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European Strategy Forumon Research Infrastructures ESFRI

Roadmap 2010

Strategy Reporton Research Infrastructures

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Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2011

ISBN: 978-92-79-16828-4

doi:10.2777/23127

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Strategy Reporton Research Infrastructures

Roadmap 2010

European Strategy Forumon Research Infrastructures ESFRI

March 2011

Strategy Report on Research InfrastructuresRoadmap 2010

3esfriForeword › Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures

Dear Ministers,

Dear Commissioners,

It is with great satisfaction and pleasure that ESFRI is now able to inform you that, by the end of 2010, the implementationphase has begun for 10 Research Infrastructures from the ESFRI roadmap. This progress was possible only thanks to the largesupport ESFRI has received from you over the last few years. The Research Infrastructures now in the implementation phasespan the whole range of science and technology, ranging from the Social Sciences and Humanities to Physical Sciences andEngineering. They include distributed Research Infrastructures as well as single sited ones.

Especially in difficult economic circumstances, research and innovation are the key drivers for Europe’s welfare. Excellent ResearchInfrastructures enable the cross disciplinary, frontier research and innovation that is needed to address the Grand Challenges– including the tightening supply of energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and an ageing population.

Research Infrastructures contribute to the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy and its Innovation Union FlagshipInitiative and enable the building up of the European Research Area. They also support the Joint Programming Initiatives byproviding researchers with excellent research platforms dealing with pressing societal challenges, and ESFRI uses the sameapproach of cross-border cooperation in a variable geometry.

Research Infrastructures also play a crucial role in the training of young scientists and engineers: they attract thousands ofscientists and students from universities, research institutions and industry, from Europe and from outside Europe. They guaranteethe generation of new ideas and developments which turn into innovations and therefore support the creation of jobs.

ESFRI would like to present you with its Strategy Report and Roadmap Update 2010 and also its “work programme” for thecoming years, and would appreciate your support in developing further its vision for Research Infrastructures. We are lookingforward to discussions with the Research and Innovation Organisation in Europe and with other European Initiatives.

Foreword

Dr.-Ing. Beatrix Vierkorn-RudolphESFRI Chair

EnviRonmEntalSciEncES

COPaL › 30 EISCat_3D › 31 EMSO › 32

EPOS › 33 EUrO-arGO › 34 IaGOS › 35

ICOS › 36 LIFEWatCH › 37 SIOS › 38

Biological and mEdicalSciEncES

aNaEE › 50 BBMrI › 51 EatrIS › 52

ECrIN › 53 ELIXIr › 54 EMBrC › 55

ErINHa › 56 EU-OPENSCrEEN › 57

EUrOBIOIMaGING › 58

INFraFrONtIEr › 59 INStrUCt › 60

ISBE › 61 MIrrI › 62

PhySical SciEncESand EnginEERing

Cta › 68 E-ELt › 69 ELI › 70

KM3NEt › 74 SKa › 75

EnERgy

ECCSEL › 42 EU-SOLarIS › 43

HIPEr › 44 IFMIF › 45 MYrrHa › 46

WINDSCaNNEr › 47

Social SciEncES andhumanitiES

CLarIN › 26 DarIaH › 27

matERialS andanalytical FacilitiES

EMFL › 71 EuroFEL › 72 ESS › 73

The landscape and its projectsRoadmap 2010

PaRt 1: ESFRi Strategy

1. › Introduction ��7

2. › ESFrI Success Stories: research Infrastructures

in the Implementation Phase ��9

3. › Vision 2020 of ESFrI �� 13

4. › ESFrI’s action Plan �� 14

5. › the Future Structure of ESFrI �� 17

PaRt 2: the Roadmap

1. › roadmap Update 2010 �� 19

2. › areas of the roadmap ��22

2�1 Social Sciences and Humanities �� 24

2�2 Environmental Sciences ��28

2�3 Energy ��40

2�4 Biological and Medical Sciences ��48

2�5 Engineering, Physical Sciences,

Materials and analytical Facilities ��64

annExES

thematic Working Group Members and Experts �� 76

Members of the Drafting and review Groups ��77

ESFrI Forum Members ��77

Table of contents

ESFRI StrategyPaRt 1

7esfriPart 1 › ESFRI Strategy › Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures

The success of the European economy is increasingly dependent on scientificand technological innovation. At the same time, we face a growing number of“Grand Challenges” such as global warming, tightening supplies of energy, waterand food, or securing quality of life for an ageing population. Progress in all of theseareas depends upon strong innovation capabilities that require access to the highestquality Research Infrastructures. Research Infrastructures are a key instrument inattracting and bringing together researchers, funding agencies, politicians andindustry to act together and tackle the cross-disciplinary scientific and technicalissues of critical importance for our continued prosperity and quality of life.

Research Infrastructures contribute to the implementation of Europe 2020 strategyand its Innovation Union Flagship Initiative, especially in the multidisciplinarydomains of the “Grand Challenges”. Research Infrastructures enable excellentresearch not being realisable without the access to these facilities and they provideenvironments for excellent researchers to do outstanding science at European andinternational level, contributing to benchmark frontier research. In addition, theyalso enable research not realisable so far due to a lack of capacities (e.g. lackingopportunities to obtain the necessary mouse mutants, access to research data orbeam time at excellent instruments).

Research Infrastructures are facilities, resources or services of a uniquenature that have been identified by European research communities toconduct top-level activities in all fields.

This definition of Research Infrastructures, including the associated human resources,covers major equipment or sets of instruments, in addition to knowledge-containingresources such as collections, archives and data banks. Research Infrastructuresmay be “single-sited”, “distributed”, or “virtual” (the service being providedelectronically). They often require structured information systems related to datamanagement, enabling information and communication. These include technology-based infrastructures such as Grid, computing, software and middleware.

In all cases considered for the roadmap, these infrastructures must apply an “OpenAccess” policy for basic research, i.e. be open to all interested researchers, based onopen competition and selection of the proposals evaluated on the sole scientificexcellence by international peer review.

1. Introduction

Furthermore, Research Infrastructures provide unique opportunities to trainscientists and engineers while facilitating knowledge, technology transfer andinnovation. Research Infrastructures offer stimulating research environments thatattract researchers from different countries, regions and disciplines. Thousands ofresearchers and students from universities, research institutions and industry, fromEurope and from outside Europe, use Research Infrastructures each year. About55% are researchers from universities, 20% are from public laboratories, 20% arefrom non-European research institutions, and 5% are from industry.

Research and innovation are the key drivers of Europe’s future, especially in periodsof economic instability. Europe has to make full use of its available talent andresources. To achieve this, every effort should bemade to implement the ResearchInfrastructures on the ESFRI roadmap since they are the guarantee for producingnew ideas and developments which turn into innovations and hence, in a longerterm, into jobs. It is however necessary to coordinate better and more efficientlythe different funding instruments. Therefore ESFRI will enhance its cooperationespecially with the Joint Programming Initiatives and the Joint TechnologyInitiatives to fully exploit the capabilities of these instruments. Likewise,collaboration with other European Research Organisations and with internationalorganisations will be increased. The work already started on evaluation andprioritisation will be continued to develop the necessary methodology to makebest use of the existing infrastructures and to fully exploit the capabilities of newones. It is necessary to improve the coordination of all efforts made at nationaland European level. Additionally, the concept of Regional Partner Facilities has alsoto be fully implemented (see also page 17). The suggestion of an increased andmore efficient cooperation is fully in linewith the recommendations of the EuropeanResearch Area (ERA) expert group which stated that “new approaches to Europeanwide collaboration in construction and using Research Infrastructures should beestablished. Developing distributed pan-European Research Infrastructures,e-infrastructures and related services can be used as a tool for building an efficientand effective ERA” and that “more support should be given by Member States to thedevelopment of “Regional Partner Facilities”.

ESFRI, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures 1, is astrategic instrument created in 2002 by the Member States and the EuropeanCommission to develop the scientific integration of Europe and to strengthen itsinternational outreach. ESFRI gives national authorities the opportunity to explorecommon and integrated activities for the best development and use of ResearchInfrastructures of pan-European relevance. In this way, ESFRI contributes to theimplementation of a critical, strategic part of the Lisbon agenda by integrating

1http://ec.europa.eu/research/esfri

8 esfri Part 1 › ESFRI Strategy › Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures

national policies and bringing together national and EU resources to develop theEuropean Research Area. The ESFRI delegates are nominated by the ResearchMinisters of the Member States and Associated Countries, and include arepresentative of the Commission. The delegates work together to develop ajoint vision and a common strategy including regularly updated Roadmaps,reports and criteria as tools for planning and implementing of new pan-EuropeanResearch Infrastructures. This strategic approach aims at providing Europe withthe most up-to-date Research Infrastructures, responding to the needs of rapidlyevolving fields of science, advancing knowledge-based technologies and theirextended use. Research Infrastructures are very diverse, in many cases distributedover various sites and increasingly interconnected and supported by thee-Infrastructures, ranging from Human and Social Science libraries, surveys andother data banks, to interconnected Biomedical Sciences laboratories,Environmental Sciences observational networks, Physical, Materials, Astronomicaland Engineering Sciences accelerators, synchrotrons, observatories and energydemonstrators.

The RoadmapMandate

“In the context of developing Research Infrastructures of European interest, theCouncil of the European Union welcomes the development of a strategic roadmapfor Europe in the field of Research Infrastructures and the role of the EuropeanStrategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) in this context.

This roadmap should describe the scientific needs for Research Infrastructures forthe next 10-20 years, on the basis of a methodology recognised by all stakeholders,and take into account input from relevant inter-governmental research organisationsas well as the industrial community. The Council stresses that this roadmap shouldidentify vital new European Research Infrastructures of different size and scope,including medium-sized Infrastructures in the fields of humanities and bio-informatics, such as electronic archiving systems for scientific publications anddatabases, covering all scientific areas as well as existing ones that need to beupgraded.”Competitiveness Council Conclusions, 25-25 November 2004.

“The Council recommends that ESFRI updates this roadmap at regular intervals inorder to cope with the rapid evolution of scientific and technological needs.”Competitiveness Council Conclusions, 21-22 May 2007

The ESFRI roadmap addresses all scientific disciplines that require a large scaleResearch Infrastructure with a joint effort on European or international scale. Insome cases “single sited” Research Infrastructures provide the best solution forthe necessary research. In other cases a “distributed” Research Infrastructure isbest suited from the scientific viewpoint as well as for the sustainability andoptimisation of partially existing resources.

To distinguish between networks or “collaborations” and distributes ResearchInfrastructures, ESFRI has therefore developed a definition for EuropeanDistributed Research Infrastructures.

• A European Distributed Research Infrastructure, as recognised byESFRI, is a Research Infrastructure with a common legal form and a singlemanagement board responsible for the whole Research Infrastructure, andwith a governance structure including among others a Strategy andDevelopment Plan and one access point for users although its research facilitieshave multiple sites.

• It must be of pan-European interest, i.e. shall provide unique laboratories orfacilities with user services for the efficient execution of top-level Europeanresearch, ensuring open access to all interested researchers based on scientificexcellence thus creating a substantial added value with respect to nationalfacilities.

• A European Distributed Research Infrastructure must bring significantimprovement in the relevant scientific and technological fields, addressing aclear integration and convergence of the scientific and technical standardsoffered to the European users in its specific field of science and technology.

ESFRI has the responsibility to disseminate the roadmap and its updates and toassist the scientific communities with the implementation and use of new ResearchInfrastructures. The ESFRI delegates play a crucial role inworkingwith Governmentsand the European Commission to allocate the necessary funding for the ResearchInfrastructures and to inform at political level of the possibilities to use (for example)structural funds for funding of Research Infrastructures. ESFRI will also discusswith the Commission how the development, operation and sustainability ofResearch Infrastructures could be addressedwithin the 8th Framework Programme.

Irrespective of the field of research, pan-European Research Infrastructures, new orexisting, must provide:

• scientific and technological cutting edge andmanagerial excellence,recognised at European and international level (in research, education andtechnology);

• clear pan-European added value, linkedwith facilities which deliver top-level services attracting a widely diversified and international communityof scientific users; host institutions awarding open access throughinternational competition on the basis of excellence (selection bypeer review since demand exceeds supply) and results published in the publicdomain (additional access might be offered either for training or for industrialresearch, the latter on a payment basis, as a marginal, non economic, activity,not interfering with the peer reviewed access).


Since the publication of the first roadmap in 2006 and its update in 2008,10 projects of the 44 roadmap projects are already in the implementation phase,four of which are distributed Research Infrastructures. These are very diverse insize and character: the construction costs vary between 2 M€ and 1.100 M€,the operation costs between 2 M€ and 120 M€.

The Research Infrastructures in the implementation phase are listed at the end ofthis section.

Sixteen additional projects are proceeding so well that the start of theirimplementation could be envisaged by the end of 2012. These projects are markedin light green in the "Quick View" on page 22.

If ESFRI reaches this goal, it will fulfil the commitment in the “Europe 2010 FlagshipInitiative – Innovation Union” which stated that “by 2015, Member States togetherwith the Commission should have completed or launched the construction of 60% ofthe priority European Research Infrastructures currently identified by the EuropeanStrategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI)” 2.

There might be very good reasons, however, why these projects could not reachthe implementation phase in the next two years, since the implementation processis always complex and time consuming. The difficult situation which arose in somecountries due to the financial crisis could also be a factor influencing the speedand extent of implementation.

2 COM (2010) 546 final; SE (2010) 1161.

2. ESFRI Success Stories: Research Infrastructures in the implementation phase

Research Infrastructures in the implementation phase: Social Sciences

CESSDA: Facility to provide and facilitate access of researchersto high quality data for social sciences

CESSDA is a distributed Research Infrastructure that provides and facilitates access forresearchers to high quality data and supports their use. It promotes the acquisition, archiving anddistribution of electronic data, and encourages the exchange of data. The infrastructure includes20 social science data archives in 20 European countries. Collectively they serve over 30,000researchers, providing access to more than 50,000 data collections per annum.

Construction costs30 M€

Operation costs3 M€/year

Decommissioningnot applicable

Information: Steering committee established, will go for ERIC application soon. http://cessda.org

European Social Survey: Upgrade of the European Social Survey,set up in 2001 to monitor long term changes in social values

The European Social Survey is an academically driven long term pan-European distributedinstrument designed to chart and explain the interaction between Europe's changing institutionsand the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of its diverse populations. The originalinfrastructure was set up in 2001 as a time series survey for monitoring change in social valuesthroughout Europe and to produce data relevant to academic debate, policy analysis, bettergovernance, and as an important resource for the training of new researchers in comparativemethods.

©: ESS




Information: Steering committee established, will apply for ERIC status soon. http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org


SHARE: A data Infrastructure for the socio-economic analysis of ongoing changesdue to population ageing

SHARE is a pan-European social science project which was during the preparatory phase centrallycoordinated at theMEA Institute in Germany. SHARE ERIC is the upgrade into a long term researchinfrastructure of a multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database of micro data on health,socio-economic status and social and family networks of about 45,000 Europeans aged 50 orover. The data are harmonised with the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the EnglishLongitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and accessible free of charge to the scientific community. ©: Mea SHARE


Operation costs1,4 M€/year


Information: ERIC application adopted. 5 countries have already signed the ERIC Statutes. 8 more have signed the Memorandumof Understanding and 6 of these have already announced to step into the ERIC-agreement soon. SHARE-ERIC will be seated first inTilburg, the Netherlands.

http://www.share-project.org

Research Infrastructures in the implementation phase: Materials Sciences

ESRF: Upgrade of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), located in Grenoble, France, is a joint facilitysupported and shared by 17 European countries and Israel. It operates the most powerful highenergy synchrotron light source in Europe and brings together a wide range of disciplinesincluding physics, chemistry and materials science as well as biology, medicine, geophysicsand archaeology. There are many industrial applications, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics,petrochemicals and microelectronics.

Construction costs241.3 M€

Operation costs93.5 M€/year


Information: capital costs 241.3 M€ (in 2010 prices), of which 67 M€ from the regular budget, recurrent costs 16.4 M€, personnelcosts 18.5 M€. Upgrade ongoing.

http://www.esrf.fr

European XFEL: Hard X-Ray Free Electron Laser

The European X-ray Free Electron Laser, under construction in Hamburg, Germany, will be aworld leading facility for the production of intense, short pulses of X-rays for scientific researchin a wide range of disciplines.

