TechForward Programme at CERN IdeaSquare
IdeaSquare – the innovation space at CERN, received the 2025 cohort of students from the TechFoward Programme – an advanced training course that connects academic research with market innovation. 6 multidisciplinary teams from UNIBO and associated partner universities from the Emilia-Romagna region, work on innovative technologies developed by researchers from the universities involved, exploring their potential and identifying new strategic applications for the market.
All TECH2X Partners were present at CERN to observe the TechForward course, have direct discussions with the professionals and students, and receive training in the IdeaSquare Planet (i2P), a methodology developed at CERN for those who dare to fully explore their creativity.
By (metaphorically!) transporting students to an exo-planet, the teams are guided to unleash their creativity, use future thinking and orders of magnitude as tools and be inspired by the way physicists and engineers face great scientific challenges. Upon returning to Earth, their task is to transform the insights acquired into concrete ideas, applying them to their own projects, with a focus on sustainability.
“This unique environment stimulates collaboration, systemic vision and radical innovation”, said Matteo Vignoli, Associate Professor at UNIBO. “The teams – accompanied by Almacube’s innovation coaches – explore together with CERN professionals the research, prototyping and testing activities of the technologies they are working on”.