International Networks

LEAPS
The League of European Accelerator-based Photon Sources (LEAPS) brings together Synchrotron Radiation and Free Electron Laser user facilities in Europe in a strategic consortium that aims to actively and constructively ensure and promote the quality and impact of fundamental, applied and industrial research for the benefit of European science and society.

LENS
The League of advanced European Neutron Sources, LENS, is a not-for-profit consortium working to promote cooperation between European-level neutron infrastructure providers offering transnational user programs to external researchers.

High-Level Forum
The High Level Forum, the international network of innovation ecosystems, brings together international Executives, Decision and Policy Makers from the worlds of education, research, industry, business, economy and public authorities, all deeply engaged in the management or promotion of Innovation within their regional Ecosystem and often, worldwide. The Lund Innovation Ecosystem is one of the international regions represented in the HLF-collaboration.

Funding Schemes

Several of the national Swedish research and innovation funding agencies and foundations have initiated funding schemes related to ESS and MAX IV to support competence building, research collaborations and innovations since the decision to build ESS in Lund was made.

Vinnova have since 2018 funded a broad range of industrial pilot projects and competence building activities for industry. More info.

Swedish Research Council funds a broad range of ESS and MAX IV related activities, including annual project calls for neutron science (more info), preparatory ESS instrument project and is currently developing a national in-kind program for ESS.

NordForsk (funding agency under the Nordic Council of Ministers) is together with funding agencies in Sweden, Denmark and Norway funding the Nordic Neutron Science Program focusing on joint Nordic networks, Post-docs, PhD-projects and a common Nordic research school (NNSP).

MAXESS Life Science Route (Pilot)

It will be easier for life science companies to conduct experiments at MAX IV and ESS. In a new collaboration, the life science incubator SmiLe, MAXESS Industry Arena are developing a new platform – MAXESS Life Science Route.

The two-year project, which is funded by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, will support product development at up to 50 small and medium sized companies in southern Sweden. The goal is to increase awareness of the opportunities at MAX IV and ESS (or other neutron research facilities) – the project will strengthen life science companies in Skåne.

The project includes education and preparations for companies from the SmiLe community to conduct experiments at MAX IV and, in the future, at ESS. SmiLe and its partner companies will then serve as an entry environment for other life science companies that want to conduct similar studies. Experiments at the research facilities require extensive preparations and expertise, which is where SmiLe’s laboratories will play a key role. The companies will also receive help after the experiments with analysis of the extensive quantity of data that are generated.

Northern Lights on Food

The Northern Lights on Food (NLF) is an ongoing collaboration that aims to establish Sweden as the leading global food science nation for innovative, sustainable, healthy and tasty food through a leap in understanding of food structure, processing and function. This will be possible with the new world-class research infrastructures MAX IV and ESS that make use of X-rays and neutrons, respectively, to unravel food structures.

The long-term vision is to expand NLF into a European Food Laboratory (EFL) for food science research and related applications. Situated in Science Village Scandinavia next to MAX IV and ESS, EFL will be a physical and virtual arena where food scientists in academia and industry meet, collaborate, and integrate advanced X-ray and neutron techniques into their skillset.

Infralife

InfraLife is a collaboration between SciLifeLab, ESS and MAX IV with the mission to improve knowledge and availability of research infrastructure and making it accessible to life science researchers in academia, industry and healthcare. Research and Infrastructure is a priority area in the Swedish Life Science strategy (PDF).

With InfraLife, the partners aim to increase the use of Swedish research infrastructures, broaden the user base to represent a range of stakeholders and stimulate cross-sectoral collaboration, to address some of today’s grand challenges. These challenges require a collaborative and cross-disciplinary approach – where InfraLife aims to serve as a hub connecting stakeholders, displaying the potential of the advanced technologies and making these unprecedented tools accessible to be utilized in addressing complex research questions.

The InfraLife Hub aims to improve the knowledge, availability and user base of unique technologies and services offered by the three infrastructures. It will also create opportunities for tech development, transfer and innovation with industry.

Lund Universitys’ presence in the area

Lund University decided in January 2025 that the parts of the Faculty of engineering and Faculty of Science that have direct benefit from Science Village and the institutions there would move to the area. The process of selection is just starting.

The early Vision for Lund Universitys’ read “… to establish operations in Science Village will strengthen and renew the attractiveness of Lund University as a whole – its research, education and public relations – and ensure that the university lives up to its vision of being a university in world class that understands, explains and improves our world and the human condition”.