©: XFEL

Construction costs1082 M€ (incl. commissioning)


Decommissioning80 M€

Information: Limited Liability Company under German Law with international partners founded in 2009; Council, ScientificAdvisory Committee and Administrative and Finance Committee are working.

http://www.xfel.eu


ILL 20/20: Upgrade of the European Neutron Spectroscopy Facility

The reactor-based laboratory at the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) is recognised as the world’s mostproductive and reliable source of slow neutrons for the study of condensed matter. ILL 20/20upgrade plans to optimise its potential to deliver to users’needs in the future.


Operation costs5 M€/year (additional to recurrent costs)

Decommissioning161 M€

Information: construction costs include 15 M€ of regional and local government funding towards additional infrastructuralaspects for the proposed joint site together with ESRF. Upgrade is ongoing.

http://www.ill.eu/science-technology/the-esfri-projects/the-ill-2020-upgrade-project

Research Infrastructures in the implementation phase: Physical Sciences

FAIR: Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research

FAIR will provide high energy primary and secondary beams of ions of highest intensity andquality, including an "antimatter beam" of antiprotons allowing forefront research in five differentdisciplines of physics. The accelerator facility foresees the broad implementation of ion storage/cooler rings and of in-ring experimentation with internal targets. High intensity ion beams up to35 GeV /nucleon will be delivered.

©: GSI, FAIR

Construction costs1027 M€ (2005)

Operation costs118 M€/year (2005)

Decommissioningto be estimated

Information: Limited Liability Company under German law with international partners founded in 2010; Council and Administra-tive and Finance Committee are working, the Scientific Council is being assembled in early 2011. Civil construction will start at theend of 2011.

http://www.gsi.de/fair/

SPIRAL2: Facility for the production and study of rare isotope radioactive beams

SPIRAL2 is a new European facility to be built at GANIL laboratory in Caen, France. The projectaims at delivering stable and rare isotope beams with intensities not yet available with presentmachines. SPIRAL2 will reinforce the European leadership in the field of nuclear physics basedon exotic nuclei.

©: GANIL/Ph. Bisson


Operation costs10-12 M€/year

Decommissioningto be estimated

Information: The construction phase is being coordinated within a consortium between CNRS, CEA and the region of Basse-Normandie and in collaboration with French, European and international institutions.

http://www.ganil-spiral2.eu/spiral2


Research Infrastructures in the implementation phase: e-Infrastructures

PRACE: Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe

The Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe is a European strategic approach to high-performance computing. It concentrates the resources distributed in a limited number ofworld-class top-tier centres in a single infrastructure connected to national, regional and localcentres, forming a scientific computing network. Different machine architectures will fulfilthe requirements of different scientific domains and applications. This can be represented as apyramid, where local centres would constitute the base of the pyramid, national and regionalcentres would constitute themiddle layer and the high-end HPC centres would constitute the top.

Construction and operation costs: 100 M€ withinthe next 5 years + fees


Information: Company under Belgian Law founded. http://www.prace-project.eu

Research Infrastructures in the implementation phase: Energy

JHR: High flux reactor for fission reactors material testing

This new research reactor will allow high flux neutron irradiation experiments dedicated to thestudy of thematerials and fuel behaviour under irradiationwith sizes and environment conditionsrelevant for nuclear power plants in order to optimise efficiency and demonstrate safe operationsof existing power reactors as well as to support future reactor design.



Decommissioning~80 M€

Information: construction costs come from consortium agreement (~500 M€) plus support from French "emprunt national"(~250 M€).

http://www-cadarache.cea.fr/rjh/index.html

National Roadmaps

The publication of the ESFRI roadmap has also stimulated national governments inmost of the Member States to develop their national roadmap for Research Infra-structures. Some countries have also earmarked national budgets for large ResearchInfrastructures, which is necessary to ensure participation in a common pan-Europeaneffort. The national roadmaps can be found on the ESFRI webpage (http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=esfri-other-roadmap).

In addition, several scientific communities have become increasingly organised andare producing their own roadmaps, where the needs of their disciplines in the short,medium and long term are clearly identified. An authoritative example is the“Strategy for Particle Physics”by the CERN Council, as well as the roadmaps byASPERA (Astroparticle Physics) and ASTRONET (Astronomy).


3. vision 2020 of ESFRI

Pan-European Research Infrastructures provide an important contribution to thedevelopment of European culture and competitiveness and have a successful trackrecord in taking Europe to the forefront of Science, Technology and Innovation. Aspart of the European Research Area, many of the ESFRI Research Infrastructures arealready providing an environment supporting research to address high priority areassuch as the “Grand Challenges”. Research Infrastructures can only play this roleeffectively if they provide a high level of support for users allowing them to performexcellent research. In order to attract and retain world-class scientists, Europe shouldcontinue to focus its efforts on the creation of such top level Research Infrastructuresand build up their reputation and recognition on an international scale. During the6th European Conference on Research Infrastructures (ECRI 2010 3), ESFRI hasre-affirmed that peer reviewed open access is essential to promote excellence.

Therefore, ESFRI proposes a focused and ambitious 2020 vision, which has recentlybeen published 4, to meet major challenges by addressing the following specificactions:

• Evolve better governance and sustainability, by shared evaluation andprioritization of pan-European Research Infrastructures, based on national,international and ESFRI’s best practices;

• Consolidate this approach by focusing and increasing European and nationalfunding in support of internationally benchmarked activities;

• Extend inclusiveness and outreach, thus ensuring cohesion and increasedgrowth, and fuel the positive loop between excellence in research andeducation and relevance for industry, further attracting public-privatepartnerships and developing high-quality procurements;

• Strengthen the attraction and mobility of human resources, by advancedtraining of personnel and free movement of knowledge in Europe and fromother parts of the world.

3 ECRI 2010 was organised under the Spanish Presidency of the European Union on 23 -24 March2010 in Barcelona.

4 http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/esfri/home/esfri_inspiring_excellence.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none

4. ESFRI’s Action Plan

To fulfil its mission, ESFRI has discussed an overall strategy to develop the EuropeanResearch Area, and Research Infrastructures in particular. This strategy has evolvedfrom discussions within ESFRI andwith the ESFRIThematicWorking Groups, as wellas with major European Research Organisations. To develop this strategy further, acombination of visionary thinking about the future with practical and achievablesteps for the near term is necessary. ESFRI will continue to develop and advocateits vision for Research Infrastructures while working on practical implementationissues including the following:

• Monitoring scientific developments and emerging research challenges alsotaking innovation into account, and supporting the implementation of asmanyof the projects on the ESFRI roadmap as possible;

• Developing an evaluation methodology for pan-European Research Infra-structures with the goal that it could also be used for Research Infrastructuresof national and regional importance;

• Strengthening cooperation with European research and innovationorganisations (EIROForum, EUROHORCS, TAFTIE, ESF, and others);

• Development of closer cooperation and alignment between Joint ProgrammingInitiatives, Joint Technology Initiatives and Research Infrastructures and withinitiatives under the umbrella of the European Innovation Partnerships;

• Building up cooperation with European industry;

• Expanding training possibilities and fostering mobility schemes (includingalso technology transfer issues);

• Addressing the issue of socio-economic impacts;

• Promoting greater regional cooperation;

• Stimulating increased international (global) cooperation, to ensure that thefull scientific and educational potential is used by the Member States;

• Supporting and promoting the use and development of e-infrastructures.

Scientific developments and implementation

ESFRI has devoted considerable efforts in recent years to the identification of newor upgraded pan-European Research Infrastructures for the benefit of Europeanresearch and innovation. In addition, ESFRI has given assistance to consortia infinding new partners, in shaping the research and innovation scope of the respectiveResearch Infrastructures and in helping funding agencies andMinistries to allocatethe necessary funding resources. The next four to five years ESFRI will concentrateon the implementation of the different roadmap projects and not extent the projectlist apart from emerging projects.


The Thematic Working Groups of ESFRI have a special task in the development ofthe European landscape for Research Infrastructures: they do not only organiseand lead the evaluation of new proposals for the incorporation into the roadmap,but also help e.g., with the implementation of the projects by giving advice onissues such as the appropriate legal structure, statutes and funding requirements.

To support the implementation of the roadmap projects, the so-called PreparatoryPhase has been introduced by the European Commission. This Phase supports theconsortia in all legal, governance, strategic, financial and such technical work asis needed to reach an agreement for the realisation of a specific ResearchInfrastructure on the ESFRI Roadmap. The Preparatory Phase aims to take theprojects to the level of maturity required for their implementation. Most of theRoadmap projects have been selected and supported within the SeventhFramework Programme through Preparatory Phase projects. At the end of 2010,34 projects have Preparatory Phase projects underway or have already finishedtheir Preparatory Phase. For the additional 10 projects from the 2008 Update ofthe roadmap, the Preparatory Phase projects are currently in their final stages ofnegotiation or have already started their work.

This instrument has been quite successful but nevertheless there are still someobstacles in particular regarding rapid implementation of the projects. ESFRI hasrecognised that the Preparatory Phase project coordinators might need somemorehelp from ESFRI delegates to get in contact with the appropriate funding agenciesand Ministries at an early stage, to obtain both the approval of the foundation ofthe Research Infrastructures and the necessary funding.

This is a task the Thematic Working Groups are already dealing with, and whichshould be enhanced in future. The coordinators of the Preparatory Phase projectsshould be invited on a regular basis to the meetings of the Thematic WorkingGroups to report on the ongoing work and to inform about possible problemsso that solutions can be found in time. ESFRI will also establishmeans to intensifythe contacts between the Preparatory Phase Project coordinators and the ESFRIdelegates from the potential host country or countries of the ResearchInfrastructures. It would be appropriate if, in future, the ESFRI delegates of thepossible host country or the chair of the respective Thematic Working Groupwould report to ESFRI about the status of the implementation on amore regularbasis. To foster the implementation of the different projects on the ESFRIroadmap the forum is currently reflecting to create a working group forimplementation.

One of the main obstacles for the realisation of pan-European ResearchInfrastructures has been so far the absence of a suitable legal and governanceframework at European level. For this reason a new legal structure “ERIC –European Research Infrastructure Consortium” has been developed bythe European Commission together with ESFRI and was approved by the Councilon 25 June 2009 and entered into force two months later. The first ESFRI project,which will have an ERIC legal structure in place, is SHARE which will be registeredin the Netherlands. Other projects are expected to follow soon (namely CESSDA,the European Social Survey, ECRIN, BBMRI and Euro-ARGO).

The European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC)

With the support of ESFRI, the European Commission launched a proposal for aRegulation at Community level in July 2008. Following intense discussions at inter-institutional level, this EC-Regulation, defining the European Research InfrastructureConsortium (ERIC), was approved by the Council on 25 June 2009. Since summer2009, ESFRI has been involved in the refinement of the related guidelines forapplication, highlighting the need for scientific and technological excellence as wellas defending the important role of Research Infrastructures of pan-European interestto foster mobility of researchers within and to Europe.

Evaluation method for pan-European ResearchInfrastructures

Further development of the European Research Area requires not just the creationof new pan-European Research Infrastructures but also the support of the existingones. Many of them have so far only had a national or regional importance. Toimprove the overall situation in Europe and to make best use of limited financialand human resources, an evaluation and prioritisation scheme has to bedeveloped to distinguish at least between Research Infrastructures with a real pan-European dimension and others which will remain important for regional and/ornational needs and to balance their evolution in view of the scientific landscape.

ESFRI will therefore develop, in collaboration with the relevant European ResearchOrganisations having significant interests in Research Infrastructures (see the nextsection) a process firstly to evaluate new and existing Research Infrastructures andsecondly to develop a prioritisation scheme. Such an evaluation has to be basedon the national roadmaps and on national evaluation schemes but has to developon top of that an evaluationmethodology which will allow definition of the criteriafor pan-European Research Infrastructures. ESFRI has set up a working groupon evaluationwhich is developing such a methodology. ESFRI will discuss thisscheme during the comingmonths with the European Research Organisations andwith Organisations which have been involved in evaluation/prioritisation dutiesfor a long time already, such as Research Councils in the different Member andAssociated States, funding agencies and organisations representing scientificcommunities (e.g. NuPECC, ApPEC).

In future, an important evaluation element should also be the “economic cycle” ofResearch Infrastructures. In the past, a lot of work has already been devoted to thesocio-economic benefits of Research Infrastructures, but some new insight isneeded to also “measure” the impact of Research Infrastructures for industry dueto the large procurement market during the construction of new ResearchInfrastructures (short and medium-term impact). Also the long-term impact ofresearch and innovation on the development of new products, materials,instruments, services for the use in industry should be considered as one aspectin the evaluation of pan-European Research Infrastructures. Another aspect is theavailability of highly specialised and experienced researchers and engineers forindustry due to the training possibilities of these facilities.


Strengthening cooperation with other European Researchand Innovation Organisations

Recently, it has become clear that a better and closer cooperation betweenESFRI and the European Research Organisations (such as EIROForum,EUROHORCS, EARTO, ESF, and others) should be established to develop a commonvision of the European Research Area and to support the construction andoperation of pan-European Research Infrastructures. The first steps in this directionhave already been taken. A discussion with EIROForum has taken place with theconclusion that cooperation for training of engineers and technicians forResearch Infrastructures is urgently needed to secure the necessary supportfor the operation of Research Infrastructures. The RAMIRI initiative (Realizing andManaging International Research Infrastructures) is a useful step to trainmanagerial staff. An additional scheme should also be developed to help improvethe exchange of personnel in the more technical areas. Two meetings betweenESFRI and European funding organisations and advisory bodies on ResearchInfrastructures have taken place and will continue with the aim of exchangingviews on coordination needs and feasibility for European Research Infrastructures.Different issues were discussed with the goal of producing a “Declaration ofCommon Intent”. These issues are, as would be expected, very similar to the onesdiscussed within ESFRI:

• Develop a common approach for evaluation;

• Identify and promote best practices for RI governance including long-termsustainability of resources;

• Human resources and mobility together with training and education needs;

• Improved interactions between the RI providers and the user communities,including industry as user and supplier;

• Management of knowledge and the role of e-Research Infrastructures.

Development of a broad cooperation between JointProgramming Initiatives and Research Infrastructures

In the context of globalisation and the intensification of global competitiveness,Europe has recognised that there are societal challenges which no Member Stateis capable of solving alone. Therefore the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) 5wasset up with the aim of increasing the cooperation in R&D between the MemberStates to better confront themajor societal challenges such as an ageing populationand stimulating sustainable development. Other issues were combating climatechange, securing the supply of energy, preserving human and environmental health,ensuring food quality and availability as well as safeguarding citizen security.

5 http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/areas/programming/joint_programming_en.htm

Since ESFRI deals with most of these societal challenges as well and follows thesame philosophy of peer review procedures, with a coherent approach for cross-border cooperation in a variable geometry, it is clear that the cooperation betweenESFRI and the Joint Programming Initiatives should be increased.

The Pilot Initiative onNeurodegenerative Diseases, in particular on Alzheimer’sdisease, has the objective to pool the resources and better coordinate the researchefforts of Member States in this field. The BMS Research Infrastructures contributein many areas to this initiative via cutting edge bio-imaging tools combined withtechnologies, methods and (bio-banked) materials, or disease models applicablein diagnostics. SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe),a Research Infrastructure in the area of Social Sciences and Humanities would bean ideal cooperation partner for this initiative. The BMS and SSH ResearchInfrastructures can also provide a significant contribution to the Joint ProgrammingInitiative in the area of diet and health – A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life.

The aim of the Joint Programming Initiative in the area of Agriculture, FoodSecurity and Climate Change is to integrate adaptation, mitigation and foodsecurity in the agriculture, forestry and land use sector. The Research Infrastructuresin the BMS area as well as in the Environmental area are obvious candidates forclose cooperation.

The Joint Programming Initiative Cultural Heritage and Global Change callsfor closer cooperation with the Research Infrastructures in the Social Sciences andHumanities. The use of e-infrastructures in this area should be encouraged.

Therefore ESFRI will foster the already existing links with the Joint ProgrammingInitiatives in the comingmonths to define common areas of interest which shouldbe further elaborated. The Joint Programming Initiatives together with the ESFRIResearch Infrastructures provide major pillars of the European Research Area.

