ESFRI ROADMAP 2016
The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures – ESFRI – identifies Research Infrastructures (RIs) of pan-European interest meeting the long-term needs of Europe’s research communities across all scientific areas. The publication, since 2006, of periodically updated ESFRI roadmaps provides to the Council of the European Union a coherent and strategic vision to ensure Europe has excellent RIs accessible to all leading researchers and to exploit fully the potential for scientific advancement and innovation.
ESFRI RIs are facilities, resources or services of a unique nature identified by European research communities to conduct top-level research activities in all fields.
In developing this Roadmap 2016, ESFRI has widened its horizon and scope compared to previous roadmaps and evolved its methods. The European RI system has been marked by 10 years of ESFRI strategic planning, together with the synergetic action of the national RI roadmap exercises that built upon and integrated the ESFRI vision. A more general analysis of the RI system, and of its progress as a key-supporting element of the European Research Area (ERA) and for global science, was needed. Therefore ESFRI in 2014 started a thorough analysis of the landscape of RIs that operate in Europe under the general criteria of international open access to facilities and data, peer-review based selection of proposals, excellence and uniqueness of scientific services provided.
ESFRI identifies new RIs, or the major upgrades of existing ones, through transparent and cooperative procedures involving all EU Member States and the Associated Countries to the EU Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation. The aim is to complete their incubation and start the implementation within a maximum of one decade and to reach sustainability for the long term operation therefore assuring maximum return on investment in terms of science, knowledge, innovation, training, socio-economic benefits and competitiveness.
ESFRI was set-up in 2002 as an informal Forum following the original mandate of the EU Council of June 2001, and reaffirmed in November 2004, May 2007 and December 2012, in order:
- to support a coherent and strategy-led approach to policy making on research infrastructures in Europe;
- to facilitate multilateral initiatives leading to a better use and development of research infrastructures acting as an incubator for pan-European and global research infrastructures;
- to establish a European Roadmap for research infrastructures (new and major upgrades, pan-European interest) for the coming 10-20 years, stimulate the implementation of these facilities, and update the Roadmap as the need arises;
- to ensure the follow-up of implementation of already ongoing ESFRI projects after a comprehensive assessment, as well as the prioritisation of the infrastructure projects listed in the ESFRI Roadmap.
After the completion of the first Roadmap in 2006 and its updates in 2008 and in 2010, ESFRI was mandated to concentrate on supporting the implementation of the ESFRI projects in order to fulfil the commitment of the Innovation Union Flagship Initiative that “By 2015, Member States together with the Commission should have completed or launched the construction of 60% of the priority European Research Infrastructures currently identified by the ESFRI”. ESFRI produced in 2013 an assessment on the status of all projects and on the readiness of about 60% of them to be implemented, also indicating those that could most effectively take advantage of specific support measures by H2020. In April 2014, ESFRI decided to develop the new ESFRI Roadmap 2016. In May 2014, the Council of the EU acknowledged the work done by ESFRI to identify priority projects and welcomed the plans of ESFRI to update its roadmap in 2015/2016.
Source: ESFRI
- General/no specific focus
- Cross-thematic/Interdisciplinary
Entry created by Ines Marinkovic on May 12, 2017
Modified on May 12, 2017
