The project establishes a network of underground laboratories across the Baltic Sea region, which works as an open innovation platform facilitating scientific technology transfer and best practices exchange. It improves access of small and medium sized enterprises to the laboratories and exploits potential for incubating innovative businesses in various fields, e.g. mining, tunnel construction, radiation shielding systems testing, and thermal energy production. Underground laboratories as platforms for innovation and new businesses: The project BSUIN develops the service of Baltic Sea region's underground laboratories offering their infrastructures for business development and innovation. Besides scientific research, underground laboratories can provide unique environments for various businesses, such as developing technology for mining and tunnel construction equipment, radiation shielding systems or for testing geophysical, radiation detection and other measurement instruments. Underground laboratories can also become sites for production, which is a new and growing field, especially in the production of geothermal energy and facilitating the food production. Wider scope of services and improved accessibility: Currently, the Baltic Sea underground laboratories operate separately and their capacity to offer services to businesses is mostly limited to a regional or national level. Their service and marketing activities have been targeted mainly at scientific use. The BSUIN project widens this service by creating a network of the Baltic Sea Region’s underground laboratories, including the Callio Lab in Pyhäsalmi mine (Finland), Äspö Hard Rock laboratory (Sweden), FLB-Research and Education Mine "Reiche Zeche" (Germany), KGHM CUPRUM R&D Centre in Wrocław (Poland), the Underground Museum of Khlopin Institute in St Petersburg (Russia), and Ruskeala marble mine in Karelia (Russia) in order to provide all users, including small and medium sized enterprises, an easy access to unique environments for business development and innovation. Joint efforts and networking: As a main outcome of the project, the BSUIN consortium creates a sustainable network which enables to disseminate the technical, marketing, operational quality, training and other information about underground laboratories in the Baltic Sea region. The web based tools and the network organisation shall work as an open innovation platform for further quality development, innovation and best practices exchange. The project has a total of 14 full partners (2 FI, 2 SE, 2 GE, 3 PL, 1 LT, 1 LV, 1 EE, 2 RU) and 15 associated organisations.