Strengthening cooperation with industry

To contribute to the economic and social impacts of the ERA and to promoteknowledge and innovation oriented partnerships, ESFRI will need to establishcloser links with industry and with Ministries and funding agencies dealing withinnovations in the differentMember States. ESFRI will contact the relevant EuropeanIndustrial Organisations to identify common goals.

The development of components and materials for Research Infrastructures actsas a driver of industrial innovation. It is therefore important that industry is involvedin the design and construction of Research Infrastructures and is informed at anearly stage about upcoming procurements. Many Research Infrastructures, likethe materials research facilities, also have important industrial users. Tighteningthe links to industry will support technology transfer and ensure that scientificresults are transmitted rapidly to industry.


A first step in this direction has been the interaction with the European StrategicEnergy Technology Plan (SET Plan), providing strong motivation to include newenergy Research Infrastructures in the present update of the ESFRI Roadmap. Duringthe ENERI 2010 Conference 6, it was concluded that the Research Infrastructuresin the area of Energy will be implemented through a dialogue with the IndustrialInitiatives in the respective areas, the consortium of energy research institutions,the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), and other stakeholders. The EERAmembers are natural host and user organisations for the energy ResearchInfrastructures. Member States can use the representatives in the SET Plan SteeringGroup and in ESFRI to match their participation in the construction and operationof Research Infrastructures in the energy area. Contacts with the Joint TechnologyInitiatives and the European Technology Platforms as well as with the EuropeanInstitute of Technology and the European Innovation Partnerships will be enhanced.In special cases, the inclusion of Public Private Partnerships should be considered.

Training andmobility

Research Infrastructures need qualifiedmanagers in order to ensure cost-effectiveexploitation of the available resources and best use of the scientific results.Successful operation requires training of staff and users. Adequate training provisionshould be planned from the very beginning of a Research Infrastructure to ensurethat requirements are met at the right time.

ESFRI is well aware of the need to find and train managers for ResearchInfrastructures, originating from the scientific community or from the economicsector. To prepare these future managers for the challenges ahead, a series ofSymposia for Realising and Managing International Research Infrastructures (theRAMIRI Symposia) were started in 2009, with the support of Community funding.A "toolbox" for the Research Infrastructuremanagers could be ultimately developedto prepare them better for the challenges ahead. Such a toolbox will need to beaccompanied by further actions and training to ensure that existing expertise isdisseminated as widely as possible and that it will be continuously developed.

One idea which should be developed further is the establishment of a “network”of engineers and technicians who are actively involved in the Construction Phaseof a Research Infrastructure. Such a “network” could promote mobility and helpto guarantee that highly-specialized, trained and experienced engineers andtechnicians are available when new Research Infrastructures are ready forconstruction. Needless to say, such a network could also help highly specialisedstaff to find appropriate follow-up jobs without lengthy periods of uncertainty oreven unemployment and ensure that valuable expertise is retained within theEuropean Research Area. For other areas like Social Sciences and Humanities, asimilar scheme should be developed for experts working in this area.

With the growing demand for mobility of staff, particular attention should bepaid to aspects of social security and retirement benefits. Scientists who arewillingto provide their manpower at various places in Europe must be sure that theirflexibility will not have a negative impact on their pensions. Therefore, ESFRI will

6 The Conference was held during the Belgian Presidency of the EU, see http://www.eneri2010.be/

continue to ask the appropriate authorities to deal with this very important aspectof the mobility of researchers and engineers.

The already existing European network EURAXESS 7 is very helpful in this contextand a good starting point. EURAXESS has a national information point in eachMember State and provides very detailed information on the different pensionschemes and other important issues on its Internet site. These common Europeanregulationsmean that as a rule, skilled personnel should be able to have the pensionentitlements acquired in other European countries recognized and transferredanywhere else in the European Union for their final pensions. EURAXESS has alsolinks with China, Japan, Singapore and USA.

Socio-economic Impact

The socio-economic impact of Research Infrastructures in the host country and inthe region is often considerable. Although this impact is still difficult to measure,it is important that ESFRI deal with this aspect.

The ERIDWatch project, funded by the European Commission, has shown thatResearch Infrastructures offer a qualified public procurement market worth~ 8–9 billion Euro per year to European industries. This amount has increased by~ 5.5 % per year over the last 10 years.

According to the recommendations of the Competitiveness Council of May 2009,ESFRI has also the mandate “to promote the further use of existing financial tools,in particular the Structural Funds and EIB instruments for the construction, upgradingor maintenance of Research Infrastructures, including Regional Partner Facilities”.Therefore, the awareness of the socio-economic impact on the regionssurrounding Research Infrastructures should be promoted to convince Politiciansand Ministries that the use of Structural Funds for the construction of ResearchInfrastructures may be a significant contribution to the development of thatregion. The use of Structural Funds is especially important for the newer MemberStates to help them to be involved in the construction and operation of ResearchInfrastructures. One example for the use of Structural Funds for ResearchInfrastructures is ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure) which will be financed inlarge part via this instrument.

Regional cooperation

To foster regional cooperation, ESFRI has set up aWorking Group on regional issues.The Working Group started its work in 2007 by evaluating the European regionalResearch Infrastructure landscape and in particular, the participation of the Easternand South Eastern European Member States in Research Infrastructure activitiesat pan-European level. In its 2008 report, the Working Group recommended thatESFRI engage in actions for the development and use of Research Infrastructuresthroughout the European Research Area. This would allow more widely spreadESFRI proposals leading to the active involvement of a greater number of researchersand scientific areas.

7 http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/index.cfm


In this context, the idea of Regional Partner Facilities was identified as a promisingconcept and was recognised as such by the Competitiveness Council 8. RegionalPartner Facilitieswould be either associatedwith large scale Research Infrastructuresor with other complementary infrastructures (e.g. in a pan-European distributedResearch Infrastructure). Thus, regional capacity could be built up engaging smallercountries and regions in competitive research and innovation performance. Thiscould in some cases be also a good use of the Structural Funds. The Regional PartnerFacilities could therefore contribute to a more balanced development of theEuropean Research Area, and to the “circulation of knowledge” throughout Europe,thus converting “brain drain” to “brain gain”.

A “Regional Partner Facility” (RPF) to a Research Infrastructure of pan-Europeaninterest must itself be a facility of national or regional importance in terms of socio-economic returns, training and attracting researchers and technicians. The qualityof the facility including the level of its scientific service, management and openaccess policy must meet the same standards required for pan-European ResearchInfrastructures. The recognition as an RPF should be under the responsibility of thepan-European Research Infrastructures itself (or themembers of a to-be ERIC) basedon regular peer-review.

International cooperation

In varying areas of research and innovation some challenges are such as to requirecloser scientific collaboration and the pooling of financial and human resources ona global scale. Some of the pan-European Research Infrastructures are aiming atinternational partnerships such as Euro-ARGO, SKA, SHARE, EMSO, EPOS or EISCAT.ESFRI will therefore strengthen cooperation with countries and researchorganisations outside EU. The process of engaging with partners outside the EUwill be developed to complement national and European policies and efforts.

ESFRI, together with the European Commission, has established regular contactsand meetings with organisations in USA, India and Russia and will extend themto countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada and China. In its efforts, ESFRIcoordinates its work with that of the European Commission, the Strategic Forumfor International Scientific and Technological Cooperation (SFIC) and also the OECDGlobal Science Forum (GSF) 9.

e-Infrastructures

Research Infrastructures are becoming increasingly diverse and distributed overvarious sites and are increasingly interconnected and supported by e-Infrastructures.Research Infrastructures ranging from Human and Social Science libraries andsurveys, to interconnected Biomedical Sciences laboratories, Environmental

8 Presidency conclusions of the Competitiveness Council of 29 May 2009.

9 http://www.oecd.org/topic/0,3699,en_2649_34319_1_1_1_1_37437,00.html

Sciences observational networks, Physical, Materials, Astronomical and EngineeringSciences accelerators, synchrotrons, observatories and energy demonstrators areall dependent upon e-Infrastructures.

Across all research areas, e-Infrastructures are playing an ever increasing role indata acquisition and management, digital repositories, access to standardised,calibrated and inter-operable data, data curation, the mining of archived data andits release for broad access. Data taking and data management is something thatis often overlooked at the beginning of a Research Infrastructure project, as is thefinancing of the necessary e-Infrastructures.

The e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG) has prepared a Blue Paper in responseto a request from ESFRI to examine ways in which ESFRI Research Infrastructuresand their users can engage and exploit common e-Infrastructure service to satisfytheir requirements 10.

Because of the growing importance of e-Infrastructures in Research Infrastructures,these aspects are now directly included in the Thematic Working Groups, and adedicated Thematic Working Group for e-infrastructures is no longer appropriate.Direct cooperation with e-IRG has increased significantly and has already led tothe preparation of the above mentioned Blue Paper. ESFRI plans to increase thiscooperation even further in future.

5. The Future Structure of ESFRI

In discussing ESFRI’s tasks and challenges for the next few years, it has becomeapparent that ESFRI needs to think about establishing a more formal legalframework for its activities. Since ESFRI plans to be involved more strongly inevaluation and prioritisation issues, an area where developments are crucial forthe future of the European Research Area, it would be helpful to create amechanismfor supporting those activities through some kind of a common fund.

Similarly, if ESFRI is to increase its activities in international cooperation it also willbe necessary to act in a more legal framework than it does now.

ESFRI will therefore start to examine possibilities for a “light structure” whichsecures the original spirit of ESFRI but nevertheless would help to deal with theabove mentioned issues.

10 http://www.e-irg.eu/images/stories/eirg_bluepaper2010_final.pdf

The RoadmapPaRt 2

As described above, ESFRI is committed to support the implementation of as manyResearch Infrastructures on the roadmap as possible in a timely manner: this willbe one of the main responsibilities in the coming years and a success here wouldbe a vindication of ESFRI’s strategy approach.

Accordingly, further updates of the roadmap now have a lower priority. After thepublication of the 2008 Roadmap update, it was recognised that there were stillsome gaps in the areas of Energy and Biological and Medical Sciences. Thereforea call for new proposals was published in these areas in 2009, with deadline forsubmission at the end of the year. After a careful evaluation of the 22 proposalsreceived, 6 projects have been chosen to be included in the ESFRI roadmap. Itshould be noted that it was difficult in the Energy area to always clearly distinguishbetween Distributed Research Infrastructures and networks or test facilities.

The evaluation was carried out mainly by the Energy and the BMS ThematicWorking Groups with the help of external experts. Where necessary, the otherThematic Working Groups were also involved to give an additional opinion.

The criteria for the evaluation which has been defined by ESFRI are, among others,the uniqueness of the facility for the scientific community, proven pan-Europeaninterest, maturity of the concept in scientific/technological as well as financialaspects. The evaluation process follows the presented scheme which has alreadybeen used by ESFRI for the setting up of the first roadmap.

In addition to the evaluation of the new proposals, the Research Infrastructureprojects already on the roadmap were also scrutinised to assess whether therewas sufficient progress on their route to implementation. The outcome of thisprocess was that two projects – PRINS (Pan-European Research Infrastructure forNanostructures) and ERICON AB (Aurora Borealis) - have been removed from theroadmap.

The PRINS Consortium has recognised that the research and innovation servicework which was planned could be carried out in the most appropriate way in anetwork of different research facilities. Therefore no further developments towardsa distributed Research Infrastructure have been made. The evolution of PRINSdemonstrates the difference between a network and a distributed ResearchInfrastructure.

ESFRI has recognised that the level of funding required for the realisation ofERICON AB will be highly unlikely during the next few years. This decision wasalso in part triggered by the outcome of an evaluation which has been performedby the German Science Council as Germany was the main funding provider.Nevertheless, the Preparatory Phase will continue to allow the Consortium toelaborate a proposal with a somewhat less ambitious goal.

1. Roadmap update 2010

19esfriPart 2 › roadmap › Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures

20 esfri Part 2 › roadmap › Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures

Figure 1: the ESFRI process for inclusion of a proposal in the Roadmap for pan-European reseach infrastructures

Proposals submitted by national delegationsfor pan-European projects

ESFRIExecutive Board

Request for astage-gate process

Out

Proposals submitted by the Council of oneof the members of EIROForum

ThematicWorking Groups

1

2

3Analysis of scientificcommunity needs

4 Scientific analysis of the proposal(taking 3 into account)

Scientific Case Out

technical and businessanalysis

5

Concept mature?

no

yes

no

no

yes

yes

List ofemerging ideas

6 TWG draft Report +possible supporting

documents

Draft ESFRI roadmap to be submitted to ESFRIfollowing the work of ESFRI’s drafting

and review groups

Reviewed andagreed by ESFRI?

Out:emergingidea

no

yes7

Introduction in the Roadmap

Support to implementation of projects

Stagegatesteps


As a result of the evaluation of the new proposals, six new Research Infrastructures were chosen for inclusion in the roadmap. Three of thesuccessful proposals came from the Energy, and three from the BMS areas. These are:

ENERGY› EU-SOLARISThe European SOLAR Research Infrastructure for Concentrating Solar Power (CSP)› MYRRHAMultipurpose hYbrid Research Reactor for High-technology Applications› WindscannerThe EuropeanWind Scanner Facility

BMS› ANAEEInfrastructure for Analysis and Experimentation on Ecosystems› ISBEInfrastructure for Systems Biology-Europe› MIRRIMicrobial Resource Research Infrastructure

The projects in the implementation phase have been summarised in a separate table on pages 9-12. These projects are still represented in thisroadmap but only with a sentence about their mission. The full description can be found on the project web pages listed in the table. Althoughthese projects can be considered as successfully implemented, there is still work to be done, for example, in assuring the funding of the operationsphase. Where relevant, these necessities are also included in the table.

The description of the new proposals as well as the ones of all projects still under implementation can be found on the following pages. Theseprojects are summarised in the “Quick View” of the Roadmap on pages 22-23.

Project constructioncosts (M€)

operation costs(M€/year)

First possible operationor upgrade

Social Sciencesand Humanities

CLARIN 104 7.6 2011

DARIAH 20 2,4 2016

Environmental Sciences

COPAL (ex EUFAR) 50-60 3 to be defined

EISCAT_3D Upgrade 60 (up to 250) 4-10 2016

EMSO 160 32 2014

EPOS 500 80 2020

EURO-ARGO 3* 8,4 2011

IAGOS 15 5-10 2012

ICOS 130 36 2013

LIFEWATCH 255 35,5 2012

SIOS 50 10 2013

Energy

ECCSEL 81 6,3 2015

EU-SOLARIS 80 3 2016

HiPER under discussion 2028

IFMIF (GLOBAL) 1000 150 2020

MYRRHA 960 46,4 2020

Windscanner 45-60 4 2013

Biologicaland Medical Sciences

ANAEE 210 12 2015

BBMRI 170 3 2012

EATRIS 20-100 3-8 2016

ECRIN 0** 3,5 2011

ELIXIR 470 100 2012

EMBRC 100 60 2014

Erinha 174 24 to be defined

EU-OPENSCREEN 40 ~40 2015

EuroBioImaging 600 160 2013

Infrafrontier 180 80 2011

INSTRUCT 300 25 2012

ISBE 300 100 2017

MIRRI 190 10,5 ongoing

Materialsand Analytical Facilities

EMFL 115 8*** 2014

ESS 1478 110 2019-2020

EUROFEL (ex-IRUvX-FEL) 1200-1600 120-160 2007-2020

Physical Sciencesand Engineering

CTA 150 10 2019

E-ELT 1000 30 2018

ELI ~700**** ~70 2015

KM3NeT 220 4-6 2016

SKA (GLOBAL) 1500 100-150 2017

Quick viewRoadmap



facilities likely to be implementedby the end of 2012

in bold italic:new facilities added in 2010

Estimated costs and timelines

A note of caution is required when dealing with the estimatedcosts of the facilities. This roadmap, differently from roadmapsdeveloped from funding agencies on the basis of predictablebudgets, is a proposal to several different funding Authoritiesand Governments, to help them orient their efforts in a morecoordinated way. The cost estimates reported in this documentare necessarily those indicated by the proponents themselvesand represent the best estimate available at the time of writing.These figures are solely intended as a basis for interestedcountries to assess the possibility to participate or to bid forhosting a project, as a function of the size of their budgets andscientific communities. Similarly, timelines are in most casesapproximate and will be refined as the project evolves.

