For its research, IN2P3 designs and produces instrumentation of high technological level. Developments made from these Research & Technology (R&T) programmes can pave the way for the design of innovative tools for the health, energy, computing, chemistry, biology and environmental sectors. The Institute promotes this R&T through various actions, including the creation of start-up companies and by offering access to technological platforms hosted in its laboratories.
IN2P3 develops innovative technical solutions in its laboratories to achieve its fundamental research objectives. One of the Institute's strong points is its technical staff who covers a wide range of professions and skills to develop innovative instruments.
Research instruments are developed in the Institute's laboratories to respond to very high-performance demands in terms of granularity, sensitivity, dynamics, resolution, speed, radiation tolerance, integration and transparency to ionising particles. This development of instrumentation involves a great many professions and skills within the technical departments. This is one of the Institute's particularly strong components.
IN2P3 encourages and fosters the emergence of expert networks working within the main families of detectors and transverse techniques. These networks are federated on the national level and are key tools for exchanges. They are vectors of cohesion and efficiency and help identify and support emerging technologies and local skills. They provide targeted specialised training, promote the sharing of best practices and the identification and management of shared engineering tools.
The networks and their latest news are presented on IN2P3's Tech News website which showcases the Institute's laboratories' technical expertise: https://tech-news.in2p3.fr/
At IN2P3, technological development projects are organised around five scientific themes just like the Institute's scientific projects:
The Deputy Technical Director (DAT) leads the R&T programme and work on each theme is steered by a Deputy Scientific Director (DAS).
R&T applications are submitted by physicists and engineers every year until autumn. The thematic managers arbitrate on these applications in October and the whole programme is updated and then approved by the Institute's Management Board.
Technological discoveries and innovations in nuclear and particle physics can have direct and sometimes unexpected applications within society in sectors as varied as health, energy, chemistry, biology, space and the environment.
IN2P3 puts great emphasis on transferring innovations to society. For example, technologies developed to detect and measure particles are used in the treatment of cancer, particularly in radiotherapy. Techniques related to accelerators and used in radiochemistry are also used to produce radionuclides which are of interest for medical imaging and brachytherapy. Many of the Institute's innovations have contributed to the development of in vivo imaging particularly involving small animals.
IN2P3's expertise in instrumentation and radioactivity measurement means it can be a partner for the nuclear energy sector. This is the case with nuclear facility decommissioning projects, an area in which the Institute can provide, through its 'Becquerel network', objective expertise studies to the various actors involved
The Institute's researchers and engineers disseminate innovation to industry and are regularly consulted to improve the safety and analysis of nuclear sites. They also work in partnership with scientific, civil and associative actors in the fields of nuclear power and the environment. For example, the "Becquerel network" carries out low-level radioactivity measurements for such actors.
The Geobird project: French National Research Agency (ANR) funding for this project was obtained by IN2P3 engineers.
IN2P3 invented 'bio-loggers', miniature electronic devices which researchers can use to study animal behaviour and the effects of human activity on the environment. New imaging techniques are also being developed to map volcanoes, tunnels and raw material deposits or monitor potentially explosive devices.
The promotion and transfer of research results to the economic and social sphere is an important issue for the Institute, which strongly encourages its personnel to adopt this approach for innovative concepts. Support and implementation are based on a network of technology transfer officers from all the laboratories which is coordinated on a national scale. This ensures robust links with industrial partners while attentive support is given to the creation of start-up companies, joint laboratories and filing patents.
Numerous actors are involved in the innovation process right from the initial identification of a project in a laboratory to putting the resulting technology on the market. CNRS plays a key role in this ecosystem by interacting with all existing structures.
Find out more about CNRS pre-maturation and maturation processes.
Patents
Since 2010 about thirty patents and software have been registered by IN2P3 scientists.WEEROC: In 2012, the national OMEGA platform hosted the emergence of a new company, WEEROC, which aims to improve ASICs microelectronic circuits developed in research for photodetection and particle detection. One of the chips produced by Weeroc is currently involved in piloting the Ariane-5 rocket.
FiberMetrix was created in 2014 by two researchers from the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC, CNRS/University of Strasbourg) and develops instruments which measure the quantity of ionising radiation delivered to patients during diagnostic radiology or radiotherapy procedures.
Joint laboratories (LabComs)
The Institute works on bringing its laboratories and industry together to create close links between joint research teams or laboratories.
P2R is IN2P3's first joint laboratory: P2R (Particle Physics for Radiation protection) is a joint laboratory (CENBG, Centre d’Etudes Nucléaires at Bordeaux-Gradignan/Carmelec) which works on the development of innovative detectors for radiation protection to respond to public health, control and safety requirements. This joint laboratory's scientific and technical programme focuses on the detection of ionising radiation using innovative techniques from fundamental particle physics research which can be transferred to industry.
Preparatory work is underway for another Labcom joint laboratory: TESMARAC[1] which is a joint project involving Subatech (Laboratoire de physique subatomique et des technologies associées) and Triskem international.
Attached page: CNRS’s technology transfer systems
[1] Molecular recognition technology for the measurement of trace-level radioisotopes in complex matrices
A major part of the activities carried out in laboratories requires the construction and implementation of research infrastructures for specific applications. These vary in size and may evolve and be used in new disciplinary fields once their initial mission is completed. They are then opened up to external scientific personnel and companies.
To reinforce the impact and visibility of the infrastructures that are open to the outside world, IN2P3 has installed an identification and labelling process. The skills of the teams are thus federated around high-tech equipment. IN2P3 labelled research platforms make a major contribution to relationships between research laboratories and the industrial world.
A portal providing access to all platforms and their technological offer is available on the https://platforms.in2p3.fr/ portal.
