CERN Accelerating science

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What can CERN personnel & Users do at I2?

IdeaSquare is home to the adventurous-minded. Be it a CERN personnel or user, student or teacher, innovator or entrepreneur, researcher or experimenter, everyone is welcome to take advantage of our open spaces and benefit from I2’s thriving innovative flair.

For CERN personnel & Users

Independently of your contract, if you work at CERN, IdeaSquare is made for you.

A space to explore, experiment and try-out new ideas. Under normal circumstances, yearly well over 200 CERN personnel use IdeaSquare’ spaces on a frequent basis. They participate in the ID2 Design Thinking and rapid prototype workshops, and undertake machine shop building, circuit board checking and 3D printing. Being one of the places where 3D printers and laser cutters are most easily available, CERN users often return to IdeaSquare to carry out other projects after seeing the place’s full potential. The use of the facilities is free of charge, unless larger volumes of production materials are envisaged.

Contact us! and come by for a coffee

For Students & Teachers

IdeaSquare co-designs and runs more than 22 project-based student courses in collaboration with international universities from Europe, Australia and the US.

The courses vary in duration - from two-day design sprints to full eighth-month product design projects, from conceptual visions to actual functioning prototypes, the undergraduate and master students all pay significant attention to tackling challenges derived from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

If you are interested in collaborating Contact us!

For Innovators & Entrepreneurs

IdeaSquare ties science together with open innovation initiatives, and hosts and organises special events for curious minds and researchers interested in innovation knowledge and entrepreneurship in collaboration with CERN KT department.

When the building is not in full use, Ideasquare can offer access to its open work areas, rapid prototyping facilities and its meeting rooms for short, deadline driven Challenge Events, such as Innovation Events, Workshops and Hackathons.

If you are interested in using the space Contact us

For Researchers & Experimenters

if you are interested in how innovation works and happens, you might like to read (and publish at) our CERN IdeaSquare Journal of Experimental Innovation.

With CIJ, IdeaSquare aims to harvest and share experimental innovation knowledge using a fresh and varied approach. Additionally to CIJ, our blogs aim to harvest innovation knowledge through success (or experimentations) stories of those at CERN that use our space, or collaborate with us in any of our activities.

If you think you might have something to share about innovation knowledge Contact us

Visitors

IdeaSquare will be part of the offerings of the Science Gateway campus, which is scheduled to open its doors in 2023.

Visitors will be able to engage in innovative experiments inspired by CERN technologies and their potential contributions to the UN SDGs. Prototyping sessions, workshops, forums and talks about our understanding of the innovation process will take place and be available to the public in the open and outside-the-box space

Going On