CERN is at the heart of European research infrastructure and is planning a new, 100km long, particle collider. Digging out the tunnels will generate around 9 million cubic meters of soil, a material that currently is disposed of in expensive landfills. But what if there was another use for the material? That was the question asked by “Mining the Future”, an international idea competition. Over the last year, 12 teams submitted innovative ideas which were evaluated by an international jury of tunneling experts, material experts and experts for technology and economics. E&I faculty Klaus Marhold was one of the jury members and recently participated in the final award ceremony held at CERN in Geneva. CERN is a long-standing partner of the E&I institute, which through its research and applied projects is supporting technology commercialization and the identification and evaluation of new application fields for technology.