Pushing the limits in our physics research requires innovative developments in various domains. Nikhef will, where possible, make an effort to transfer this knowledge into different domains to create economical and social value.
In 2011, Nikhef has created a holding P2IP BV, with a knowledge transfer partner 1&12 Investment Partners in which AMOLF participates since 2012. P2IP has three subsidiaries; Sensiflex (alignment technology), Amsterdam Scientific Instruments (radiation detection) and Omics2Image (bio-imaging mass-spectrometry). At the end of 2013, the latter two have been moved to a joint holding (ASIH). P2IP has converted her original participation in those two companies into shares of ASIH.
Besides the mentioned companies, another two spin-off companies have originated from Nikhef:
* Innoseis; incorporated in 2013 is focused on the development and the sales of ultra-low power seismic networks of sensors and vibration isolation-systems
* Oliscience; incorporated in 2018 is driven to broaden and deepen the application of FPGA code via the open source platform OpenCores.
Nikhef also has a long-standing relation with Malvern PANalytical. This relation began in 2002 with the introduction of the Medipix chips at Malvern PANalytical. This has led to the first commercial application of this chip and its successor. This relation continues to this day in a number of ways.
Malvern PANalytical
Malvern PANalytical is specialised in the development and production of measuring equipment in the domain of material analysis in e.g. quality insurance. X-ray diffraction allows the identification of crystal structures, which is applied in the pharmaceutical industry in quality control to ensure the right crystals have been produced and no other crystals are present in the medicine just produced.
Malvern PANalytical to the chance as the first commercial party to develop a product based on Medipix. Since 2007, they are successfully selling devices based on various generations on Medipix chips.
For the scientifically driven Medipix collaborations, the involvement of Malvern PANalytical has been very useful as, they look at these devices from an industrial point of view. This has led to new insights that ultimately have led to an increased applicability and quality of the next generations.