal challenges, and the productive sector, through the exchange and transfer of researchers and scientific and technological knowledge. This is in line with Horizon 2020 initiatives. With these premises, the joining of our skills and instruments for the study and characterization of materials, begins under the best possible auspices for sound development".

For more information about Fondazione Bruno Kessler: www.fbk.eu
Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Trento carries out research, training, and innovation activities in the fields of information technology, materials and microsystems, theoretical physics, mathematics, Italian and German history, and religious science. Through its network of partners, it also focuses on international relations, European institutions, behavioural economics, conflict resolution, communications, and public policy. The foundation also boasts an intensive schedule of international conventions, conferences, and symposia; hundreds of publications in international scientific journals and in its own series; and a significant number of patents and innovative ideas to serve businesses and society as a whole. It has also established numerous partnerships with schools, involving 18 high schools and over 500 students.
 
FBK in numbers
2 hubs: science and the humanities; over 350 researchers; 220 thesis students, doctoral students, post-docs, and visiting professors; 7 research centres; 7 laboratories, including a microtechnology lab fully equipped for the design and serial production of silicon devices; exploratory projects and research units; 30 spin-offs, start-ups, and subsidiaries; a dense network of national and international strategic collaborations; 2 specialized libraries with over 225,000 volumes; and 100 scientific conferences a year.