* preparation costs** actual construction costs absorbed by the update and certification of national IT components*** additional to current operation costs**** includes costs of three Regional Partner Facilities

Description

Research infrastructure to make language resources and technology available and useful to scholars of all disciplines

Digital infrastructure to study source materials in cultural heritage institutions

Long range aircraft for tropospheric research

Upgrade of the EISCAT facility for ionospheric and space weather research

Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory

Infrastructure for the study of tectonics and Earth surface dynamics

Ocean observing buoy system

Climate change observation from commercial aircraft

Integrated carbon observation system

Infrastructure for research on the protection, management and sustainable use of biodiversity

Upgrade of the Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System

European Carbon Dioxide and Storage Laboratory infrastructure

The EUropean SOLAR research InfraStructure for Concentrating Solar Power

High power long pulse laser for fast ignition fusion

International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility

Multipurpose hYbrid Research Reactor for High-technology Applications

The EuropeanWindscanner Facility

Infrastructure for Analysis and Experimentation on Ecosystems

Bio-banking and biomolecular resources research infrastructure

European advanced translational research infrastructure in medicine

Pan-European infrastructure for clinical trials and biotherapy

Upgrade of the European Life-science infrastructure for biological information

European marine biological resource centre

Upgrade of the High Security Laboratories for the study of level 4 pathogens

European Infrastructure of Open Screening Platforms for chemical biology

Research infrastructure for imaging technologies in biological and biomedical sciences

European infrastructure for phenotyping and archiving of model mammalian genomes

Integrated Structural Biology Infrastructure

Infrastructure for Systems Biology – Europe

Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure

European Magnetic Field Laboratory

European Spallation Source

Complementary Free Electron Lasers in the Infrared to soft X-ray range

Cherenkov Telescope Array for Gamma-ray astronomy

European Extremely Large Telescope for optical astronomy

Extreme Light Intensity short pulse laser

Kilometre Cube Neutrino Telescope

Square Kilometre Array for radio-astronomy

Brief Description of the Field

The Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) contributeactively to, and are necessary instruments for, ourprofound understanding of the cultural, social,political and economic life in Europe, as well as forthe process of European cohesion and bringing aboutchanges. In practice these disciplines makesignificant contributions to important areas likestrengthening employment, modernising our socialwelfare and education system, and securingeconomic reform and social cohesion as part of theknowledge-based economy.

The SSH Thematic Working Group covers disciplinesof the social sciences and humanities concernedwithResearch Infrastructures at large. It monitors thedevelopment and implementation of the ESFRIroadmap projects; explores common needs of theroadmap projects; observes scientific dynamics inits disciplinary fields in order to detect emerging newroadmap projects; documents the establishment ofnational roadmaps in its fields. Finally, it addressesconceptual issues concerning whether theinstruments being developed by ESFRI are welladapted to SSH Infrastructures.

All five SSH initiatives have participated in the EC callon construction activities for the "implementationof common solutions for a cluster of ESFRIInfrastructures in the field of SSH", published in July2010. A common proposal for identifying andconstruc t ing a cluster based on commondevelopment needs has been submitted. To facilitatethis process, the SSH Thematic Working Group hasinvited representatives of the five Preparatory PhaseProjects to its June 2010 meeting. The ThematicWorking Group will monitor the dynamics of thiscollaborative endeavour, and is ready to giveadditional stimulus and continued support if desiredand useful.

research Infrastructureson the roadmap

Out of the five Research Infrastructures in the area ofSocial Sciences and Humanities the three dealingwithSocial Sciences are already in the implementationphase (CESSDA, European Social Survey and SHARE).The two remaining SSH Research Infrastructures onthe roadmap are also proceeding quite well on theirroute to implementation:

Humanities› CLARINThe Common Language Resources andTechnology Infrastructure› DARIAHThe Digital Research Infrastructure for theArts and Humanities

Social Sciences and HumanitiesPaRt 2 areas of the Roadmap

ê


What is missing –emerging fields

A detailed survey of current National Roadmaps(done by the SSH ThematicWorking Group) showedthat governments often include the ESFRI projectsin their roadmaps but that they are hesitant to con-sider other potentially eligible Research Infrastruc-tures. Hence appropriate ESFRI support would helpsuch Infrastructures to get additional profile.

Some indications on potential gaps:

• Social sciences: Longitudinal general populationsurveys like household panels or cohort studies, elec-toral surveys, regular surveys of organisations.

• Humanities: Cultural heritage preservation andconservation initiatives like CHARISMA.

In general, coordination with ERANET actions like theNORFACE (Migration in Europe – Social, Economic,Cultural and Policy Dynamics) or the HERA (Human-ities in the European Research Area) programmes andcontacts with activities of the ESF Standing Commit-tees for social sciences and for humanities should beintensified. Regular exchanges between the Chairsand/or invitations for joint meetings to discuss issuesof common interest might be considered.


Many of the Research Infrastructures in the SocialSciences and Humanities have strong internationallinks, for example SHARE and CLARIN.

The German and the UK Data Forums have taken thelead to formally establish exchanges between differ-ent social science initiatives in the realm of longitu-dinal studies like, for example, the Seventh Frame-work Programme Design Study "Generations andGender Programme" or the household surveys inEurope. The Thematic Working Group will monitorthis development and eventually invite representa-tives of the new forum to one of its next meetings. ■



› SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

cLArIN The Common Language Resourcesand Technology Infrastructure

The facility

CLARIN is a large-scale pan-European coordinatedinfrastructure effort to make language resources andtechnology available and useful to scholars of alldisciplines, in particular the humanities and socialsciences. It will overcome the present fragmentedsituation by harmonising structural and terminologicaldifferences, based on a Grid-type infrastructure andby using Semantic Web technology.

Background

The volume of written texts and spoken or audiovisualrecordings is enormous, and it is growing exponentially.The sheer size of this material makes the use ofcomputer-aided methods indispensable for manyscholars in the humanities and in neighbouring areaswho are concerned with language material.

After two and a half years of its existence as a project,CLARIN seems to bemaking good progress towards itsgoals. The shift from exploration to convergence and

consolidation has beenmade and the first prototypicalimplementations aimed at validating the first resultsare now in sight. This applies to technical, linguistic aswell as legal aspects of the infrastructure.

Steps for implementation

Even if the national roadmap processes in many of theCLARIN countries takemuch longer time than originallyanticipated, there appears to be support for CLARIN inan increasing number of countries, from both withinand outside the CLARIN consortium. At this momentthe consortium comprises 36 partners in 26 countries,with more countries preparing to join.

The invitation sent out by the Dutch Minister ofEducation, Science and Culture to move towards thecreation of an ERIC for CLARIN will no doubt have anaccelerating effect on the process. An application forthe creation of an ERIC for CLARIN is expected to besubmitted in 2011.

esfri26 Part 2 › roadmap › Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures

preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: The Netherlands

Number of participating countries: 26

TimeliNe

• Start of construction: 2008

• Start of operation: 2011

eSTimaTed CoSTS

• Construction: 104 M€

• Operations: 7.6 M€/year

• Decommissioning: not applicable

www.clarin.eu

CLARIN's ambition is to look at language in all its manifestations in all languages relevant for the European research community.

27esfriPart 2 › roadmap › Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures 27esfri

› SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

DArIAH The Digital Research Infrastructurefor the Arts and Humanities

The facility

DARIAH aims to conceptualise and build an infrastruc-ture in support of ICT-based research practices in thearts and humanities and to support researchers in thecreation and use of research data and tools. DARIAHconnects information users (researchers), informationmanagers and information providers, providing atechnical framework that enables enhanced datasharing among research communities.

Background

DARIAH begins with the observation that just as astro-nomers require a virtual observatory to study the starsin the galaxy, researchers in the arts and humanitiesneed a digital infrastructure to bring together andcollaboratively workwith dispersed scholarly resources(e.g. digital content, services, methodologies). DARIAHwill be such an infrastructure with a Europeandimension by promoting, supporting, and advancingthe use of digital content, tools and methods inresearch. The DARIAH infrastructure will connectpeople, information, tools and methodologies forinvestigating, exploring and supporting work acrossthe broad spectrum of the humanities.

The DARIAH network will be designed to be asdecentralised as possible, empowering individualcontributors (e.g. individual researchers; nationalcentres; specialised/thematic centres) to work with andwithin the DARIAH community and shape its featuresto their needs. Each contribution builds DARIAH, andall is linked together in DARIAH's architecture ofparticipation. At the same time, however, collaborationacross the borders of individual centres requires theusage of common technologies e.g. for authenticationor federation of archive contents. These considerationsalso have a place at the core of DARIAH.


DARIAH is currently in its Preparatory Phase, whichwilldesign the infrastructure and build a sound businessand governmental model. From 2011 DARIAH willbegin its Construction Phase. To start with, six partnerswill join the DARIAH ERIC as a Member for theConstruction Phase: Germany, France, The Netherlands,Ireland, Austria, and Denmark (in 2011). Potentially UKwill join as Observer in 2011. Other European and nonEuropean countries (e.g. Canada, Australia and Taiwan)have already expressed their interest in possibly joiningDARIAH in late 2011.

Part 2 › roadmap › Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures

preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe



eSTimaTed CoSTS




www.dariah.eu

Manuscript studies (Copyright: DARIAH).

Brief description of the field

The Environmental Sciences or Earth system researchcommunity is focused on the knowledge needed forthe promotion of sustainable management of thenatural and human environment and its resources.Current emphasis is on the prediction of climate,ecological, earth, atmosphere and ocean systemschanges and on tools and technologies for monito-ring, prevention and mitigation of environmentalrisks and pressures.

Environmental issues will dominate the 21st centuryand access to natural resources is likely to causeconflicts. International collaboration is essential forall the environmental Research Infrastructures giventhe fact that problems have a trans-boundary,regional or global dimension. Europe-wide coope-ration is further motivated by the fact that criticalmass is needed given the scale, scope and high levelof complexity of environmental research.

Europe is particularly well-placed to make world-leading advances in addressing key environmentalissues because of the strength of its scientificcapability as well as a focus on particular geographicalregions and ecosystems. Most environmental ESFRIprojects have either a global dimension or thepotential to assume a leading role in internationalenvironmental collaborations.

European Environmental Research Infrastructures arefundamental for world-leading environmentalresearch, education and training by clustering andnetworking of existing and new facilities at Europeanor global level. They are the flagships for the Europe2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusivegrowth as well as answers to the Grand Challenges.The competitive and open access to high qualityResearch Infrastructures supports and benchmarksthe quality of the activities of European scientists,and attracts the best researchers from aroundthe world.

Distributed, long-term remote controlled obser-vational networks applying state of the art techno-logies are of key importance to increase our under-standing of processes to develop new predictivepower in solid Earth systems and ecosystems,biodiversity, hydrology, climate change, etc. Environ-mentally controlled rooms, research vessels anddrilling capabilities, satellite Earth observationsystems, airborne and sea-floor sensors, all needadvanced technology and communication capacities,linked to computing power and data managementresources.

Environmental sciences therefore need a wide rangeof Research Infrastructures that involve complexsystems and human interaction. Measurements andmonitoring are required from fixed and mobileplatforms and range across physics, chemistry,biology and geosciences. They are required for theterrestrial, marine, freshwater, atmospheric andcryospheric environments. Sophisticated large-scaleanalytical and informatics facilities from physical andbiological sciences are likely to be used with increa-sing intensity by environmental scientists.

The environmental sector draws on a particularlywide range of science disciplines (ranging frommathematics, to ecology and engineering) andinteracts with an equally wide range of users (fromenergy to overseas aid to conservation). The ENVThematicWorking Group has recognised the impor-tance of a better dialogue with our scientific and usercommunities to understand the requirements ofResearch Infrastructures and the opportunities forcollaboration and synergies.

E-infrastructures play an ever increasing role in theenvironmental sciences since environmental timeseries data can never be recovered, thus securearchiving is important. Simulations using high perfor-mance computers are increasingly providing a largefraction of data. There is a strong need to developstandards and software for interoperability and accessfor scientific and socio economic purposes.

research Infrastructures onthe roadmap

Based on the update information requested fromthe coordinators of the Preparatory Phase ResearchInfrastructure projects, the ENV Thematic WorkingGroup concluded that more or less all projects havemade satisfactory progress. However none of themhas yet secured long-term commitments by partnercountries. These projects are:

› COPALHeavy Payload Long enduranceTropospheric Aircraft› EISCAT_3DThe next generation European incoherentscatter radar system› EMSOEuropean MultidisciplinarySeafloor Observatory› EPOSEuropean Plate Observing System

Environmental SciencesPaRt 2 Roadmap

ê


› EURO-ARGOResearch Infrastructure for ocean scienceand observations› IAGOS-ERIIn-service Aircraft for a Global Observingsystem› ICOSIntegrated Carbon Observation System› LIFEWATCHScience and technology infrastructure forbiodiversity data and observatories› SIOSSvalbard Integrated Arctic EarthObserving System

The ENV Research Infrastructures on the ESFRIRoadmap are in some cases in between ‘site specific’and ‘distributed’. For example, COPAL is a mobile ‘sitespecific’multipurpose platform,while EISCAT_3D andSIOS are essentially site specific Arctic ResearchInfrastructures though based at more than one site.Others, such as LifeWatch and EURO-ARGO, are fullydistributed, mostly building on existing facilities andnetworks. The selection of Headquarters andDistributed Nodes requires the same rigorous processas for site specific Research Infrastructures.

ESFRI has recognised that the level of funding requiredfor the realisation of ERICON AB will be highlyunlikely during the next few years, and therefore tookthe decision to remove this project from the Roadmap.This decisionwas also in part triggered by the outcomeof an evaluation which has been performed by theGerman Science Council as Germany was the mainfunding provider. Nevertheless, the Preparatory Phasewill continue to allow the Consortium to elaborate aproposal with a somewhat less ambitious goal.


The ENV Thematic Working Group considered thatobservational, experimental, analytical andmodellingfacilities in ecosystem science, in mainland Europe andin the Arctic, and the water/hydrological cycle areimportant parts of the landscape of the environmentalResearch Infrastructures. Of these, the existing ResearchInfrastructure initiatives on water/hydrological cycleare still in the emerging stages of development.

There are potential emerging projects in a broad areaof geosciences related for example to water cycle orin marine research, such as aquaculture or researchvessels. ENV TWG welcomes the first steps taken bythe European Geosciences Union on ResearchInfrastructure policy.

New potential may arise in the area of waste mana-gement and eco- industrial processes.

A very important part of the environmental ResearchInfrastructures is the knowledge-based resources suchas scientific collections of various kinds (biological,geological, including soils, ice cores, fossils, animals,plants etc.). The LIFEWATCH initiative is a step in thisdirection and includes several scientific collections(museums) for biodiversity research. However, thereis no over-arching coordination of collections in allareas presented to ESFRI so far. In its GSF ‘ProgressReport on Activity on Policy Issues Related to ScientificResearch Collections’the OECD dealts with the globaldimension of this issue now. At a European level, anintegrating body for scientific collections is alsoneeded and the collections treated as a ResearchInfrastructure. In this area a close cooperation withthe SSH ThematicWorking Group is advisable. Basicdata from the natural environment are gathered frommonitoring and observation networks, and from

experimentation and modelling. Interoperabilitybetween disciplines emphasizes the need for welldesigned andmanaged database systems, knowledgecentres, shared expertise, services, dedicated trainingand communication, and e-infrastructure inenvironmental research. Data service and storageneeds are increasing with resolution, modelcomplexity and simulation length reaching soon the100 TB range. Software development and serviceshave not kept pace with the development of hard-ware, and the challenges are increasing with theemergence of networking and new synergiesassociated with the new Research Infrastructures.Theimportance of training users should be emphasised.

New facilities will be needed in the near future in thefollowing areas: Environmental engineering andtechnology, water cycle, scientific collections, airpollution and aerosols, e-Infrastructure.


Because of the global scale and complexity ofenvironmental research, and due to high costs ofenvironmental Research Infrastructures, internationalcollaboration is essential. The number of new usersof ENV Research Infrastructures in and outside Europeis expected to grow in future years. Natural partnersof pan-European Research Infrastructures are globalresearch and monitoring programmes launched byinternational organisations. Some Research Infra-structures, in particular SIOS, EISCAT_3D and EPOShave participating organisations from outside Europe.Others, such as ICOS, EURO-ARGO and Lifewatch haveactivities with international research programmes.Currently discussions are on-going with NSF(National Science Foundation) and NOAA (NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to establishcloser cooperation between ESFRI and theseorganisations. ■


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› ENvIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

coPAL Heavy Payload Long enduranceTropospheric Aircraft

The facility

COPAL aims at providing the European scientificcommunity in the field of environmental and Geo-sciences, with a unique research aircraft platform,capable of reaching and operating in any remote areain theworld. It will offer an unprecedented opportunityto countries that are not yet operating research aircraftto develop expertise in airborne measurementsand participate to international multidisciplinaryexperiments.

