Congratulating the Forum and its Chairman Hans Chang for the quality of its work and timeliness of this document, Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for Science and Research said “European Research Infrastructures are a key asset in implementing our vision of a Knowledge Europe. Our new proposal for a research programme looks to increase EU support to research infrastructures. In this competition for excellence, we must adopt a common European approach, and define clear priorities to fund the most important projects over the next 10 to 20 years. I welcome ESFRI’s input in this crucial area”.

Launched in 2002 at the initiative the European Commission, ESFRI supports a coherent approach to policy-making on research infrastructures in Europe, and acts as an incubator for concrete initiatives. The “List of Opportunities” presented today illustrates the strong consensus among Member States and across the European scientific community on the need to adopt a common strategy and identify priority projects regarding Research Infrastructures of European interest to meet the needs of the scientific community over the next 20 years.

With their unique scientific, technological and human capacities, these major instruments, installations and facilities provide world class research services to EU scientists across national borders in a wide spectrum of areas such as nanotechnologies, astronomy, material science, supercomputing, and biomedical research. Appropriate and effective research infrastructures can give European science a competitive edge across the spectrum of science and research.

Following an intensive consultation of all interested groups (national authorities, scientific bodies, industrial partners, infrastructure operators, etc), ESFRI has identified a first list of priority projects, of European and international dimension, which could be funded in the future through various financing mechanisms in the EU. This first list of examples, published today, aims at assisting the Commission in the preparation of the Seventh Framework Programme, and at stimulating reflections among the scientific community on future priorities in that field.

In a second stage, building on this initial work, ESFRI will develop a “road map” defining the vision and setting out guidelines for the new generation of large scale research infrastructures of European interest due to come on stream over the next twenty years.

Notes
ANNEX

About ESFRI

The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures – ESFRI - was launched in April 2002 to support a coherent approach to policy-making on Research Infrastructures in Europe. The Forum brings together representatives, nominated by Research Ministers, of the 25 EU Member States and of 7 European countries associated with the Framework Programme, and a representative of the European Commission. ESFRI has set up various thematic working groups, has acted as an incubator for some research infrastructure projects, and has started to prepare a Roadmap for research infrastructures of pan-European interest in the next 10-20 years.
For more information on the Forum, see : http://www.cordis.lu/era/esfri_home.htm

What are Research Infrastructures ?

In this context, the term "research infrastructures" refers to tools that provide essential services to the scientific community for basic or applied research. These may concern the whole range of scientific and technological fields, from social sciences to astronomy, through genomics and nanotechnologies. Examples include libraries, databases, biological archives, clean rooms, communication networks, research vessels, satellite and aircraft observation facilities, coastal observatories, telescopes, synchrotrons, accelerators. They may be "single-sited", "distributed" or "virtual".

Towards new Research Infrastructures for Europe

ESFRI decided at its meeting of 17 December 2004 to compile a “list of opportunities” in order to assist the Commission in the preparation of its proposal for the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The “List of opportunities” is a balanced, but non inclusive, set of concrete and mature projects for new Research Infrastructures of pan-European interest which could be developed during the course of FP7 (2007-2013). It is the result of aprocess, launched end 2004, involving a broad consultation via the ESFRI national delegations, an analysis of proposals according to clear criteria by the ESFRI Steering Groups and a discussion in a plenary ESFRI meeting.

The criteria

To be included in the “List of Opportunities”, proposals had to comply with the following agreed criteria (vide infra); in particular, the criterion of maturity was emphasised: the projects had to be mature enough to start spending funds during the course of the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013). A number of “global projects”, such as ITER or the International Linear Collider (ILC) have a strong input from European countries. It was decided that some of these projects would be mentioned in addition to the list.

