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Efforts of individuals or small groups (Small Science) are still relevant today as well, as they can lead to theoretical results with a significant impact on science (see results of all the great scientists in history, such as Keppler, Newton, Volta, Einstein etc).

However, the empirical verification and application of such theoretical results often requires experiments using extremely large constructions orexpensive tools, such as particle accelerators, satellites or the Large HadronCollider (LHC), costing billions of dollars.

Big Science projects are big, both in size (sometimes infrastructures ofseveral kilometers, even up to hundred kilometers) and in cost (typically inthe billions for the construction) and they last a long time (over 10 years),requiring also regular investments in technology upgrades, replacement andmaintenance works to keep the installations running.

With those installations, researchers are seeking fundamental knowledge about elementary particles (e.g. via CERN LHC), about the extreme corners of the Universe and it’s planets (e.g. via ESOand ESA), the discovery of revolutionary energy sources (e.g. via ITER), or the exploration of materials and living structures up to the atomic level of matter (e.g. via ESS, MYRRHA, ESRF, ILL,…)

These projects are too big to be carried out by a single country:
- on one hand because of their scale (financial burden),
-on the other hand because of the general and shared interest of the researchresults.

Depending on the countries memberships, interests and financial involvement in Big Science investment projects, private companies can respondto tenders for the supply of equipment and services for construction,maintenance or refurbishment of these large infrastructures and scientific tools.

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Why is Big Science so crucial to society?  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXmpMNdIQt4

Big Science has a dramatic impact on all aspects of our life andsociety, in terms of human development, in stimulating innovation, improvingindustry, creating knowledge hubs, supporting entrepreneurship, offeringinspiration and developing local economy…

Big Science is the Olympic Games of, and for the technology industry:i.e. countries without ambitions for technology progress will not participatein Big Science. On the other hand, for countries with a strong developedculture of science, education and technology, Big Science is a must.

Those countries will more easily access to the Big Science community and investin people and infrastructure, be it most often in an international framework ofresearch collaboration.    

Human development and economy

Most scientists engaged in Big Science projects go on to forge careers in other areas, ranging from product development in industry to managing high finance. However, in doing this they take with them the knowledge, skills and contacts acquired in pursuing scientific goals, leading to a boost in economic activity and efficiency.

No study has yet quantified the overall impact, but in 2009 an analysis of 25,600 active companies, founded by living MIT alumni, found that they employed 3.3 million people and generated annual revenues of nearly $2 trillion. If it were a nation, MIT would have been the 11th largest economy in the world.

Innovation and new applications

Big Science requires the developmento f new technologies.
Perhaps the most notable example of this is the World Wide Web, with a key technical step towards it resulting from particular needs at CERN.
But there are many other examples ranging from lasers in bar code scanners, compactdisc players up to the big data techniques used to sort out the useful parts ofit and to develop new applications out of the massive amounts of informationproduced by scientific instruments.
Big Science is generating both Big Data and many of all the new technologies.Think about the many applications of satellite data in telecom applications,traffic control, GPS or intelligent farming, to name a few…  

Improving industry

The Big Science facilities themselves can offer direct services to industry and life science communities.
Laser light sources developed for condensed-matter physics, for example, havefound a major application in the pharmaceutical industry where they play avital role in developing new drugs.

Knowledge hubs

Big Science drives knowledge andtechnology based businesses, creating centers of expertise and excellence.
Bringing together critical mass in skills and financial means allows to set newmilestones in specific new technology development areas.  

Entrepreneurs and inspiration

Research Infrastructure createsspin-offs. Almost every big facility spawns its own community of start-ups.
Big Science inspires. It can raise a host nation’s international image and confidence,encouraging a country to compete in the global knowledge economy, and at thesame time raising living standards for all.

Local economy and education

There are also local benefits,ranging from contracting local suppliers to build and manage the research complexes,injecting spending into the area immediately surrounding a facility and improving the science image to (local) schools, and inspiring children to get interested in science and making them the actors of future science development.

- Tasneem Ahemed, Junior Business Development Consultant at Agoria

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