What do milk cartons, AI compliance agents and vacuum technicians have in common? All three took centre stage at Tuesday's Loop Lunch, hosted by Vectura, where Big Science Sweden's Amelie Hallin and Frida Tibblin Citron – together with three guests – showed what it means to have MAX IV and ESS in our backyard.

Track 1: Business Opportunity

It started with a challenge, not a pitch. At an AIMday event, ESS described a bottleneck: a huge organisation producing material that must comply with layers of policies, all checked manually by a handful of experts. Michael Mokhberi, Founder & CEO of Theca Systems, was in the audience. "We were sitting there thinking: shouldn't this be possible to solve with AI?" A Big Science Sweden-funded pre-study and six months later, his team had built an agent that reads any document and flags exactly which section breaks which rule — with full traceability. The QA team is still there, now faster and with a safety net. Other research facilities with the same headache have already come knocking. "Without AIMday, we weren't even aware this was a business opportunity," Mokhberi said. His advice to companies eyeing the ecosystem: "Be patient, be long-term — and do good work."

Track 2: Knowledge Transfer

Particle physics in your fridge. Ulf Lindblad, Senior Expert Technology & Innovation at Tetra Pak, heads the company's simulation team for aseptic packaging, where electron beams sterilise packaging material before your milk goes in. The simulations run on Geant4, a code developed at CERN — brought in by a physicist who trained there and has been with Tetra Pak for a decade. When CERN's developers shared a new version this summer: "We tried it out and got ten times the speed. Staying in touch, getting the latest results — that's crucial." His recommendation: pair niche physics competence with people who know your product deeply. And his closing message to the room: "You have this wonderful opportunity to tune into this enormous competence. Don't wait – just do it."

Track 3: Career and Talent Opportunities

It takes a whole village. Daniel Baker, Acquisition Specialist at ESS, punctured a myth: the facility's biggest need isn't physicists, but hands-on technicians across a wide range of specialities. ESS works with local schools on workplace-based learning, and a six-month paid vacuum technician traineeship — co-funded with Big Science Sweden and Region Skåne — took two students straight from gymnasium. One is now a full-time employee.

 

And the opportunities keep coming. Big Science Sweden and Ideon Science Park are piloting the CERN Innovation Hub, opening a portfolio of some 70 licensable CERN technologies to Swedish companies. CERN's paid Technical & Administrative Student Programme is open now, with Sweden underrepresented among applicants – deadline 16 October 2026. 

Want in? Big Science Sweden sits on the second floor of The Loop, in Altitude's Collab Arena. Come by, grab a coffee, and talk opportunities beyond the lab!