Big Science Business Forum 2022 - Granada, Spain

04-10-2022 - 07-10-2022

After being postponed from October 2020, there was a clear eagerness to go out and meet new people as well as old friends and those who we had only met online the last couple of years. In total 1200 people attended the event in Granada. The Dutch ILO-net was present with a large stand offering 14 companies the opportunity to showcase their core competences. Supporting them were eight ILO’s linking their respective Big Science organisation to these companies. The ILO’s were also on the lookout for opportunities for other Dutch companies from any of the organisations presenting their needs for the coming years. In total investments totalling 37 billion were presented. Many visitors from both Big Science organisations and companies from other countries came to our stand and approached the Dutch companies.

The plenary sessions introduced the participating organisations and procurement procedures. In the many parallel sessions technical challenges and upcoming tenders were presented in detail, giving companies a clear idea where they should put their priorities in engaging with Big Science.

Representatives of the ministries of Economic Affairs & Climate and Education, Culture and Science were present to see for themselves what is happening in the Big Science ecosystem, share the experience with the companies and the ILO’s and get in touch with their foreign counterparts as well as representatives of the European Commission.

During the satellite meetings of ENRIITC and PERIIA, there was significant input by the Dutch representatives: Gerard Cornet presented one of the work package results at the ENRIITC meeting; for Toon Verhoeven this was his last PERIIA board meeting, as he is leaving the board, following his retirement; Jan Visser participated in that meeting and will be taking Toon’s place on the board, so the establishment of the Pan-European ILO network will still have input from The Netherlands.

Looking back, it was a fruitful event with many new connections made and opportunities spotted!

The next edition will take place in Trieste, Italy in 2024. Although the Dutch bid was much appreciated by the selection committee to host the BSBF2024, we lost out narrowly to Trieste.