With a payload of 10 tons or more and an endurance of10 hours, a heavy-payload, long endurance (HPLE)aircraft will more than double the capabilities offered toEuropean scientists. 15 to 20 research laboratories willcontribute to the multidisciplinary instrumental setup.

Background

COPAL (ex EUFAR) is supported by the Europeanconsortium of research aircraft operators and usersunder the umbrella of the EUFAR (European Fleet forAirborne Research) Integrating Activity. Nationalmanagement of research aircraft in Europe has resultedin a diverse fleet of small to large size aircraft. Todaymore than 30 instrumented aircraft are available forresearch, with a sampling speed from 30 to 200 m/s,a payload from 80 to 4500 kg, and a ceiling from theboundary layer up to 21 km. All aircraft of the Europeanfleet however are limited to a practical endurance of5 hours. This situation has so far precluded Europeanscientists from performing research over oceanic, polarand remote continental areas, which are especiallycrucial for climate studies. COPAL will fill this gap inthe European research aircraft fleet by providing aresearch aircraft platform capable of reaching andoperating in any remote area in the world and offeringa heavy-payload for integration of a wide range ofinstruments for research in environmental and geo-sciences. The design and implementation of the COPALresearch aircraft will be done in cooperation with theoperator of community research aircraft in the USA,and with the other Preparatory Phase studies,especially those with points of similarity with COPAL,such as the research vessels.


The Preparatory Phase of COPAL started in November2007 and is supported by the European Commissionwith 1.0 M€ funding. The consortium today consistsof 13 partners (including one funding organisation).France has offered to host the headquarters of COPALandmanyMember States have expressed their interestin this Research Infrastructure.

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With the permission of Lockheed Martin


preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: France


TimeliNe

• Preparatory phase: 2007-2011

• Start of construction:

not yet defined

• Start of operations: not yet defined

eSTimaTed CoSTS

• Preparation: 1 M€

• Construction: 50 to 60 M€

• Operations: 3 M€/year


www.eufar.net/copal

31esfri 31esfri



preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: Sweden


TimeliNe


• Construction phase: (2012) 2014-

2016

• Operation phase: 2016-2046

eSTimaTed CoSTS


• Construction: 60 M€ (up to 250 M€)

• Operations: 4-10 M€/year

• Decommissioning: 10-15% of

construction costs

www.eiscat.se

eIScAt_3D The next generation Europeanincoherent scatter radar system

The facility

EISCAT_3Dwill be a three-dimensional imaging radarfor atmospheric and geo-space research, which consti-tutes an upgrade to EISCAT, an existing internationalinfrastructure based in Europe and devoted to thestudy of the upper atmosphere, ionosphere andgeospace. This new large-scale European ResearchInfrastructure will have applications in a wide rangeof European research areas including Earth environ-mentmonitoring and technology solutions supportingsustainable development, well beyond atmosphericand space sciences.

Background

EISCAT_3D represents a new concept in research radarsfor the upper atmosphere, based on multi-staticphased arrays with state-of-the-art digital signalprocessing, which are intended to replace EISCAT’sexisting radars in northern Scandinavia. The newdesign will greatly extend EISCAT’s data coverage andprovide unique volumetric and small-scale imagingcapabilities. It will also allow major improvements intemporal and spatial resolution, as well as producingnew data products.

EISCAT_3D will contribute to Environmental sciencesthrough studies of space weather and global change,as well as addressing atmospheric science and plasmaphysics. In addition to the EU-funded PreparatoryPhase, a technology prototyping project has received1M€ funding from regional development funds, to

build a multi-beam test receiver at Kilpisjärvi inNorthern Finland. The test station will use hardwareconcepts developed by the radio astronomy facilityLOFAR. If successful, LOFAR hardware might providethe basis for the EISCAT_3D receiver sites.


This upgrade was prepared by a Design Study fundedunder the 6th Framework Programme (2005-2009).The Preparatory Phasewill clarify the remaining designissues, and explore the logistical, organisational andfinancial questions which need to be resolved beforeconstruction can begin. The consortium consists of 8partner institutions (including 1 with official mandatefrom funding organisation) from 5 countries. Threeadditional countries are participating in researchactivities. Several countries outside Europe have alsoexpressed interest. EISCAT_3D is a developmentproject of the EISCAT Scientific Association, whoseheadquarters are located in Kiruna, Sweden.

The current EISCAT host countries (Sweden, Norwayand Finland) should play a key role in EISCAT_3D, andit is expected that the other EISCAT members (UK,Germany, China and Japan) will participate at somelevel. Japan has invested strongly in NorthernScandinavia, financing one of EISCAT’s two radar disheson Svalbard, and has organized a national groupdiscussing possible future participation in EISCAT_3D.There are also indications of interest by third countries,who are currently not members of EISCAT, such asRussia and US.

32 esfri


eMSo European Multidisciplinary SeafloorObservatory

The facility

EMSO is the EuropeanMultidisciplinary Seafloor Obser-vatory, a Research Infrastructure for long term perma-nent monitoring of the ocean margin environmentaround Europe. It is considered critical by the EuropeanScience Foundation marine board. EMSO is an essen-tial tool for deep sea research including geosciencesand geo-hazards, physical oceanography, biology andnon-living resources.

Background

Cabled sea-floor observatories are needed to collectsimultaneously long time series of data identifyingtemporal evolutions, cyclic changes and capturingepisodic events related to oceanic circulation, deep-sea processes and ecosystems evolution. In addition,long-term monitoring will allow the capture ofepisodic events such as earthquakes, submarine slides,tsunamis, benthic storms, bio-diversity changes,pollution and other events that cannot be detectedand monitored by conventional oceanographic sea-going campaigns.

A final detailed plan of involving the e-tools in EMSOis also needed. The plan should clearly state allconnections with e-infrastructures for data gathering,processing, storage and transfer. A very goodconnection with other European projects has beendeveloped by the EMSO Consortium, including not onlyprojects from the field of environmental sciences butalso with other domains (e.g. Km3NeT). Stronger linksshould nevertheless be forged with the ResearchInfrastructure Euro-Argo. EMSO has strong potentialfor international collaboration outside Europe.


The Preparatory Phase of EMSO started in April 2008and is supported by the European Union with 3.9 M€.The consortium consists of 12 partners (including8 with official mandate from ministries and fundingorganisations) from 12 countries.

Even though firmly on theway towards implementation,there are still several steps EMSO should take towardsfull operability. Thus, efforts should be taken towardsachieving the ERIC status for its consortium EMSO willpropose an ERIC in 2011. There is no leading country forConstruction Phase yet.

esfri32

Map of EMSO observatories.


preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: Italy


TimeliNe



eSTimaTed CoSTS (for eight sites)


• Construction: ca. 160 M€


• Decommissioning: to be estimated

www.emso-eu.org

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ePoS European Plate Observing System

The facility

EPOS will create a single sustainable, permanentobservational infrastructure, integrating existinggeophysical monitoring networks (e.g. seismic andgeodetic networks), local observatories (e.g. volcanoobservatories) and experimental laboratories (e.g.,experimental and analytic lab for rock physics andtectonic analogue modeling) in Europe and adjacentregions. It will coordinate the currently scattered, buthighly advanced, European facilities into onedistributed, coherent multidisciplinary ResearchInfrastructure.

Background

A tectonic plate is a single dynamic system requiringa unique integrated multidisciplinary and long-termsustainable observing system. Presently, differentEuropean countries own a mosaic of hundreds ofimpressive, but separated networks, observatories,temporary deployments and facilities for solid earthstudies. Combining a wide variety of data andmodelling tools are prerequisites to innovative researchand for better understanding of the physical processescontrolling earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and othercatastrophic events, such as landslides and tsunamis.Europe’s most active areas are also those wherepopulation density is high. Even moderate-sizeearthquakes may turn catastrophic when they strikelarge urban agglomerations with poor buildingconstruction practice. Advances in understanding ofthe behaviour of faults or volcanoes as well asquantifying hazards largely rely on strategic invest-ments in Research Infrastructure in this field. EPOS isalready actively networking the existing Europeanfacilities on seismological and geodetic monitoring aswell as solid Earth observations. It will promoteinnovative approaches for a better understanding ofthe physical processes controlling earthquakes,volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, as well as thosedriving tectonics and Earth surface dynamics.


The EPOS Preparatory Phase started in November 2010with 4.5 M€ of EU funding. The consortium todayconsists of 20 partners (including the non-govern-mental organisation ORFEUS) and 6 associatedorganisations from 23 countries. The site to host theEPOS Headquarter will be decided during the PP. Thefirst step for implementation will integrate existingnational Research Infrastructures through the EPOSData Centres, a network of community serviceproviders for distributed data storage and processing.For seismology in particular, ORFEUS already integratesseismic monitoring infrastructures and has developeda first ICT infrastructure for data archiving andmining.In a second step, innovative and coherent e-infra-structure architecture will be developed, which willform the platform and data service infrastructure (notcommunity specific). By means of the EPOS CoreServices, it will provide interdisciplinary data andmetadata exchange, processing tools and compu-tational simulations.


preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: Italy


TimeliNe


• Construction phase: 2015-2020

• Operation phase: 2020-2040+

eSTimaTed CoSTS





www.epos-eu.org

34 esfri


euro-Argo Global Ocean ObservingInfrastructure

The facility

Argo is a global ocean observing systemwith the pri-mary goal to maintain the 3000 floats array over thenext 10 to 20 years. This is extremely challenging andsuccess in such a major undertaking can be achievedonly through a very high degree of international coop-eration and integration. Euro-Argo will develop andprogressively consolidate the European component ofthe global network. Specific European interests alsorequire increased sampling in some regional seas.Overall, the Euro-Argo infrastructure should comprise800 floats in operation at any given time. The main-tenance of such an array would require Europe todeploy about 250 floats per year. Euro-Argo must beconsidered in its entirety: not only the instruments,but also the logistics necessary for their preparationand deployment, field operations, the associated datastreams and data centres

Background

Argo is endorsed by the Climate Research Programmeof the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), theGlobal Ocean Observing System (GOOS), and theIntergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).In November 2007, the international Argo programmereached its initial target of 3,000 profiling floats. Thesefloats measure every 10 days temperature and salinitythroughout the deep global oceans, down to 2,000metres. Argo is now the major, and only systematic,source of information and data over the ocean’s interior.Argo is widely recognized as a revolutionary achieve-

ment in ocean observation. The Argo array is anindispensable component of the Global Ocean ObservingSystem required to understand andmonitor the role ofthe ocean in the Earth’s climate system. Satelliteobservations constitute a useful complement to theArgo observations. The Argo data are readily assimilatedwith those from satellites into ocean circulation andclimate models, in support of research and operationalapplications. Argo is the single most important in-situdata set used today for the Global Monitoring forEnvironment and Security (GMES) Marine Core Service.


The Preparatory Phase of Euro-Argo started in January2008 and is supported by the European Union with3.0 M€. Eight European countries have indicated theirinterest in the Construction Phase, while 3 - 4 countrieswill likely have observer status. The consortium willsubmit an application for the ERIC in 2011. The imple-mentation will be done in two phases: For phase1 (2011-2013) funding by the Member States only isforeseen, for phase 2 (2014-2020) funding by theMember States and the European Commission (GMES)is envisaged. The Euro-Argo structure will include acentral facility and distributed national facilities. Thecentral facility will have a European legal structure(ERIC) to receive EC and national (member states)funding, to procure floats (includes logistics and testfacilities) and to provide funding to the internationalstructure. The governancemodel for the structure hasbeen defined and its main characteristics have beenagreed by all partners.


preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe



eSTimaTed CoSTS


• Construction: not applicable



www.euro-argo.eu

Euro-Argo is the European contribution of the Argo array of profiling floats. These are essential observations for ocean and climate research and prediction.

35esfri 35esfri


IAgoS In service aircraft for a globalobserving system

The facility

IAGOSwill be established and operated as a distributedinfrastructure for long term observations of atmos-pheric composition, aerosol and cloud particles on aglobal scale from a fleet of initially 10-20 long rangein-service aircraft of internationally operating airlines.It will likely become a key component of a GMESservice on air quality.

Background

IAGOS is an efficient and cost-effective approach tomonitor the long-term variations of the atmosphericchemistry on the large scale, includingmany chemicalspecies and aerosols. Data obtained by means ofroutine aircraft measurements have been widely usedat the international level and notably within theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)process. Under full European leadership, IAGOS isimportant for long-term observations, given thescientific objectives of global climate change research.The first IAGOS aircraf t was equipped in 2009(deliverable of the Design Study IAGOS-ERI), while theCARIBIC aircraft is part of IAGOS since the start ofPreparatory Phase. Three MOZAIC aircraft will bebrought back to operation in 2010 as part of IAGOS.


The Preparatory Phase of IAGOS started in September2008 and is supported by the European Union with3.3 M€. The consortium consists of 16 partners(including 2 ministries and funding organisations,2 airlines and 2 industrial partners andmanufacturersof instrumentation) and one associated organisation.The EU-funded Design Study of IAGOS-ERI was runningfrom April 2004 until January 2010.

At present the preparation and decision of an appro-priate legal structure for IAGOS as distributed infra-structure, as well as a sustainable funding scheme; theintegration of new partners (research institutions andairlines); the preparation of the operational basis(certification and maintenance) and new technicaldevelopments is discussed. Germany is currentlynegotiating to host the headquarters of IAGOS andmany Member States have expressed their interest inthe facility. The legal structure (InternationalAssociation or ERIC) is under discussion betweenpartners.


preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: Germany


TimeliNe

• Preparation phase: 2008-2011



eSTimaTed CoSTS

• Preparation: 5-7 M€



• Decommissioning: 0.5 M€

www.iagos.org

IAGOS will monitor the atmospheric composition at the global scale based on autonomous instrumentation installed on a fleet of long-range passengeraircraft (Copyright: IAGOS).


IcoS Integrated carbon observation system

The facility

ICOS will provide across Europe and adjacent regionsa distributed infrastructure for standardised long-termhigh precisionmonitoring of atmospheric and oceanicgreenhouse gas concentrations, ecosystem fluxes andessential carbon cycling variables. These measure-ments will allow daily determination of sources andsinks at scales down to about 100 km2, and will be abasis for understanding the carbon exchange processesbetween the atmosphere, the terrestrial surface andthe ocean.

Background

ICOS has a high scientific and societal pan-Europeanand global relevance in the field of long termmonitoringand research of greenhouse gases, their fluxes betweenatmosphere and continental biosphere and storage inthe ecosystem. This distributed Research Infrastructureis both research and operational oriented (in the frameof GMES) and will enable EuropeanMember States andthe EC to better respond to the obligations of the UnitedNations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC). ICOS is the continuation of an ongoingpreliminary project (through the Integrated ProjectCarboEurope) that demonstrates its feasibility and thematurity of the scientific and technical concepts. Tosecure the continuation of these observations a longterm perspective should be guaranteed through the setup of an institutional concept (Research Infrastructure).


The Preparatory Phase of ICOS started in October 2008and is supported by the European Union with 5.0 M€.The consortium consists of 18 partners (includingministries and funding organisations) from 13 countries.ICOS will soonmove to its construction phase. Finlandand France offered to host the headquarters of ICOS,and have submitted a joint application for theAtmospheric Thematic Centre. Italy, Belgium andFrance have submitted a joint application for theEcosystem Thematic Centre.


preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe



•operation phase: 2013 onwards

eSTimaTed CoSTS





www.icos-infrastructure.eu

ICOS will provide in situ observations of greenhouse gases, dataprocessing and user-friendly access to data products for validationof remote sensing products, scientific c assessments, modellingand data assimilation.

37esfri


LIFeWAtcH Science and Technology Infrastruc-ture for Research on Biodiversity and Ecosystems

The facility

LIFEWATCH is an e-science and technology infra-structure for biodiversity and ecosystem research tosupport the scientific community and other users. It isputting in place the infrastructure and informationsystems necessary to provide an analytical platformfor the modelling and simulation of both existing andnew data on biodiversity to enhance the knowledgeof biodiversity functioning and management.

