The CDTI Innovation launches new preliminary market consultation for the development project of a candidate technological prototype for CERN’s Future Circular Collider through pre-commercial public purchase
- The Future Pre-Commercial Public Procurement Collider project of CDTI, the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, is oriented to the development of a complete prototype of a representative section of the Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee), the most ambitious particle physics project of the coming decades
- The technological validator would be assembled and commissioned in the facilities of the Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE), a mixed center of the University of Santiago de Compostela and the Xunta de Galicia, and later validated in the CERN
- The initiative of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities managed by the CDTI will be cofinanced with own funds from the CDTI and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and is part of the Strategic Plan 2024-2027 of the CDTI to strengthen the positioning of the Spanish industry in large international scientific infrastructures, with an estimated industrial return of 1,000 million euros for Spain from the FCC project of CERN
- This is the fourth pre-commercial public purchase of the CDTI aimed at large scientific facilities, with an investment volume that exceeds 80 million euros, opening a new strategic path for the development of Spanish industrial capacities in the field of Big Science.
The Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI), the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, promotes a new Pre-commercial Public Procurement project aimed at the possible contracting of R&D services for the development of a candidate prototype and the pre-industrialization of a representative section of the Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee), the future particle accelerator of CERN that will succeed the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the 2040s.
On June 23, from 12:00 to 14:00 hours, the CDTI Innovation will hold at the headquarters of the IGFAE in Santiago de Compostela the day of presentation of the preliminary market consultation whose objective is to know the degree of development of these technologies to be able to define, subsequently, a future tender for Pre-commercial Public Purchase for this challenge whose validating entity would be the Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE), mixed center of the University of Santiago de Compostela and the Xunta de Galicia, and which would have the participation of the Innovation (AXEGA).
About the technological challenge Future Circular Collider
The Future Circular Collider (FCC) is the project identified as a priority by the 2026 update of the European Particle Physics Strategy. It is a new circular accelerator of 91 km in circumference that would come into operation in the 2040s, once the Large Hadron Collider ceases its activity. The FCC-ee will enable an unprecedented study of many elementary properties of matter. The technological challenge proposed by the IGFAE for this CDTI Pre-Commercial Public Procurement project consists of the development of the complete prototype of a Short Straight Section (SSS) of the FCC-ee accelerator, sections of which the final collider will require about 2,000 units. The test bench will consist of a functional prototype on a 1:1 scale that will be assembled and commissioned at the IGFAE facilities in Santiago de Compostela. The technological components that will be developed are of different and very novel natures.
The industrialization of this formidable scientific infrastructure requires years of preparation, starting with a period of prototyping and pre-industrialization of each of the components of the collider, so the next few years will be decisive to define the final design and for the training of industries for construction in the next decade. The prototype will then have to be validated in a simulation of a stretch of about 43 meters from the FCC at the CERN facilities in Geneva, where the different prototypes developed in different countries will be tested and integrated.
It is estimated that the industrial return for Spain in the FCC project of CERN would be around 1 billion euros, corresponding to approximately 8% of the total contribution of member countries of about 12 billion euros. This Pre-Commercial Public Procurement project would allow Spanish companies to position themselves to capture a significant part of that quality industrial return.
About the Spanish initiative for candidate prototype
In preparation for this initiative, the Galician Innovation Agency (GAIN) carried out a preliminary study of potential industries for the manufacture of different components, identifying almost 50 companies with the capacity to produce some of the necessary elements, as well as for the integration of the complete system, so it is expected that most of the proposed industrial activities can be developed in Spain, which will serve to qualify Spanish companies before the project of greater impact of Gran Ciencia in the coming years. Companies in areas such as ultra high vacuum, superconductivity, cryogeny, automatic and robotic control systems, precision mechanics, and advanced manufacturing will be able to participate in this strategic development, for which a preliminary market consultation has just been published in the territory of the Autonomous Community of Galicia.
On the part of the CDTI Innovation, this initiative is directly part of the Strategic Plan 2024-2027 of the CDTI, which establishes as a priority the strengthening of the role of the Spanish Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructures (ICTS) as a mechanism for validation and scaling of technological and industrial solutions necessary for large multilateral projects, through the use of the Pre-commercial Public Procurement instrument, and which specifically contemplates the development of PPP actions aimed at Spanish ICTS and large international scientific facilities, maximizing the impact on the science and innovation system.
