COLLABORATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS  

The Dutch technology developers and producers, Demcon and VDL Groep, are combining their laser satellite communication activities in FSO instruments. This is the first laser satellite communication technology company to be founded in the Netherlands and builds onto the groundbreaking technology developed by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) in cooperation with companies, including Demcon and VDL. This is in line with the Dutch aim of attaining a position as a global market leader in the series production of high-quality FSO (free-space optics) instruments for laser satellite communications, for which specific interest exists among American and European companies. Gus van der Feltz has been appointed director of the FSO Instruments joint venture.

The Dutch high-tech company VDL Enabling Technologies Group (VDL ETG) and its subsidiaries such as VDL ETG Switzerland AG are banking on closer cooperation with research institutions. On 9 February 2023 VDL signed a rental agreement with Park Innovaare, a business innovation hub next to the PSI campus in Villigen Switzerland. VDL ETG has already been working with PSI for many years, and this step now makes it an official member of Park Innovaare’s innovation ecosystem.

Project description

The Smart*Light 2.0 project aims to develop a "tabletop synchrotron": a reliable and optimized instrument for specific X-ray analysis techniques, focusing on fluorescence, diffraction, scattering, spectroscopy and tomography. These techniques allow researchers to examine elemental composition, atomic structure, nanostructure, chemical composition and 3D structure at the submillimeter scale - a crucial aspect of materials science.

Project Description
The Einstein Telescope is a future underground observatory for gravitational waves. The border region of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany is in the picture as a possible location. The 'Einstein Telescope Technologies' project contributes in various ways to the realization of the Einstein Telescope. Indeed, within this project, 12 knowledge institutions and companies are working together on the necessary breakthrough technologies, soil research and spin-off of technology to other sectors. The project focuses on the Netherlands and complements other research and work within ETpathfinder, E-TEST and ET2SMEs, among others.