- Over 500 experts from all over the world gather at the Vienna Hofburg for CERN’s FCC Week 2025 conference for the development of a future particle collider (19–23 May).
- UNIQA Tower will be an eye-catcher: At night, the LED facade on the Danube Canal will light up like a “particle accelerator” with over 160,000 LEDs.
- Trusted partner since 1971: UNIQA supports international research and is a health partner for more than 30,000 scientists and engineers at CERN.
From 19 to 23 May 2025, CERN’s eleventh “Future Circular Collider (FCC) Week” will take place in the Vienna Hofburg under the motto “Shaping the Future of Global Science”. At the centre of attention is a possible next-generation particle accelerator at CERN, designed to redefine our understanding of the universe. The event also features the “Economics of Big Science Day”, a high-calibre setting for companies and decision-makers from politics and business to discuss the future of global and European cooperation for a new particle accelerator facility.
UNIQA & CERN: partners since 1971
The UNIQA headquarters will be visually transformed into a “particle accelerator” during FCC Week. The LED front of the tower on the Danube Canal shows an interplay of particle acceleration, fusion and explosion on the nights of the event. More than 40,000 pixels and 160,000 individual LEDs on over 7,000 square metres of exterior building surface will translate the partnership with CERN, the world's largest physics research organisation into impressive images.
CERN brings together people from all over the world to conceive and implement large-scale science projects and organises conferences and events to foster collaborative developments in countries all over the globe. Reliable partnerships such as the one with UNIQA are essential for its operation. Through its Swiss subsidiary UNIQA Global Care and the Geneva branch, UNIQA offers multinational and international companies and organisations a wide range of international health insurance solutions. UNIQA has been a health partner of CERN since 1971 and has been part of some groundbreaking developments over the decades.
René Knapp, member of the UNIQA Insurance Group Management Board (Asset Management, Personal Lines, People & Brand) and president of UNIQA Global Care, on the cooperation: “UNIQA has been a reliable partner of CERN for over five decades – a partnership based on trust, innovative spirit and shared values. Top international research needs customised coverage: with our portfolio of services, we guarantee the best possible care and safety for more than 30,000 CERN scientists all around the world.”
In addition to innovative insurance solutions, the partnership between UNIQA and CERN also includes support for events such as the FCC Week. Olivera Böhm-Rybak, Chief Corporate & Affinity Business Officer at UNIQA and CEO of UNIQA’s subsidiary “UNIQA Sustainable Business Solutions”, emphasises the importance of cooperation between business and science in the insurance sector as well:
“Innovative research and global cooperation are a necessity for the insurance industry. The use of modern technologies allows us to offer customised insurance solutions that meet the needs of our international business customers. With our new subsidiary “UNIQA Sustainable Business Solutions”, we also advise companies internationally on risk assessment and management in the face of climate change.”
Science goes public: particle physics on the Giant Ferris Wheel
In addition to the scientific programme, public events make physics accessible to a broad audience. On 19 May, for example, you can take a ride on the Giant Ferris Wheel in the Prater and exchange ideas with particle physicists in the ‘Wheel of Science” format.
From 20 May to 16 June, the photo exhibition “The Code of the Universe” at Josefsplatz will make you want to find out more about the inner mechanisms of our universe. On the evening of 20 May, Fabiola Gianotti (CERN Director General) and Ulrike Diebold (Vice President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) will talk about the Higgs boson at the Austrian National Library, with “Science Buster” Florian Aigner as moderator.
Those who prefer to combine physics with beer can uncover remaining mysteries of the universe with Josef Pradler and Robert Schöfbeck (both Institute for High Energy Physics, Austrian Academy of Sciences) on 21 May at “Pint of Science” at “Pickwick’s Pub”.
The special light installation for CERN FCC Week on the UNIQA Tower starts on 19 May 2025 and runs until 22 May, starting at nightfall.