Rooted in a Nano-Argovia project Numerous challenges ELDICO Scienti昀椀c is a start-up that emerged from the Much has happened since ELDICO Scienti昀椀c was founded Nano-Argovia project A3EDPI. As part of the project, an in June 2019, with the young company’s team evolving interdisciplinary team of scientists led by Dr. Tim Grüne alongside advances in device development. Highly qual- (then PSI, now University of Vienna) demonstrated that i昀椀ed new team members — including application scien- the di昀昀raction patterns of electron beams are excellently tists and sales sta昀昀 — have joined ELDICO and are now suited to elucidating the spatial structure of tiny organic seeking to bring the electron di昀昀ractometer to market nanocrystals in powder form — while X-rays or synchro- and collaborating with wide-ranging customers. In paral- tron beams had not led to satisfactory results given the lel, ELDICO continues to work with its engineering and small crystal size. software development team to improve its devices and Based on this positive outcome, ELDICO Scien- make them more user-friendly — and to help shape the ti昀椀c has spent the last four years developing the ELDICO future of crystallography as a market leader in the indus- ED-1 electron di昀昀ractometer, which specializes in precise- try. ELDICO will deploy its next instrument for solid-state ly this kind of analysis of tiny crystals. One of the 昀椀rst analysis in the United States, thereby also expanding its ELDICO ED-1 devices has been available in the “Customer market in geographical terms. Experience Center” at Innovation Park Basel Area for al- most two years. A consortium of four partners supports “With the new team, we’re ideally the platform operated by ELDICO Scienti昀椀c, in which the SNI acts as an academic partner, opening the door to this positioned to support new customers promising technology for its members. such as the Max-Planck-Institut für “Taking measurements at ELDICO is Kohlenforschung, to consolidate our a great opportunity to stay at the market position, and to drive growth forefront of crystallography while ob- with optimized devices.” taining results that are impossible with Dr. Gustavo Santiso-Quinones, founder and senior traditional crystallographic methods.” scientist at ELDICO Scientific Dr. Alessandro Prescimone, Department of Chemistry, University of Basel The inside of the electron diffractometer, ELDICO ED-1, which is now also used by researchers from the Max-Planck-Institut (MPI) für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim an der Ruhr. (Image: ELDICO Scienti昀椀c) SNI INSight June 2024 23