Belgian manufacturer of proton therapy systems and medical cyclotrons, contributing accelerator engineering to cancer treatment and isotope production research.
IBA is a Belgian industrial company specializing in particle accelerator technology for medical and scientific applications. They design and manufacture cyclotrons and proton therapy systems used in cancer treatment, medical isotope production, and industrial sterilization. Within H2020, they contribute accelerator engineering expertise to research consortia working on proton beam therapy optimization, accelerator infrastructure, and radiopharmaceutical production — bridging the gap between advanced physics instrumentation and clinical or industrial deployment.
Core contributor across OMA (medical accelerator optimization), INSPIRE (proton therapy infrastructure), ARIES (accelerator research), and PROTECT-trial (proton vs photon therapy for esophageal cancer).
Coordinated InnovaTron (industrial cyclotron design for Tc-99m), participated in ARIES (accelerator R&I) and MYRTE (MYRRHA transmutation facility).
InnovaTron focused on Tc-99m cyclotron production; PET-AlphaSy involved PET radiopharmaceutical development for Parkinson's disease imaging.
OMA involved Monte Carlo simulations and treatment planning; MCnetITN3 focused on Monte Carlo event generators for particle physics.
BIO4SELF explored self-reinforced composite materials with self-cleaning and self-healing properties — an outlier from their core accelerator work, likely involving irradiation processing.
In their early H2020 period (2015–2018), IBA focused on fundamental accelerator and beam physics — particle beam diagnostics, Monte Carlo simulations, treatment planning, and ion beam therapy — alongside an exploratory foray into bio-based composite materials. From 2018 onward, their work shifted decisively toward clinical translation and medical infrastructure: proton therapy clinical trials (PROTECT-trial), radiopharmaceutical imaging (PET-AlphaSy), and medical isotope production via innovative cyclotron design (InnovaTron). This trajectory shows a company moving from enabling physics research to directly shaping medical applications of their accelerator technology.
IBA is moving upstream toward clinical endpoints and medical isotope supply chains, suggesting future collaborations should target translational medicine and healthcare infrastructure rather than pure physics research.
IBA overwhelmingly participates as a consortium partner rather than leading projects — they coordinated only 1 of 9 H2020 projects (InnovaTron, a design study). With 143 unique partners across 26 countries, they operate as a widely-connected industrial contributor embedded in large research infrastructures and training networks. This pattern is typical of a major industrial player that brings specialized hardware and engineering to academic-led consortia rather than driving the research agenda itself.
IBA has collaborated with 143 unique partners across 26 countries, reflecting deep integration into the European accelerator and medical physics research community. Their network spans major research infrastructures (CERN-adjacent projects like ARIES) to clinical trial consortia, giving them reach across both fundamental science and applied medicine.
IBA is one of very few private companies worldwide that manufactures both proton therapy systems and medical cyclotrons at industrial scale, making them an irreplaceable partner for any consortium requiring real accelerator hardware or clinical-grade beam technology. Unlike university labs that study beams theoretically, IBA brings commercial deployment experience — they know what it takes to move from prototype to installed system in a hospital. For consortium builders, IBA offers the rare combination of deep physics expertise with industrial manufacturing capability and regulatory knowledge.