Scientific / Strategic criteria -The infrastructure projects should:

correspond to a real need for the development of the field in Europe;
be supported by the appropriate scientific community at European level;
be of pan-European interest;
be multi-user facilities offering open access (physical/virtual) for scientists from all over Europe;
be relevant at international level.
Technical and financial criteria - The infrastructure projects should:

be timely and mature;
be technologically feasible;
open new possibilities or offer improved technological performance;
have evaluated construction and operating costs;
offer good possibilities for European partnership and commitment of major stakeholders.
The “ESFRI list of opportunities”

The ESFRI “list of opportunities” includes, without any order of priority, 23 research infrastructure projects which correspond to major needs of the European scientific community in the coming years. The development of such Research Infrastructures is necessary to maintain Europe’s position at the cutting-edge of world research. The list is well-balanced in terms of the scientific disciplines covered. It includes:

4 projects in physics and astronomy, corresponding to large-scale facilities for nuclear physics, astroparticle physics and astronomy;
1 project on nanotechnologies, distributed over several sites;
4 projects for multidisciplinary facilities for the analysis of matter (material and biological): three of which concern new generation sources for neutrons (spallation source) and photons (free electron lasers); the fourth is an upgrade of the European third generation synchrotron;
1 project in supercomputing for applications in various fields;
4 projects in environmental sciences, ranging from coastal research to biodiversity;
7 projects in biological and medical sciences, including some with a clear biomedical character;
2 projects in social sciences and humanities, based on the collection of data throughout Europe.

The list involves medium and large scale projects, with costs ranging per project from less than € 100 million to more than € 1 billion. In a number of cases, especially in biology, the projects consist of a network of facilities located in several countries. In addition to this first list of projects to be developed within Europe (with possible participation from other countries), ESFRI compiled a short-list of “global projects” to be developed at world level, in which Europe is already involved, at least in the early stages.

The ESFRI “List of Opportunities”

Physics and Astronomy

Nuclear Physics

Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR)
Facility for intense secondary beams of unstable isotopes (SPIRAL II)
Astroparticles

European deep-sea neutrino telescope (KM3NeT)
Astronomy

Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) – for optical astronomy –
Nanotechnologies

Pan-European Research Infrastructure for Nano-Structures (PRINS)
Mutidisciplinary facilities – Analysis of matter

European Spallation Source (ESS) – neutron source –
European XFEL – for hard X rays –
IRUVX FELs Network – from Infrared to soft X rays -
ESRF upgrade
Computing and Networking

High Performance Computer for Europe (HPCEUR)
Environmental sciences

Marine vessel for coastal research – essentially Baltic Sea –
Research Icebreaker Aurora Borealis
European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory (EMSO)
European infrastructure for research in and, protection of, biodiversity
Biological and Medical Sciences

Advanced infrastructure for brain and whole body imaging
Bio-informatics infrastructure for Europe
European network of advanced clinical research centres
European network of bio-banks and genomic resources
High security laboratories for emerging diseases and threats to public health
Infrastructure for functional analysis of a whole mammalian genome
Model testing facilities for biomedical research
Social Sciences and Humanities

European Research Observatory for the Humanities and Social Sciences (EROHS)
European Social Survey (ESS)
“Global projects”:

ITER
International Space Station (ISS)
International Linear Collider (ILC)
Square Kilometer Array (SKA) – radio telescope –
International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF)

For additional information please contact

Hans Chang
Chairman ESFRI (2002-2004)
Director FOM, Utrecht
Tel + 31 30 600 1226
E-mail: hans.chang@fom.nl

Jean-Louis Picque
ESFRI secretariat
DG Research, European Commission
Tel + 32 2 295 0228
E-mail: jean-louis.picque@cec.eu.int

For additional information please contact

Patrick Vittet-Philippe,
Press and Information Officer,
DG Research, European Commission
Tel + 32 2 296 9056
Email: patrick.vittet-philippe@cec.eu.int

Hervé Pero
Head of Unit Research Infrastructures
DG Research, European Commission
Tel + 32 2 296 1232
E-mail: hervé.pero@cec.eu.int

Jean-Louis Picque
ESFRI secretariat
DG Research, European Commission
Tel + 32 2 295 0228
E-mail: jean-louis.picque@cec.eu.int

For additional information on European Research Infrastructures, please see

http://www.cordis.lu/infrastructures/

For additional information on ESFRI and on the European Research Infrastructures “List of Opportunities”, please see

http://www.cordis.lu/era/esfri_home.htm