Background

While we are exploring other planets, it is surprisinghow little we still know about our own planet Earth.This is especially true for our understanding of theliving world, the biological diversity of species, theirgenes and the ecosystems in which they occur. Wealso need novel approaches to understand andsustainably manage our environment so that humanactivities and the natural environment are balanced.EU projects and the Global Biodiversity InformationFacility have made much progress in providing accessto interoperable biodiversity databases, but dataintegration and large-scale analytical and modellingfacilities have to provide the research community witha new methodological approach to understand thebiodiversity system. The LifeWatch Research Infra-structure will contribute as a European component to

the Global Earth Observation System of Systems(GEOSS) 10-year implementation plan, particularly inrelation to enabling global, multi-system capabilitiesfor research, ecosystemmanagement and biodiversityconservation; and improving the coverage, quality, andavailability of essential information from a variety ofdata resources, including in situ observatories and theintegration of in situ and satellite data.


The Preparatory Phase of LifeWatch started in February2008 and is supported by the EuropeanUnionwith 5.0M€.Presently eight countries signed a Memorandum ofIntent. These countries did enter the final negotiationstowards submitting the ERIC Statutes for approval, andwill establish a start-up organisation as a transition tothe construction phase. Three countries (Italy, theNetherlands and Spain) offered to take lead withadvance funding to allow for continuity. The transitionactivities include efforts with respect to detailedfinancial rules, the process of recruitment of seniorexecutives, processing of the first year constructionlogistics, and orchestrating the distributed constructionwork. These three countries will host the commonfacilities of the infrastructure. Thus, Spain will host theStatutory Seat and ICT core facility, The Netherlandswill host the LifeWatch IT Research and InnovationCentre, and Italy will host the Service Centre.


preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe



• Operation phase: 2012 (first release),

2016 (full operation)

eSTimaTed CoSTS





www.lifewatch.eu

(Copyright: Phernambucq)

38 esfri


SIoS The Svalbard Integrated Arctic EarthObserving System

The facility

The goal of SIOS is to establish an observationalResearch Infrastructure for the Arctic Earth System,integrating studies of geophysical, chemical andbiological processes from the research andmonitoringplatforms. It corresponds to a need concerning climatechange monitoring. The Research Infrastructure ismainly European with a strong international compo-nent, with the presence of a large number of researchinstitutes from all over the world (EU Member Statesand associated states, and other countries such asRussia, China, Japan, Korea, USA and India). It is of usefor a very broad and interdisciplinary user communityand offers opportunities for education and training ofyoung scientists - also in a broad international context.It has a high level of maturity regarding all aspects(technical concept, timetable, availability of trainedpersonal, budget).

Background

Svalbard’s geographical location and extensiveResearch Infrastructure provides excellent opportuni-ties for studies of ecosystem changes and its effectson the food chain, oceanic and atmospheric transportpatterns which prevail in the Arctic region, integratingobservations and analysis of the changing Arctic icecover, unique studies of the energy balance betweenlayers of the atmosphere, from the borders of space tothe surface of Earth and for dense satellite monitoring.The impact of climate change, pollution and otherpressures on the environment appear sooner andwithmore severe consequences in the High Arctic comparedto regions at lower latitudes. The High Arctic cantherefore be seen as an early warning region.


The Preparatory Phase of SIOS started in October 2010and is supported by the European Union with 4.0 M€.Norway has offered to host the headquarters of SIOS.SIOS has already a strong international character. Thereare 14 countries having activities on Svalbard that arealso partners in SIOS: Germany, Poland, Italy, UK,Russia, Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands, China,France, The Republic of Korea, Sweden and Japan.


preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: Norway


TimeliNe

• Start of preparatory phase: 2010



eSTimaTed CoSTS





www.unis.no/SIOS

www.forskningsradet.no/sios

(Copyright: Nils Petter Dale)

EnergyPaRt 2 Roadmap

ê


The availability of economically competitive,environmentally friendly and sustainable energyresources within the framework of a politically securesupply is a key for European development. A strongresearch effort is needed to cope with the Europeanambitions for the reduction of greenhouse gasemissions by 20%, to ensure 20% of renewableenergy sources in the European energy mix and toreduce European primary energy use by 20%by 2020.Even more effort is necessary to meet the ambitious2050 objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissionsby 60-80%. This will only be possible with majorbreakthroughs enabling technological innovation.

Energy as a scientific discipline differs from thetraditional ones, such as nuclear physics, astronomyor medicine, being more a kind of platform wheredifferent scientific fields meet each other to providesolutions to the energy problems and challenges.

Energy is thus a highly multi- and interdisciplinaryfield which cannot be viewed from one perspectiveonly. In energy R&D, the integration of knowledgefrom different disciplines is not only important, butessential when striving for innovative technologysolutions.

Several European initiatives already strongly contri-bute to the strategic definition and to operationalprogrammes:

• The European Strategic EnergyTechnology Plan(SET-Plan) was adopted by the Commission on22 November 2007 as an integral part of theEnergy and Climate Change policy package. Itconstitutes a global framework to fosterinnovation by a closer cooperation betweenresearch organisations and European Industry.The ESFRI decision of creating the EnergyThematicWorking Group results in part from aSET-Plan request.

• The European Energy Research Alliance (EERA)aims to accelerate development of new energytechnologies by harmonizing the national andEuropean Commission programmes anddecreasing fragmentation. Fourteen Europeanresearch centres form the leading core of thisinstitution, to which several other laboratories areassociated. Several common programs are underimplementation and they constitute the firstoperational examples of EU Joint Programming.

• The various EU “energy platforms” and JointTechnology Initiatives actively contribute to thedefinition of the European strategy.

research Infrastructures onthe roadmap

For the Energy area the ESFRI roadmap 2008 includesfour Research Infrastructures, one of them is alreadyimplemented, while three are still working towardsimplementation. These are:

› ECCSELEuropean Carbon Dioxide ND StorageLaboratory Infrastructure› HIPERHigh power long pulse laser for fastignition fusion› IFMIFInternational Fusion MaterialsIrradiation Facility

In addition to the Research Infrastructures already onthe roadmap, the Energy ThematicWorking Grouprecommends including three new proposals in theESFRI roadmap. These Research Infrastructures willstrongly contribute to reinforce the European ResearchArea and optimise the European R&D efforts in thedomain.Together with the existing facilities, theywillconstitute a unique set of tools which will be largelyused by scientists and engineers, in particular thoseof the European Energy Research Alliance partners.

The important changes in the energy domain, whichwill take place in the next few years, need to beanticipated and studied by social scientists. Scientistsand engineers can conceive and realize new schemes,new technological opportunities, but any innovationto be viable needs to be accepted by the citizens. It istherefore essential that the social consequences ofthese behaviour changes are taken into account fromthe very beginning and dedicated funds have to beallocated for this purpose.

The new proposals are the following:

› EU-SOLARISThe EUropean SOLAR Research Infrastructurefor Concentrating Solar Power› WindscannerThe European Wind Scanner Facility› MYRRHAMultipurpose hYbrid Research Reactor forHigh-technology Applications


With the current update of the ESFRI roadmap, somedecisive steps have been taken to close themost urgentgaps. The EnergyThematicWorking group consideredhowever, that there are still a number of emergingprojects to be further developed as well as new fieldsnot yet sufficiently covered by Research Infrastructures.The current rapid development, triggered by the SET-Plan and the support of demonstration sites via theEuropean Recovery package and the NER-300 NewEntrants’Reserve 30011will lead to increased researchand development and corresponding ResearchInfrastructure needs.

11 DIRECTIVE 2009/29/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THECOUNCIL; a financing instrument managed jointly by the EuropeanCommission, European Investment Bank andMember States, to set aside300 million allowances in the New Entrants’ Reserve of the EuropeanEmissions Trading Scheme for subsidising installations of innovativerenewable energy technology and carbon capture and storage (CCS).


These needs include testing facilities mainly forindustrial users, owned and operated by privatecompanies; in addition there is substantial need forpublicly owned Research Infrastructures to meet thestill existing needs in basic science and pre-commercial research and as independent referencefacilities. Research Infrastructures will play anincreasing role in the development of commonstandards and quality criteria.

Substantial additional need for new Research Infra-structures or increased networking and opening ofexisting Research Infrastructures has been identifiedfor several areas. In bio-energy research, these areResearch Infrastructures in the fields of thermo-chemical conversion aswell as biochemical conversionand bio-refineries, 3rd generation of biofuels and abetter access to existing data. As for electricity net-works, the current Research Infrastructures need to besignificantly upgraded and better networked. Signi-ficant related Research Infrastructure need has furtherbeen identified for the large field of energy storage.For hydrogen and fuel cells research, the stock ofexisting Research Infrastructures needs to be jointlydeveloped and opened to researchers. For research inphotovoltaic energy upgrading and a better coor-dination of existing facilities are needed to serveresearchers in the various PV technology paths. As formarine energy technologies, in parallel to the currentimplementationmajor future Research Infrastructureneeds arise. In the field of nuclear fission, the need forfurther experimental reactors in addition toMYRRHAhas been identified.

The need for additional Research Infrastructures hasbeen identified for the topics energy efficiency, SmartCities and sustainable transport.

Finally, as alreadymentioned, to address energy useraspects and the implementation of new energytechnologies, Research Infrastructures in SocialSciences will play an increasingly important role andtheir use for these purposes needs to be encouraged.

The Research Infrastructures dealt with in this Energyupdate, as well as this paragraph on future needs, arerestricted to facilities that have the characteristics ofproviding open access, i.e. Research Infrastructuresmainly aiming at supporting scientific research andbeing subject to independent evaluation. Additionally,there it needs development of more demonstratorsto show the viability of the respective technologies.The use of these Demonstrators for accompanyingresearch is another important field that needs to befurther explored.


The energy issue is a global one and internationalcooperation has a long-standing tradition in energypolicy as well as in energy research. The first inter-national organisation in the energy domain was theInternational Energy Agency (IEA). It was foundedduring the oil crisis of 1973-74 as an intergovern-mental organisation within the OECD and acts asenergy policy advisor to 28member countries in theireffort to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energyfor their citizens.

The IEA runs more than 40 multilateral TechnologyInitiatives (also known as Implementing Agreements)as the longest existing framework for internationalresearch collaboration in energy. Most of the Euro-pean research institutions and Research Infrastruc-ture operators, including those involved in theResearch Infrastructure programme, are participatingin these programs, delegated and supported by EUMember States.

Through its Implementing Agreements, the IEAenables member and non-member countries,businesses, industries, international organisations andnon-governmental organisations to share researchon breakthrough technologies, to fill existing researchgaps, to build pilot plants and to carry out deploymentor demonstration programmes. In short, their workcan comprise any technology-related activity thatsupports energy security, economic growth, environ-mental protection and engagement worldwide.Research Infrastructures have always played a key rolein these efforts.

More recently, in 2009, the EU and the US have set upa joint energy council atministerial and commissionerlevel to streamline policy initiatives relating to greentechnologies, research and energy security on bothsides of the Atlantic. This EU-US Energy Council is aformal framework for deepening the transatlanticdialogue on strategic energy issues ofmutual interest.It is also the platform for cooperation on energypolicies and research collaboration on sustainable andclean energy technologies. The European SET-Planmakes provision for intensified internationalcooperation, in order to promote the development,marketing, deployment and accessibility of lowcarbon technologies worldwide. ■


42 esfri

› ENERGY

eccSeL European Carbon Dioxide Captureand Storage Laboratory Infrastructure

The facility

The ECCSEL facility combines three approaches to cap-ture (pre and post combustion and O

2/CO

2–oxy-fuel-

recycle combustion capture) and three approaches tocarbon storage (aquifers, depleted oil/gas fields, coalbed methane). The project includes the upgrading ofexisting national infrastructures to European level. Theupgraded facility is composed of distributed parts indifferent countries and a coordination centre in Norway.

Background

Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) is identifiedas a key technology for reducing emissions from fossilenergy use in the future. The demand for it is globallylarge, in particular in emerging economies. Europelacks presently a large Research Infrastructure in thisfield. There is a very strong need for activities in CCSand this topic is highly relevant for the SET-Plan andthe current demonstration projects. The coreconsortium of the upgraded facility consists of 10European partners, but the network behind CCS ismuch broader. The ECCSEL infrastructure will beunique world-wide in its comprehensiveness forresearch in CCS and will be open to researchersthrough a joint management structure. It builds up ondevelopments of the partners' specialised labs takingplace in national and EU programmes. It will enablemore advanced levels of research in post combustionabsorption (needed to address the more near term

options), new materials and processes (needed toreduce the cost and reliability of next generation CCSprocesses), combustion facilities (to enable oxy-fuelCCS processes and efficient hydrogen combustion)and storage facilities (needed for improving theknowledge of storage in aquifers and to developqualification methods and mitigation strategies).These are all highly relevant to reduce the costs of CCS,improve the reliability of the various concepts and inparticular to improve the knowledge of CO

2storage

and to develop qualification methods and mitigationstrategies.

By facilitating international research and development,ECCSEL will contribute substantially to the implemen-tation and further development of CCS technologiesvia the SET-Plan Industrial Initiative on CCS and willhelp to realise the targets to achieve CO

2reduction costs

of less than 20€/ton, reduce efficiency loss to less than6% and to help develop and implement competitiveand sustainable CCS technologies.


The core hub of ECCSEL will be in Norway with partnerinstitutions in Germany, the Netherlands, France,Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, UK and Greece. ThePreparatory Phase starts in January 2011. Constructioncosts for the major upgrade of the participatingfacilities amount to around 80M€, operation costs willbe around 6 M€/year.


preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: Norway


TimeliNe

The facility will be in operation

in 2015

eSTimaTed CoSTS




• Decommissioning: 2 M€

www.eccsel.org

43esfri 43esfri

› ENERGY

eu-SoLArIS European Solar ResearchInfrastructure for Concentrating Solar Power

The facility

EU-SOLARIS is a networking approach from out-standing solar research centres in five Europeancountries to support the scientific and technologicaldevelopment of Concentrating Solar Power Systems.The core activities will be carried out in the CentroTecnológico Avanzado de Energías Renovables(CTAER)/ Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA) installa-tions in Almería (Spain), which are currently the worldleading facilities in this field. The project includes theupgrading of existing infrastructures along with newinstallations.

Background

Energy is becoming one of the most urgent andstrategic issues on policymaker’s agendas. Renewableenergies are the only sustainable alternative to meetthe increasing energy demand, providing security ofsupply, avoiding CO

2emissions and preventing the

uncontrolled impact of fossil fuel price increases oncountries' economies. Solar technologies show thelargest renewable potential and concentrating solartechnologies can provide the basis for electricitygeneration, as well as for other purposes (chemicals,water desalination, etc.). European industry iscurrently leading in this technology at internationallevel, but great R&D efforts are needed to maintainthis position and to improve its performance andcompetitiveness. New scientific and technologicaldevelopments require the experimental demonstra-tion of the suitability, durability, reproducibility,efficiency and competitiveness of this concept, as theyare intended to be deployed at a large scale. TheEU-SOLARIS facility will fill the gap from the theoryor the lab scale test to a demonstration plant of almostcommercial size, of fering room and favourableconditions for the implementation of advanced pilotprojects. EU-SOLARIS will be supportive to theimplementation and further development of CSPtechnologies via the SET-Plan.


The Preparatory Phase will focus on the definition ofthe organisational structure and rules, the detailedcommitments of the partners from the dif ferentcountries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Germany andTurkey) and the drafting of a general strategic plan, aswell as the identification of the synergies and comple-mentarities among the participating research centres.Contacts with other research organisations fromNorthAfrica andMiddle East countries will be made in orderto incorporate them as associated partners. The accessrules to the facilities in all the countries and the generalterms applicable to joint research projects will bedefined.

In parallel to this phase, existing installations willcontinuously be improved and new facilities built. Inparticular, CTAER and PSA will continue with theirinfrastructure investment plans along with theiroutstanding research activities with the financialsupport of the Ministry of Science and Innovation ofSpain and the Regional Government of Andalusia.

