The written interview with Dr. Christian Grünzweig, CEO of ANAXAM was published by a local magazine Digital Transformation run by Korea Industry Intelligentization Association. The follow is the full interview published by the magazine.
Can you please explain what is the role and vision of ANAXAM as a Technology Transfer Center?
ANAXAM is a technology transfer center and enables industry to benefit from state-of-the-art analytical methods using neutron and synchrotron radiation (X-rays). This means analysis of materials far beyond the laboratory scale. At the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in particular, the center enables the use of these technologies, which were originally developed for basic research, but are now also available for industrial challenges. Our synchrotron analytics provide new insights, since the flux of photons delivered by the synchrotron source is higher by a huge factor of 10 billion (10 000 000 000) than that delivered by laboratory-scale X-ray sources. Our neutron analysis is only possible at large research facilities in the first place and is not available in any form on a laboratory scale. Due to the dimension of these facilities, which we use for our analytical methods, it is understandable that our services go far beyond the laboratory scale and the associated possibilities. Moreover, they are unique in Switzerland. This is what material analytics far beyond the laboratory scale means to us: We break through the boundaries of materials analytics with the help of neutron and synchrotron radiation!
In 2019, why did the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), the Swiss Nanoscience Institute (SNI) and the Canton of Aargau decide to establish ANAXAM?
ANAXAM has set itself the goal of supporting industrial customers throughout the life cycle of their products and processes with its analytical competencies such that they can offer innovative and high-quality products on the market. For this purpose, ANAXAM offers material analytics far beyond the laboratory scale. The analytics offer the focus on product and process optimization, quality control, quality assurance and downstream tests in the advanced manufacturing process of these products.
ANAXAM seems to have four main service areas: Imaging, Diffraction & Scattering, Spectroscopy and Tailor-made infrastructure. How does ANAXAM facilitate technology transfer in those domains?
On the one hand, ANAXAM makes its analytical competencies and infrastructures accessible to interested industrial companies and research institutions within the framework of experiments and measurements to optimize processes and products of customers especially in the field of advanced manufacturing. On the other hand, ANAXAM offers consulting services and concrete solutions for customers request regarding material analytics and material science know-how.
ANAXAM is based on public-private partnership. Based on this partnership, how does it collaborate with the industry? Can you give some examples of successful collaboration?
Basically, we pursue two different models of cooperation: On the one hand, service projects, in which we work with industrial or academic customers on a purely service basis. This means that we offer our customers from consulting and measurements to the analysis and interpretation of the results from a single source. In this way, our customers benefit from the most modern analytical methods in the fields of imaging, diffraction and spectroscopy to solve the challenges they face. On the other hand, development projects, in which we are working together with our partners within the framework of a project on the development of new tailor-made infrastructures. These enable realistic experimental conditions for the execution of experiments. A tailor-made infrastructure could either an apparatus that allows the investigation of samples in real time under different environmental conditions such as temperature or pressure. Or they are, for example, automated sample manipulators, which allow a higher sample throughput possible. This then leads to more efficient use of the available beam time and the standardization of results. Such developments are co-funded by ANAXAM and industrial or academic partners contribute to the project costs either in the form of a monetary or an in-kind contribution. The developed infrastructures are then also available for use in other/later service projects for other customers. Examples of successful projects one can find online on the ANAXAM webpage https://www.anaxam.ch/en/customer-projects
Park Innovaare is situated in close proximity to the Paul Scherrer Institute and ANAXAM is located in Park Innovaare, one of the Switzerland Innovation Parks. How does ANAXAM collaborate with two organizations and what synergy do you create?
The proximity to the Paul Scherrer Institut is mandatory as most experiments are conducted there. We profit also from the know-how that is provided by the scientist which we transfer than to our industrial customers. Furthermore, we profit from the synergies of companies that settle down in the Park Innovaare.
ANAXAM is a member of the Advanced Manufactoring - Technology Transfer Center (AM-TTC) alliance. What distinguishes ANAXAM from other alliance members?
In Switzerland, advanced manufacturing technologies that have been developed in pre-competitive research projects and new materials, processes or products whose feasibility have been proven by lab-scale prototypes and demonstrators must still take further steps and clear additional hurdles before they can be applied by industrial companies. For these important steps towards a successful technology transfer, specific infrastructure, e.g. pilot plants, as well as knowledge of how to operate such infrastructure are needed. This has motivated the start of an initiative to establish advanced manufacturing technology transfer centers (AM-TTC) in Switzerland. The initiative aims to close this gap in the innovation process between lab research and industrial application by operating a network and alliance of centers which offer an open access to such technology transfer infrastructures.
ANAXAM is a member of the AM-TTC alliance and has a cross-sectional function. We especially offer the analytical services using neutron and synchrotron radiation and novel tailormade infrastructures for its applied material analytics that will be used for a large variety of branches, products, processes, and materials.
Have you already collaborated with Korean counterparts? How do you foresee the collaboration in the future?
Currently we have no projects with Korean companies. However, we are more than keen to initiate new collaborations with small and medium sized as well as large companies. Ideally this article helps to promote our services in the field of applied material analytics with neutron and synchrotron radiation to make it useful for Korean companies.
