23 Jul BeamX: when a market need leads to a spin-off creation

Posted at 11:07h in From lab to the world by Diego Tonini

The INFN spin-off BeamX builds industrial particle accelerators, we talk about it with David Alesini and Luigi Faillace, researchers at the INFN Frascati National Laboratories and co-founders of the company

How BeamX was born

BeamX was born from the idea of two companies, Comeb S.r.l and Gilardoni S.p.A.: to evaluate the possibility of exploiting the Italian heritage of knowledge in the field of radiology and particle acceleration to set up a company, which was missing in the Italian panorama, dedicated to the construction of particle accelerators for industrial use. At that point, the INFN would certainly have been the institute of choice to seek this expertise to be industrialized and marketed.

“I thought of David Alesini and Luigi Faillace almost automatically, given the resumes they have,” says Roberto Bonifazi of Comeb, “and they made themselves available immediately, welcoming the idea with enthusiasm.”

“We immediately understood that not only was there a lack of a company of this type,” continue the founders, “but that there was no accelerator on the market with an energy between the 450 keV of the most powerful X-ray tubes and the 3 MeV of the most commonly used accelerators. We had the technological skills, the knowledge of the market and the bond of trust, now all that remained was to take up the challenge: to build a 1.5 MeV accelerator for industrial applications. And so we did.”

A virtuous example of Technology Transfer

The INFN is a recognized and respected body all over the world for the quality of the research it produces, but it is also a supplier of technology, in various fields, but this role is less known and understandable to the general public. The fact that two industrial companies, Comeb and Gilardoni, have recognized this and have personally committed themselves to enhancing part of this technology is a success story of technology transfer.

“Working for INFN on the construction of accelerator machines, Comeb learned so much,” says Bonifazi, “so much so that at a certain point we began to think: but where does all this technology go? Why not apply it industrially? And that’s also why we came up with the idea of a start-up.”

Past

BeamX was established in Rome in 2023. Following recognition as a spin-off of INFN, it has licensed patents and technologies held by the Institute, for the production of compact linear accelerators. It began the activity by building two prototypes of LINAC at 1.5 MeV with which to demonstrate its technology and industrialization capabilities. It has recently obtained the status of innovative start-up.

Present

IThe commercial debut of BeamX took place at ECNDT 2026, the fourteenth European trade fair on non-destructive testing, which took place between 15 and 19 June in Verona. On that occasion, the company presented live its LuminaX-2 accelerator with 2MeV and 150W of beam power and the catalog of products at higher energies.

According to Alesini, “the fair was a great opportunity to make ourselves known to the market and make us discover business potential. A very important aspect was bringing the real machine to the fair, allowing those who visited the stand to see and touch our technology and manufacturing quality.”

“In that context, being an INFN spin-off was fundamental,” the two co-founders continue, “because it automatically generated respect and trust in the people who approached and recognized that behind the start-up there was still an important technological background. In addition, our role as researchers has also allowed us to establish more contacts and gain credibility even with the scientific community present”

The company’s portfolio includes linear accelerators in the catalog from 2 to 9 MeV, but one of the company’s strengths is the ability to create tailor-made systems to meet particular needs and applications. The target markets are non-destructive testing through X-rays and scanning of goods and containers.

Future

“ECNDT has allowed us to establish a whole series of contacts, especially with integrators interested in incorporating BeamX LINACs into their systems,” says Faillace, “and the relationships we started at the show will certainly continue, because we have seen first-hand that there is interest in products like ours and, above all, in our company.”

“What we need now is to reach investors who can finance the take-off of the company” say the founders, “BeamX is like an airplane on the runway that has reached such a speed that it can no longer stop: we need investments in infrastructure and production capacity that allow us to take off.”

“We have the technology, the business plan, the potential customers and the right people, now we need the funding.”

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