On the 20 and 21 of May, at the Cern (European Organization for Nuclear Research), there was the first meeting of the ATTRACT project, a research initiative funded by Horizon 2020 and led by a consortium of various European research institutions.

ATTRACT aims to finance very innovative projects concerning new sensors and imaging techniques and seeks to bring together researchers, entrepreneurs and companies with the aim of bridging the gap between basic research and the market. Currently it has funded 170 projects of 100,000 euros each to be used over twelve months to ensure its feasibility.

Among the projects funded, three come from the Department of Physics of Sapienza: the Salt project, coordinated by Eugenio Del Re (in collaboration with Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tor Vergata and the Scimpulse Foundation), for the development of super-crystals with an index of giant refraction; the Proteus project, led by Roberto Di Leonardo (in collaboration with Cnr-nanotec) which aims to combine holographic techniques for imaging and micromanipulation in a virtual reality environment for the immersive and interactive exploration of microscopic systems; and the Nanouv project, attended by Gianluca Cavoto (coordinated by INFN and in collaboration with Roma Tre), which aims to build a high-efficiency ultraviolet light sensor based on aligned carbon nanotubes.

In autumn 2020, a report on the 170 selected projects will be presented in Brussels, the most promising of which will be rewarded with an increase in funding.