ESFRI is a strategic instrument which identifies Research Infrastructures (RI) of strategic interest for Europe and the wider research community. ESFRI aids RI development across the EU through supporting strategy-led policy-making, enabling greater scientific integration across the EU strengthening its international outreach and implements innovative RI projects on the ESFRI Roadmap.

In this Roadmap, ESFRI sets out its vision which will address the long-term needs of the EU and its various research communities. In relation to RIs the aim of this Roadmap 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 2018 Roadmap

The European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) has launched the call for proposals for projects to the 2018 Roadmap for European Research Infrastructures.

The ESFRI Roadmap identifies Research Infrastructures of pan-European interest to meet the long term needs of the European research communities, covering all scientific areas. The aim of the roadmap activity is to endow Europe with world-class Research Infrastructures, which are accessible to all researchers across Europe and beyond and fully exploit their potential for scientific advance and innovation. In December 2016, ESFRI launched its Roadmap 2018 process, which aims to add new Research Infrastructures to the current 2016 ESFRI roadmap.

The process requires that project submissions are submitted through the ESFRI delegates of the Member State coordinating the application who will verify that the candidate project is supported by at least three Member States. Project partners to a planned ESFRI application from another member state must first submit details of the application to its national ESFRI delegation. Deadline for project submission to ESFRI is 31st August 2017.

The national process for engagement will be supported through the submission of an Expression of Interest, which will aim to identify key national research facilities that are equipped with coordinating or partnering projects for the ESFRI Roadmap 2018. Deadline for submission of this Expression of Interest is 1st June 2017.

For further information on the process including access to the Expression of Interest please email: eu-infrastructures@sfi.ie

ESFRI will assess candidate projects under the following evaluation criteria:

• Scientific and technological excellence
• Pan-EU interest and/or global impact
• Uniqueness and research capacity enhancement
• Stakeholder engagement and financial commitments
• Project maturity, management, and governance
• User accessibility
• E-infrastructure management

ESFRI Roadmap 2016

The 2016 ESFRI Roadmap, consists of a total portfolio of 21 ESFRI projects and 4 Emerging Projects spanning different research areas and communities. These ESFRI projects will develop new RIs which will support future development of science and research within the EU enhancing its competiveness on a global scale. Emerging Projects consist of potential RIs with strategic relevance, but require further refinement before being entered into the ESFRI Roadmap. Also contained is a Landscape Analysis with the associated projects, providing the current context, in each domain of the operational national and international research infrastructures open to European scientists and technology developers. ESFRI Landmarks are RIs funded through previous ESFRI Roadmaps which are now established “…reference pillars of competitiveness of the ERA (European Research Area).”

All ESFRI projects/Emerging projects/Landmarks are grouped into 6 categories (see table below).

Table of ESFRI projects, Emerging Projects and Landmarks

 

ESFRI Category	ESFRI Projects	Emerging Projects	Landmarks
Energy	ECCSEL EU-Solaris MYRRHA Windscanner	Marinerg-i	JHR
Environment	ACTRIS DANUBIUS-RI EISCAT-3D EPOS SIOS	eLTER	EMSO EURO-ARGO IAGOS ICOS LifeWatch
Health & Food	AnaEE EMBRC EMPHASIS ERINHA EU-OPENSCREEN EuroBioImaging ISBE MIRRI	METROFOOD	BBMRI EATRIS ECRIN ELIXIR INFRAFRONTIER INSTRUCT
Physical Sciences & Engineering	CTA EST KM3NeT		E-ELT ELI EMFL ESRF UP Phase I ESRF UP Phase II ESS European XFEL FAIR HL-LHC ILL SKA SPIRAL2
Social & Cultural Innovation	E-RIHS	GGP	CESSDA CLARIN DARIAH ESS-Social SHARE
e-RI			PRACE

 

A link to the current ESFRI roadmap can be found here