The ETIC Industry Day took place on 15 and 16 February at EGO, the European Gravitational Observatory, that hosts the Virgo interferometer. ETIC Industry Day was a two-day meeting aimed at the Italian business world to discuss opportunities for collaboration in research and technological development for the Einstein Telescope (ET). The event, organized by the INFN Divisions and university departments that are part of the ETIC consortium (Einstein Telescope Infrastructure Consortium) , the project financed with 50 million euros as part of Mission 4 of the NRRP coordinated by the Ministry of University and Research to support the Italian candidacy to host ET, in collaboration with the Industrial Liaison Officer (ILO) of CERN, saw the participation of over 50 companies and representatives of the industrial world. Proposed and coordinated by INFN, ETIC brings together universities and national research institutions. It will deal with the preparation and implementation of the feasibility study and the characterization of the Italian site identified to host ET, the disused mine of Sos Enattos, in the Nuoro area, and of the creation of a network of research laboratories for the development of technologies that will be adopted by the new gravitational observatory.
“The world of enterprise and industry has responded with great interest to our invitation to meet and discuss the scientific and technological challenges posed by ET, with a view to future collaborations,” emphasised Michele Punturo, international coordinator of the ET Scientific Collaboration and principal investigator of ETIC. “We hosted over 50 partecipants, covering technological fields that are fundamental for cutting-edge research related to gravitational waves, such as high-precision optics, electronics or precision mechanics, from both small and medium-sized companies and real giants of the Italian industrial world.”
“We strongly shared and supported the choice of the Scientific Collaboration ET Italy and INFN to host the Industrial ETIC day at EGO,” commented Massimo Carpinelli, director of EGO. “Virgo is the only interferometer in Europe capable of detecting gravitational waves, and this gives Virgo and EGO an exclusive role in the training of future ET scientists, and in the research and development of future detector technologies, such as those, decisive, related to vacuum, optics or suspensions.”