EU-SOLARIS will pay special attention to the involve-ment of Industry. For that purpose, specific workinggroups - consisting of experts from research centresand companies - will be formed with the support ofthe industrial associations Protermosolar and Estela.


preparaTory phaSe

Not yet started

Coordination: Spain

TimeliNe

The upgrading and new installations

are expected to be completed

by 2016

eSTimaTed CoSTS

• Preparation: 3.5 M€




www.ctaer.com

Concentrating sun rays is the most effective way to obtain the highestvalue of the inexhaustible and most abundant energy resource over theEarth: Solar Energy.

› ENERGY

HIPer High Power Laser Energy Research Facility

The facility

The primary goal of the HiPER project is to demons-trate the feasibility of laser fusion energy as a futureenergy source. Fusion is recognised as a viable long-term solution to the energy problem of security ofsupply, availability and environmental impact. It canprovide a safe, effectively inexhaustible supply ofenergy with minimal waste products and inherentsecurity of base-load supply to the national grid.

Background

The underlying concept of ‘inertial’ fusion (the basis ofLaser Energy) was demonstrated in the 1980s.Duplication of these results using a laser driver toproduce net energy gain is anticipated in the period2010-2012 at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at theLawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the UnitedStates. Success at NIF will be a full and sufficientdemonstration of physics of laser-driven fusion. HiPERwill define the path to viable power production fromLaser Energy, following the proof of principle demons-tration at NIF. Near term benefit will arise as a result ofthe innovation, captured intellectual property, spinouts and the generation of technological “know how”.In addition, much of the innovation can be exploitedby industry and other sectors. As an example, the lasertechnology required for HiPER has commercial appli-cations ranging from laser treatment of highly stressed

engineering components (e.g. turbines, aerospace andreactor components, etc.), large area surface treatmentand materials processing. Scientific impact will resultthrough the development of intense radiation sources,par ticle beams for medical applications andincorporation of high repetition rate laser technologywith novel particle acceleration schemes. The techno-logy development programme will advance therequired technology from the current state of the art.Essential elements of this programme andwill includethe development of the next generation lasertechnology, reactor technology,micro-fabrication, highdamage threshold coatings, robotics and opticalcomponents.


The EC-funded Preparatory Phase focuses on non-technical issues crucial for the project's realisation. Inparallel, the Technical Preparatory Phase (2008– 2011)aims to progress the technical deliverables of HiPERand is funded externally through contributions fromnational funding agencies. Following these PreparatoryPhases, the Technology Development Phasewill delivertechnology development and prototyping of individualtechnology elements. Lastly, during the constructionphase the HiPER facility will be constructed andintegration of the individual technologies will beproven. The timeline for these last two phases is beingdeveloped.


preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: United Kingdom


TimeliNe


(includes risk reduction phase)



eSTimaTed CoSTS


(EU contribution 3 M€)

• Total development costs: ca. 500 M€

• Total construction, operation and

decommissioning costs: to be

determined during the next phase.

www.hiper.org

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› ENERGY

IFMIF International Fusion Materials IrradiationFacility

The facility

IFMIF is an accelerator-based very high flux neutronsource utilizing the deuteron lithium-stripping reactionwith the aim to provide a timely and suitable data baseon irradiation effects on materials needed for theconstruction of a fusion reactor. Although IFMIF doesnot rely on aggressive innovative technologies, itsdesign beam power of 2x5 MW is by far the mostintensive that has ever been built.

Background

The timely availability of a suitable neutron sourcesuch as IFMIF has become a major element in fusionstrategy scenarios for the qualification of materialsneeded for a fusion reactor. The primary mission ofIFMIF will be the generation of a materials irradiationdatabase for the design, construction, licensing, andsafe operation of a Fusion Demonstration Reactor(DEMO). This will be achieved through testing andqualifying the performance ofmaterials under neutronirradiation that simulates their use up to the fulllifetime anticipated for DEMO. The source require-ments include high availability, a neutron spectrumappropriate for fusion and temperature controlled highflux irradiation of more than one thousand specimens.In addition, various in-situ experiments and tests ofblanket elements will be an important use of thefacility, and will complement the tests of blanketmodules in the International ThermonuclearExperimental Reactor (ITER).


Engineering Validation and Engineering DesignActivities (EVEDA) started in 2007, with the launch ofthe IFMIF/EVEDA project under the Broader ApproachAgreement between Euratom and Japan. The aims ofthis project are to produce, by the end of 2013, anintermediate engineering design report for IFMIF andall the data necessary to aid future decisions on theconstruction, operation, exploitation and decom-missioning of IFMIF, and to validate the continuous andstable operation of each IFMIF subsystem. Followingthe production of the Engineering Design Report, therecommendations of an external design evaluationpanel will be sought and the siting request prepared.In parallel, additional input to the design evolution willbe available from engineering validation experimentsto be carried out as part of the IFMIF/EVEDA projectup to 2017.


preparaTory phaSe

Not applicable – Project covered by

Euratom/Japan Broader Approach

Agreement

TimeliNe

2015 to 2019

eSTimaTed CoSTS



(over 7 years)



www.ifmif.org

46 esfri

› ENERGY

MYrrHA European Fast SpectrumIrradiation Facility

The facility

MYRRHA (Multipurpose hYbrid Research Reactor forHigh-Tech Applications) will be an innovative pan-European large Research Infrastructure. It is a hybridsystem that consists of the combination of a highenergy proton linear accelerator and a lead-alloy cooledfast spectrum irradiation facility. MYRRHA can beoperated in both sub-critical (accelerator driven systemmode) and critical mode.

Background

Security of energy supply is of paramount importancefor Europe. The SET-Plan has identified nuclear fissionenergy as one of the contributing sources within theenergy mix, if nuclear fission is made sustainable. TheSustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform(SNETP) indicates that GEN IV fast neutron reactorssupplemented by a closed fuel cycle is the way towardssustainable nuclear fission. MYRRHA contributes toboth of the above objectives and therefore is includedin the Strategic Research Area (SRA) 2009 of the SNETP.It was chosen in 2010 as one of the three projects ofthe European Sustainable Nuclear Industrial Initiative(ESNII). MYRRHA, as a fast spectrum irradiation facility,completes the renewal of European research area ofexperimental reactors. MYRRHAwill be the unique firstlarge facility in the world that will allow the

demonstration of the accelerator driven system (ADS)concept, thus initiating a large programme of researchin the field of spent fuel partitioning and transmutation.It will be the only fast spectrum irradiation facility inthe EU. Due to its characteristics, the facility offers theopportunity to respond to the needs of the nuclear fuelcommunity andmaterial fission and fusion communityin terms of technological development and demons-tration. As a critical lead-alloy based reactor, the facilitywill also significantly contribute to the demonstrationof the GEN IV Lead Fast Reactor technology. This willput Europe in a leading position in the field of thedevelopment of sustainable nuclear fission systems aspart of the transition to a low-carbon energy mix tomitigate climate change. Part of the proton beam canserve as a source of radioactive ion beams for funda-mental physics research. It also offers the capability toproduce specific medical radioisotopes.


A detailed business plan has been worked out and hasbeen updated in 2009 to reflect the latest technicalspecifications and the project strategic developments.Belgium has committed itself to 40% of the construc-tion costs and there is a broad international consortiumsupporting the project. MYRRHA could be constructedand operated as a European Research InfrastructureConsortium (ERIC).


preparaTory phaSe

Not yet started

Coordination: Belgium

TimeliNe



(including commissioning)


eSTimaTed CoSTS



•operations: 46.4 M€/year

• decommissioning: 105 M€

http://myrrha.sckcen.be

MYRRHA will serve a large research community for the development of future fission and fusion energy systems (Copyright: SCK-CEN).

47esfri

› ENERGY

WINDScANNer The European WindScannerFacility

The facility

WindScanner is a unique, distributed Research Infra-structure providing fundamentally new knowledgeabout the wind, which will lead to more efficient,stronger and lighter wind turbines. Exploiting recentadvances in laser wind measurement techniques,mobile 3-D remote sensing wind scanners will bedeployed by seven large energy research institutesacross Europe. This will provide an important catalysisfor the future cooperation and integration of theEuropean wind energy Research Infrastructures.

Background

The EU Directive on Electricity Production from Rene-wable Energy Sources demands a high rate of deploy-ment of renewable energy, to which wind is expectedto contribute significantly. This demand correspondsapproximately to the installation of one large turbineevery hour for the next decade. WindScannercontributes to the realization of the SET-Plan goals byestablishing this new and truly distributed Europeanfacility. It is a scientific challenge to measure andunderstand the three-dimensional and time varyingwind field as it passes through and interacts with thehuge rotor of a modern wind turbine. Using traditionalwindmeasurements made by anemometers mountedonmeteorological masts, it is practically impossible toacquire the necessary 3-D wind information. Our

present comprehension of the turbulent wind flow andits interaction with wind turbines is correspondinglylimited. Conversely, WindScanner is based on remotesensingmeasurement concepts based on portable andeasy deployable wind lidars and wind scanners. Thenew measurement technology will be disseminatedand operated at both national and regional nodes, andinterconnected throughout Europe via fast, scientificcomputer networks. The results obtained will fosterimproved computermodels and permit amore optimaldesign of wind turbines. Ultimately, this will lead tobetter located, better wind turbines thus reducing thecost of renewable energy. Measurements withWindScanner facilities will therefore have a loweruncertainty than alternative wind tunnel scale testingor computer modelling.


WindScanners are based on portable and easydeployable wind lidars and wind scanners. During thepreparation phase 2011-2013, the technology will bedisseminated via the ESFRI process to the EERAparticipants’ national and regional nodes. Wind-Scanners will subsequently become operational andinterconnected throughout Europe via fast, scientificcomputer networks.


preparaTory phaSe

Not yet started

Coordination: Denmark

TimeliNe



• Operation phase: 2013 onwards

eSTimaTed CoSTS


• Construction: 45-60 M€


• Decommissioning: 0.1 M€

www.windscanner.eu

Short-range Windscanner situated in front of a test wind turbine atRisø DTU.

Biological andMedical SciencesPaRt 2 Roadmap

ê


Health and food are two major challenges arisingfrom the rapidly increasing population worldwideand its increase in its average age. Improving health,including the increase of effectiveness in fightingemerging epidemics, in addition to responding tothe growing demand for food and for bio-resources,is a topic that requires urgent attention. Life sciencesinfrastructures will contribute to the solution of theseimportant questions.

The Biological andMedical Sciences (BMS) initiativeis a constituent pillar to implement the ERA byproviding world-leading Research Infrastructures ina field of growing economic and societal importance.Biological and Medical Sciences Research Infra-structures (BMS Research Infrastructures) willprovide an interdisciplinary, innovative environmentwhere world-leading scientists conduct top-levelresearch and use cutting-edge technologies togenerate the new knowledge in the Biological andMedical Sciences that Europe needs in order torespond effectively to the “Grand Challenges”. Thegenerated knowledge will be transformed intotechnical and industrial developments and willprovide tools for concerted European policies andcoordinated actions.

research Infrastructureson the roadmap

In order to address the growing challenges andpressures in an effective and successful manner, strongresearch-driven insights will be required. Europe willonly be able to develop these insights if the rightResearch Infrastructures are in place. For the BiologicalandMedical Sciences, the ESFRI Roadmap contains 10Research Infrastructures which are essential to realizeEurope’s potential to meet the “Grand Challenges”.

› BBMRIBiobanking and Biomolecular ResourcesResearch Infrastructure› EATRISEuropean Advanced Translational ResearchInfrastructure in Medicine› ECRINEuropean Clinical Research InfrastructuresNetwork› ELIXIREuropean Life Science Infrastructure forBiological Information› EMBRCEuropean Marine Biological Resource Centre› ERINHAEuropean Research Infrastructure on HighlyPathogenic Agents› EU-OPENSCREENEuropean Infrastructure of Open ScreeningPlatforms for Chemical Biology› Euro-BioImagingEuropean Biomedical Imaging Infrastructure› InfrafrontierEuropean Infrastructure for Phenotyping andArchiving of Model Mammalian› INSTRUCTAn Integrated Structural BiologyInfrastructure for Europe

Delivery and operation of these 10 BMS ResearchInfrastructures will overcome the fragmentation ofthe European research landscape and will provideresearchers with state-of-the-art technologies andworld-class research facilities. Ensuring open accessacross all BMS Research Infrastructures will enablescientists to conduct and share cutting-edge research.

Implementation of the BMS Research Infrastructureswould generate momentum across more than 1000institutions and 2.000.000 researchers from morethan 37 ESFRI Member States and AssociatedCountries, and act as a major catalyst for realisationof the European Research Area. This initiative willprovide access to essential infrastructures acrossEurope, allowing the full potential of research in allcountries across the ERA to be realised and to propelEurope to the forefront of Biological and MedicalScience research globally, while simultaneouslyimproving Europe’s competitiveness in the BMS andhealth-related economies.

In addition to the afore mentioned 10 ResearchInfrastructures, the Biological andMedical SciencesThematic Working Group decided to propose toESFRI three new infrastructures to be included intothe Roadmap 2010 after a thorough evaluation byindependent experts and an in depth discussionamong its members from almost 30Member States:

› ANAEEInfrastructure for Analysis andExperimentation on Ecosystems› ISBEInfrastructure for Systems Biology – Europe› MIRRIMicrobial Resource Research Infrastructure




Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology is an innovative and growing fieldwhich, by applying the principles of engineering tothe biosciences, seeks to design and construct newbiological parts and systems, and to redesignexisting biological systems to deliver novel functionsthat do not exist in nature.

Synthetic biology is highly interdisciplinary, bringingtogether biologists of many expertises, engineers,chemists, physicists, computer scientists and manyothers to achieve an unprecedented insight on howbiological systems function and how they can beimproved to optimize certain biological activities.Building on the powerful research originating fromrecombinant DNA technology, genome sequencingand proteomics analysis, it aims to significantly deepenour understanding of the origin and function of livingsystems and to rebuild them to work better in thecontext of a wide range of biomedical, agricultural andfood science, and environmental applications.

Biological energy production

Bioenergy is a relatively new area of science. Theterm “bioenergy” encompasses the use of biologicalfeedstocks as sources of energy. Europe needs todevelop a variety of renewable energy technologiesto meet its targets for reduction in greenhouse gasemission and bioenergywill be included in the futureenergy portfolio. The majority of renewable energysources involve the production of heat and orelectricity; in contrast biofuels are currently the onlysource of liquid transport fuels, which can be derivedfrom non-fossil sources. The advantage of usingbiofuels is that they can be used in existing vehiclesusing the existing fuel delivery infrastructure.

Europe has the potential for greater biofuel pro-duction but requires expanding research activitiesto achieve it. Current challenges in bioenergy includethe development of new feedstock and/or theimprovement of existing ones to enable growth ofbiomass crops onmarginal land, withminimal waterand fertiliser input, increased photosyntheticconversion, and better disease resistance. There isconcern about the use of food crops as biofuelfeedstock, because it can push up food prices tounaffordable levels in developing countries. Currentresearch focuses on non-food crops, or agriculturalwaste, in order to reduce competition for landwhichmight otherwise be used to grow food.

Agricultural Research

In the year 2050, the global agrifood and biomassindustry has to deliver double output with half theresources. This simple statement is the outcome ofthree challenges, yet implies a fundamentalre-consideration of our current systems for produc-tion and consumption:

(1) Three planets are needed for food, materials andenergy usage should the expected 9 billion humanbeings follow a western consumption style;

(2) obesity and related diseases are increasinglyputting pressure on health care costs, especially inageing societies;

(3) shortage of clean water and oil threatens the fullagrofood chain. Failure to overcome these challengeswill result in further destruction of our ecosystem, afurther bimodal distribution of hungry and obesepeople and collapsing health care systems.

These three societal challenges have been recognizedby the European Commission and others, and areaddressed by the Joint Programming Initiatives on“Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change” andon “Healthy diet for a healthy life”. However, takingup and dealing with these challenges is mainly doneseparately, in political terms, policy goals, businesscases, up to R&D funding schemes, missing the factthat the three challenges are highly interrelated.Currently, first integrated visions and integrated R&Dapproaches are being developed; however, anintegrated R&D infrastructure does not exist and isproposed by e.g. the working group on Infra-structures of the Standing Committee on AgriculturalResearch (SCAR).

The “agricultural research” working group in SCARis proposing novel food research facilities consistingof integrated R&D Infrastructures, designed as alimited number of interlinked Infrastructures withthe state-of-the-art equipment.