This project of pre-commercial public purchase of the MICIU in response to the challenge posed by the IGFAE will position the national industry in the value chain of large international scientific infrastructures with a scope that transcends that of the FCC, since the technologies that are developed may have direct application in fourth generation European synchrotrons, such as ALBA and other European synchrotrons (PETRA IV, Elettra, SLS 2.0, SOLEIL); in the Einstein Telescope Medicine, gravitational wave detector of third generation; in IFMIF-DONES, the new European scientific facility based in medical precision and Spain.
About the Preliminary Market Consultation (CPM)
The preliminary market consultations are regulated processes (Law 9/2017, of Public Sector Contracts (LCSP) to "carry out market studies and direct consultations to the economic operators who were active in it in order to correctly prepare the tender and inform the aforementioned economic operators about their plans and the requirements they will require to attend the procedure". CPMs help to strengthen transparency and efficiency in public procurement and are particularly useful in the procurement of innovative products whose tenders are highly complex and technically prepared, helping to identify the most appropriate procurement procedure, the appropriate budgets for each tender and the possible risks or difficulties that may be encountered during the development of tendering and the execution of contracts.
The CPM begins with the announcement on the State Contracting Platform, accompanied by the publication of the Call Bases. These Bases define, among others, the duration of the consultation, the technological challenge to be met and the instructions to participate in the consultation. Once the participation period has expired, the CDTI proceeds to the analysis of the information collected during the consultation. The consultation will be closed and finalized with the publication of a Report of Conclusions. The call is open and is addressed to natural or legal persons, public and/or private, individually or in a temporary union.
Although participation in the Consultation does not determine or limit participation in the future tender, the information collected will serve to define the characteristics and technical conditions that will be taken into account in the subsequent tender, so that operators who may have a solution of interest and do not attend the consultation may not see their solutions considered within the technically and economically viable options.
Likewise, and although the consultation is presented to solve a Technological Challenge in its entirety, the usual is that the solution is composed of the application of various technologies belonging to different or complementary technological sectors. The ultimate goal of the consultation is to obtain information on all possible solutions and technologies applicable to each of the components that could potentially be part of the solution.
The deadline for submission is 30 calendar days and ends on July 9, 2026.
On the Pre-Commercial Public Purchase (PPC) of the CDTI
Pre-commercial Public Procurement (PPC) is an instrument to promote innovation from the public sector through the acquisition of innovative solutions or solutions in the development phase. This project is managed through the CDTI’s pre-commercial public procurement instrument, as there are still no technological solutions in the market that respond to the needs of the challenge posed and as it is necessary to create new knowledge through innovative R&D.
Since 2018, through the public purchase instrument, the CDTI acquires R&D services to develop prototypes of first products or services, in the form of test series, technologically innovative and that meet public needs. The prototype developed within the framework of these CPP is assigned to the Spanish Public Entity that is interested in it and can provide the real environment necessary to validate the developed technology. The prototype must be used exclusively as a technological demonstrator, to validate technology, without subsequent commercial purposes.
All information about the Preliminary Market Consultation is available on the Public Sector Contracting Platform.
To participate in the presentation act
Registration through the following link:
http://xornadas.galiciainnovacion.es/CPMcolisionadorParticulas/
The event will take place on June 23 from 12:00 to 14:00 hours at the headquarters of the Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE):
Rúa de Xoaquín Díaz de Rábago, s/n
Campus Vida, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
15705 Santiago de Compostela
The meeting can also be followed at the following Teams link:
About the CDTI Innovation
The Center for Technological Development and Innovation, CDTI E.P.E. It is the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, whose objective is the promotion of technological innovation in the business environment. The mission of the CDTI is to ensure that the Spanish business fabric generates and transforms scientific and technical knowledge into globally competitive, sustainable and inclusive growth. In 2025, within the framework of the Strategic Plan 2024-2027, the CDTI provided 2,423 million euros of support to Spanish companies and startups.
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