The universitys integrated presence in the area will be a catalyst for the creation, retention and transportability of talent in the area. And infuse the Science Village with a steady stream of academic excellence and research. The placement between two world leading research facilities gives the research groups and teams an exceptional opportunity to expand their material science and life science prowess.

Lund university is also host university to MAX IV and NanoLab Science Village.

LINXS – Neutron And X-ray Science

LINXS Institute of Advanced Neutron and X-ray Science – is an advanced study institute whose mission is to promote science and education focusing on the use of neutrons and X-rays, to attract world-leading scientists for short-term focused research visits, and to create international networks. LINXS hosts a broad range of scientific themes and inspiring international events, seminars and workshops.

If you are interested in joining LINXS go straight here.

Big Science Sweden

Big Science Sweden (BiSS) is Sweden’s official Big Science Industrial Liaison Office (ILO) serving Swedish high-tech industry, academia, research institutes and the Big Science facilities in which Sweden is a member. BiSS focus on high-tech contributions that drive research, innovation, and international collaboration, and generate business opportunities for Sweden.

BiSS help you stay updated about research facilities’ needs and their procurements and match your company’s skills and expertise, and capacity to deliver, with the facilities’ requirements. BiSS put you in touch with the right key persons at the facility. As a member of BiSSyou have a personal Big Science Sweden contact, who contacts you about current strategic business opportunities that would suit your operation!

BEAMS for Industry

BEAMS helps researchers in all industries to use the advanced research facilities to innovate and create better products and processes. This is done through a combination of matchmaking between experts and researchers and engineers, educational initiatives and small (funded) pilot projects where users get their first taste of using synchrotron and neutron science for data collection.

BEAMS for Industry is a national initiative supporting and facilitating industrial use of the large-scale research infrastructures MAX IV and ESS, and the associated eco-system. BEAMS facilitates partnerships between experts and industrial users through beams.se, case studies, networking events as well as guided introductions to the industrial advantages of neutron and synchrotron tools.

Start searching for partners here

MAX IV – Most brilliant X-rays for research

MAX IV Laboratory is a Swedish national laboratory providing the R&D-community with the most brilliant X-rays for research. With the MAX IV facility, Sweden will have the highest quality of X-rays available to scientists from academia and industry in the whole world. X-rays is used to understand, explain, and improve the world around us. They enable the study of materials that we use today and improve them beyond the performance that we know. In addition, MAX IV allow scientists to develop new materials and products that we cannot even imagine today, such as medications with better and more precise functions and fewer side-effects, nanoparticles for diverse areas of application, including paints, catalysis or computing, or lighter and stronger packaging materials for the future.

MAX VI was inaugurated in June 2016 and has currently 14 number of operating beamlines available for academia and industry. I you are interested in using the facility, start here.

ESS – The worlds most powerful neutron source

The European Spallation Source (ESS) is a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) hosted by Sweden and Denmark. ESS will be the world’s most powerful neutron source, enabling scientific breakthroughs in research related to materials, energy, health and the environment, and addressing some of the most important societal challenges of our time.

ESS is one of the largest science and technology infrastructure projects being built today. The facility design and construction include 16 state-of-the-art neutron instruments, a suite of laboratories, and a supercomputing data management and software development centre.

The increased performance of the ESS facility will elevate research using neutrons to a new leveland enable new science through high-performance computing, real-world sample environments and state-of-the-art support facilities. Smaller and more complex samples will be accessible for neutron investigations, making the study of rare and biological samples and samples under extreme conditions possible, among other things. These gains will bring a paradigm shift in neutron science, and expand the use of neutron methods, providing the wider research community with a smart new set of experimental options.

ESS is currently under construction and is planned to start operations 2027.

Nanolab Sciencevillage – Nanoscale fabrication facility

Nanolab Science Village will be established as the third major research facility in the area. The current lab operates at max capacity and the operation needs more space. The plan is for the new lab to be up and running 2026-27. Lund Nano Lab (LNL) is an open research facility that is available for academic research, start-up as well as company use. The world-class clean room facility is equipped with state-of-the-art semiconductor processing and metrology equipment.

Lund NanoLab and the future incarnation in Science Village welcomes all users to access the equipment for fundamental research and development in material science, nanotechnology, microelectronics, life science and quantum technology. The lab is a member of the Swedish Research Infrastructure for Micro and Nano Fabrication – MyFab.

This, the third big research infrastructure, in Science Village is a part of the Center For Nanoscience – NanoLund of Lund University.