350 organisations have already committed to strengthening Einstein Telescope application project
POM Limburg takes interim stock after one year of ET2SMEs
One year and three months after the launch of the Interreg project around the Einstein Telescope, ET2SMEs, the tally stands at 350 companies approached through workshops, keynotes and company visits. Through the project, POM Limburg and project partners are encouraging technological and economic developments to strengthen the Meuse-Rhine region project.
The Einstein Telescope is a state-of-the-art observatory for gravitational waves. Using highly stable lasers, the installation researches the origins of the universe, black holes, and stars. The triangular telescope, whose sides are 10 kilometres long, will be built some 300 metres underground. Far away from the vibrations of the earth’s surface, in order to exponentially increase its accuracy. In 2024, Europe will decide which of the two candidate regions, the Italian island of Sardinia or the Meuse-Rhine region, will get to build the observatory. The arrival of the telescope is expected to provide €2 billion in investments and 1,500 jobs to the region where the three countries meet.
High-tech knowledge region
To strengthen the Meuse-Rhine region project, POM Limburg, Interreg and partners launched the ET2SMEs project in May 2021. Project partners encourage technological and economic developments through interregional collaborations between organisations. POM Limburg functions as a matchmaker, bringing innovative companies together through company visits, workshops and networking events. Resulting collaborations boost Limburg as a high-tech knowledge region. They also play an important role in the development phase of the Einstein Telescope.
One year of ET2SMEs
One year and three months after the start of the project, POM Limburg makes an interim assessment. The project partners approached hundreds of innovation companies from the Meuse-Rhine region through workshops, keynotes, events and company visits. More than 350 of them committed to strengthening the region’s candidacy for the Einstein Telescope. POM staff visited 66 companies. Across all consortia, this amounted to over 200 company visits in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Some 25 meetings between companies from the Meuse-Rhine region resulted in 34 project ideas. In the end, seven projects were submitted and four were approved. Cooperation between the Limburg-based Calculus and the Dutch Innovation Handling around underground temperature measurement is one example. The four approved international innovation projects have already started and completion is expected within nine months.
