CERN Accelerating science

Croft Additive Manufacturing is the first company to join the STFC-CERN BIC, the UK-based business incubation centre established by the Science and Technology Facilities Council in collaboration with CERN.

Croft is one of the companies selected by CERN’s Knowledge Transfer group to meet the technical experts and to discuss how to exploit CERN’s intellectual property and know-how for their business idea. The company will use CERN’s expertise in the field of materials characterization and testing for the production of highly specialised metal filters applicable to all industries, including aerospace, automotive and energy sectors.

The company will be located at Sci-Tech Daresbury where it will benefit from business and networking opportunities. In addition to direct access to CERN’s technologies, expertise and intellectual property, this knowledge transfer scheme includes up to £40,000 funding, a dedicated STFC business champion and 40 hours of free access to technical expertise and facilities across STFC. 

"This new initiative provides further potential to generate major economic and societal rewards for the UK economy, particularly in terms of job creation and economic growth," says John Womersley, Chief Executive Officer of STFC.

Sergio Bertolucci, Director for Research and Scientific Computing at CERN, says: "This is the first time that CERN has been involved in a dedicated business incubation initiative. The BIC builds a bridge between our technical experts and entrepreneurs in the UK. This knowledge-transfer scheme could inspire other Member States to establish more national business incubation centres and turn CERN’s innovative ideas into business opportunities."