The BMS Research Infrastructures seek to establishand renew international collaborations and toconstruct solid, long-lasting partnerships that willsecure a sustained and effective progress in criticalareas, enhance the mobility of researchers andpromote the efficient sharing of resources. The processof engaging with partners outside Europe is intendedto complement national and EU policies and effortsto address these challenges and other global researchactivities. The national priorities for internationalcooperation serve as vehicles to reach out to ResearchInfrastructures in countries hosting equivalentresources and capacity, or hosting very specific yetessential resources from which BMS ResearchInfrastructuresmay benefit. The international partner-ships developed by the Research Infrastructures may,in turn, have an influence in the development andimplementation of national policies. ■

50 esfri

› BIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL SCIENCES

ANAee Infrastructure for Analysis andExperimentation on Ecosystems

The facility

ANAEE aims at developing a coordinated set of exper-imental platforms across Europe to analyse, detect,and forecast the responses of ecosystems to environ-mental and land use changes. An additional aim is toengineermanagement techniques that will allow buff-ering of and/or adaptation to these changes. The dis-tributed and coordinated network of in-situ and in-vitro experimental platforms of ANAEE will beassociated with analytical and modelling platforms.Links with networks of instrumented observation siteswill be established. The ANAEE data will be freely andopenly available.

Background

Ecosystem research is increasingly vital to addressingpolicy issues facing Europe. Biogeochemical cyclescoupledwith biodiversity are central to climate changeand food security issues. Yet European infrastructureto address such research is badly fragmented anduncoordinated. Progress in environmental research sofar has been mainly the result of disciplinary andreductionist attempts to analyze separate compart-ments of the environmental systems. As a conse-

quence, many current environmental problems cannotbe clearly related to anthropogenic forcings despitelarge and costly research efforts. ANAEE will bringtogether, for the first time, the major experimental,analytical andmodelling facilities in ecosystem sciencein Europe. In uniting under the same umbrella andwith a common vision these highly instrumentedecosystem research facilities, ANAEE will be a keyinstrument in both structuring and improving theEuropean Research Area in the field of terrestrialecosystem research.


The Design Study carried out in 2008-2009 structuredthe scientific community and matured the infra-structure project to a level compatible with starting aPreparatory Phase. Repeated contacts with researchorganisations and ministries representatives duringthe course of the Design Study raised their interest fordeveloping new infrastructures under an ESFRI ANAEEproject. While several of them will need additionaldiscussions during a Preparatory Phase before decidingany funding, representatives of a few countries alreadyincluded ANAEE infrastructures in their nationalroadmaps and planned future funding.


preparaTory phaSe

Not yet started


TimeliNe




eSTimaTed CoSTS


•operations: 12 M€/year

• decommissioning: not applicable

Website under construction.

For related activities see:

www.anaee.com

The four complementary components and their associated analytical and modelling platforms.

51esfri 51esfri


BBMrI Biobanking and Biomolecular ResourcesResearch Infrastructure

The facility

BBMRI will be a pan-European distributed infrastruc-ture of existing and new bio-banks and bio-molecu-lar resource centres. It will provide access to humanbiological samples that are considered as essential rawmaterial for the advancement of biotechnology, humanhealth and research and development in Life Sciences(e. g. blood, tissues, cells or DNA that are associatedwith clinical and research data). It will also comprisebio-molecular research tools and bio-computationaltools to optimally exploit this resource for global bio-medical research.

Background

BBMRI will build on existing sample collections,resources, technologies, and expertise, which will bespecifically complemented with innovative compo-nents. In particular, BBMRI will comprise:• all major population-based and disease-oriented

bio-bank formats,• bio-molecular resources, such as collections of

antibodies and other affinity binders and a varietyof molecular tools to decipher protein interactionsand function,

• bio-computing and sample storage infrastructure,• scientific, technical as well as ethical and legal

expertise.

All resources will be integrated into a pan-Europeandistributed network structure, and will be properlyembedded into European scientific, ethical, legal andsocietal frameworks. Specific tasks in the planning ofBBMRI include the generation of an inventory ofexisting resources, technologies and know-how thatserve as building blocks of BBMRI, the implementationof common standards and access rules, the establish-ment of incentives for resource providers, and thedevelopment of solutions that facilitate internationalexchange of biological samples and data whichproperly consider the heterogeneity of pertinentnational legislation and ethical principles.


The consortium today consists of 53 partners (including19 ministries and funding organisations) and222 associated organisations from 33 countries. ThePreparatory Phasewill end in 2011. For the constructionphase BBMRI plans to adopt the European ResearchInfrastructure Consortium (ERIC) legal framework thatsupports the distributed architecture of BBMRI withoperational sites in multiple Member States. A formalapplication for the creation of an internationalorganisation under the ERIC legal status is expectedfor early 2011. Austria has offered to host the head-quarters of BBMRI-ERIC and several Member Stateshave officially expressed their interest in becomingmembers of BBMRI-ERIC and in committing fundingfor its operation. Construction and start of operationis foreseen for spring 2012.


preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: Austria


TimeliNe

• Preparation phase: early 2008 –

early 2011


for ERIC


eSTimaTed CoSTS



•operations: 3.5-5 M€/year for

Headquarters, ~17M€/year for

resource centres

• decommissioning: n.a.

www.bbmri.eu

BBMRI includes a sample storage infrastructure. See here a hermeticsemi-automated cryo-storage system.

52 esfri


eAtrIS European Advanced Translational ResearchInfrastructure in Medicine

The facility

The European Advanced Translational Research Infra-structure inMedicine (EATRIS) will provide infrastruc-ture allowing a faster and more efficient translationof research discoveries into new products to prevent,diagnose or treat diseases. EATRIS will operatethrough a pan-European consortium of leading bio-logical andmedical sciences research centres provid-ing the necessary infrastructure facilities and exper-tise. They will form strong new innovation clusters,the EATRIS Translation Centres. These centres will pro-vide cutting edge infrastructure and knowledge forthe entire development from basic research to theclinic. According to their core expertise the EATRISCentres will focus on certain disease(s) and product(s).The EATRIS consortium is open to all countries whichwant to contribute to new European translationalResearch Infrastructure.

Background

Translational research – the process of developing newtools or treatments to improve human health frominitial discoveries – is not efficient enough. Too fewfindings from research make their way to the clinic.Infrastructure and targeted support for biological andmedical scientists is needed to increase the number ofinnovative newmedicinal products. EATRIS will fill thisgap between discovery and clinical practice bydeveloping a European Research Infrastructure consis-ting of key pre-clinical and clinical facilities having thetranslational expertise necessary to support thedevelopment of new preventive, diagnostic ortherapeutic strategies.

At the core of the infrastructure are the EATRIS Trans-lation Centres organised in a pan-European consortium.These EATRIS Centres will be opened up to all resear-chers for the translation of their research findings.Sharing experience and powerful translational infra-structures will lead to better healthcare provision andprovide a bridge between countries of different trans-lational capacity, making Europe more competitive.


AMemorandum of Understanding has been signed byseven countries who want to follow up EATRIS andcreate it as an independent legal entity under the ERICregulation. An Implementation Agreement is currentlyunderway to secure funding until the final establish-ment of the legal entity by 2011-12.

During the transition, the countries will already imple-ment the EATRIS Centres and start first pilot projectsto demonstrate the operation of EATRIS. Trainingfacilities and programmes specifically dedicated totranslational research will also be developed.


preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe




eSTimaTed CoSTS


• Construction: 20-100 M€ per Centre

•operations: 3-8 M€/year per Centre


www.eatris.eu

EATRIS is speeding up the process of translational research in Europe.

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ecrIN European Clinical Research InfrastructuresNetwork

The facility

ECRIN is designed to bridge the fragmentation ofclinical research in Europe through integration ofnational networks of clinical Research Infrastructures.It will provide ‘one-stop shop’ services to investigatorsand sponsors inmultinational clinical research studies.Users will be investigators and sponsors in theacademic and SME sector.

Background

The development of therapeutic innovations requiresaccess to large populations of patients. Infrastructuressupporting patient enrolment in clinical trials, datamanagement, quality assurance, monitoring, ethicsand regulatory affairs are required for quality andcredibility of data and successful performance ofclinical trials. Such networks covering clinical researchcentres and clinical trial units were recently created atnational level in someMember States of the EuropeanUnion. However the need for harmonisation and theability to conduct multi-centre projects is even greaterat the European level. Fragmentation of health andlegislative systems in Europe indeed hampers thecompetitiveness of its clinical research.


The Preparatory Phase will end in 2011. It is almostcompleted and a wide range of actions was imple-mented to achieve ECRIN’s goal to enablemultinationalcooperation in investigator-driven clinical research inEurope.

ECRIN’s organisation is based on the connection of anational hub coordinating national networks of clinicalResearch Infrastructures. ECRIN currently covers 14 EUcountries and therefore reaches a critical mass whichhas no equivalent in Europe.

ECRIN’s staff benefits from the know-how accumulatedduring the previous FP6 funded projects and the first‘pilot’ projects have started with the support of ECRINconsultancy and services.

A formal application for the creation of an internationalorganisation under the legal status of an ERIC, whichshould be hosted by France, is expected for mid 2011.


preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe


• Construction/operation phase: 2011

onwards

eSTimaTed CoSTS


• Construction: actual construction

costs absorbed by the update

and certification of national IT

components.



www.ecrin.org

Clinical research often involves patients with specific health conditionswho then benefit from receiving otherwise unavailable treatments.

54 esfri


eLIXIr European Life-Science Infrastructure forBiological Information

The facility

ELIXIR will be a secure, rapidly evolving platform forcollection, storage, annotation, validation, dissemina-tion and utilization of biological data. It will comprisea distributed, and interlinked collection of core andspecialized biological data resources. The core resour-ces will include a substantial upgrade to the existingmolecular data resources at the European Bioinformat-ics Institute (EBI), as well as new resources as appro-priate. The specialized resources will be distributedacross Europe. ELIXIR will also include the necessarymajor upgrade to the computer infrastructure to storeand organize this data in away suitable for rapid searchand access, and will provide a sophisticated but user-friendly portal for users. Additionally, it will providethe infrastructure necessary to utilise data in a man-ner that is most appropriate for users of other ResearchInfrastructures in biological andmedical sciences andenvironmental sciences.

Background

The world’s body of biological data is a critical inputfor all Biological and Medical Sciences and relatedindustries, even more so in the current era of high-throughput data collection in genomics, proteomicsetc. and requirements for large scale integratedanalysis, for example for systems biology. Investmentin infrastructure, however, has not kept pace with thevery rapid rate of data growth. Additionally, newcategories of data are emerging, e.g. three-dimensionaldynamic images, high throughputmass spectrometricproteome identification, phenotypic and physiologicaldata, polymorphism and chemo genomic data. In thiscontext, ELIXIR will permit the integration and inter-operability of diverse, heterogeneous, potentiallyredundant information that is essential to generateand utilize biomedical knowledge, and it will supportthe development of critically important standards andontologies.


Several countries (Spain, Sweden, Finland, Denmarkand the UK) have already provided funds to thenucleation of what would become their national nodesof ELIXIR, and it is also being included on the roadmapin an increasing number of countries. A 10 M£ invest-ment by the UK is being used to initiate the implemen-tation of the ELIXIR European data centre. Most recentlyELIXIR has been included in the Spanish roadmaprelated with ESFRI infrastructures. Applications arepending in several countries.

A hub and node structure has been identified as theonly realistic structure for ELIXIR. The hub will belocated at EMBL-EBI and will continue to host coredata-collections. It will also host the secretariat,manage its European data centre, and coordinate thenodes. ELIXIR nodes will be distributed throughoutEurope and will provide components of the Europeaninfrastructure. They will be configured to interoperateboth with the central hub and with each other. Theywill need to be able to enter into an agreement withthe hub and be funded by the member states.


preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: EMBL


TimeliNe


• Construction phase: 2011


eSTimaTed CoSTS





www.elixir-europe.org

Interactions within the European Life-Science Infrastructure for BiologicalInformation.

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eMBrc European Marine Biological ResourceCentre

The facility

The European Marine Biological Resource Centre(EMBRC) will comprise a consortium of key Europeanmarine biological andmolecular biology laboratories,together providing:• access to a wide range of European coastal marine

biota and their ecosystems;• an integrated supply of marine organisms for

interdisciplinary research, including existing andnew models;

• coordinated services including state-of-the-artbio-banks and dedicated platforms for genomics,structural and functional biology, microscopy andbioinformatics;

• interdisciplinary training in marine biologicalsciences and genomics; and

• outreach to stakeholders, users and the publicat large.

Access to resources will be provided both on site (toresident and non-resident users) and remotely (e.g.sending samples, e-resources). End users are expectedto comprise not only marine biologists and in-housestaff, but also researchers from other scientific insti-tutes, universities, governmental and NGO agencies,SMEs and industry.

Background

Marine biodiversity is essential in ecosystem functio-ning and for our quality of life. This has stimulatedconstruction of marine biological research institutesaround the European coastline over the last 125 years.Over time, these have developed, largely independently,into world renowned facilities. Taken together, theEuropeanmarine biological stations represent a criticalmass of infrastructure and human resources that hashad a significant influence on the history of worldwidemarine research.

Marine biology is currently experiencing ground-breaking technological and theoretical advances,notably associated with the introduction of state-of-the-art '-omics' approaches. This is facilitating rapidprogress in existing disciplines, integration of this fieldinto a range of other research domains, and creationof major new avenues of research. The need forintegrated study in marine biology is becomingincreasingly compelling as global warming and oceanacidification start to affect whole ecosystems. Inparallel, the pressure on stocks of commercial marinebio-resources is rapidly escalating, resulting inincreasing focus on mariculture alternatives, andbiotechnological interest in the extremely diverse poolof materials, molecules and genes from marineorganisms is booming.


The Preparatory Phase will start in February 2011. Theaim is to develop a coherent pan-European strategyfor interconnecting, harmonising and upgrading theactual infrastructures and the common services theyprovide in light of common analysis and projection ofEurope-wide user requirements. This will significantlyenhance competitiveness of European research andindustry in a global context.


preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: Italy


TimeliNe




eSTimaTed CoSTS





www.embrc.eu

A phytoplankton sample featuring Thalassiosira species, for one of whichthe genome has been sequenced (Copyright: SZN).

56 esfri

› Biological and Medical ScienceS

Erinha European Research Infrastructure on Highly Pathogenic Agents

The facility

Erinha will be a pan-European distributed Research Infrastructure aiming to reinforce the European coor-dination and capacities for the study and the surveil-lance of highly pathogenic micro-organisms. It will provide open access to state-of-the-art BSL4 facilities for the European scientific community to enhance basic and targeted research activities and diagnostic activ-ities. The infrastructure aims to promote the harmo-nization of bio-safety and bio-security procedures, to develop standards for the management of biological resources, diagnosis of group 4 pathogens, and to develop training of BSL4 labs users.

Background

One of the great challenges of the 21st century is the capability to react to human and animal highly pathogenic micro-organisms. In the past, Nipah outbreaks and the more recent SARS and avian flu epidemics have demonstrated the reality of infectious threat and worldwide vulnerability in the face of emerging and re-emerging infectious disease.

A European coordinated strategy such as Erinha is needed to ensure access to diagnosis, vaccine and treatment for each European citizen. This implies the construction and implementation of a new pan-European Research Infrastructure dedicated to highly pathogenic agents.


The Preparatory Phase started on the 1st November 2010 and will have a duration of 36 months. The objective of the Preparatory Phase work plan is to implement a strong and efficient governing structure and reach the legal, financial and technical maturity to be able to proceed to the construction of the infrastructure. Erinha actually gathers relevant and complementary expertise of 20 partners and 15 asso-ciated partners from 15 countries across Europe. These participants comprise research institutions involving all existing running BSL4 laboratories, and government bodies.


preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe



• Operation phase: to be determined

eSTimaTed CoSTS



• operations: 24 M€/year


www.erinha.eu

Copyright: Inserm, P. Latron

57esfri 57esfri

› Biological and Medical ScienceS

EU-OPEnSCrEEn European Infrastructure of Open Screening Platforms for Chemical Biology

The facility

EU-OPENSCREEN will be an open-access infrastruc-ture for the development of bioactive small molecules. It will include a large collection of diverse compounds (at least 0.5 million), high throughput screening (HTS) centres, hit optimisation facilities, and a publicly acces-sible database combining screening results, assay pro-tocols, and chemical information. This integrated infra-structure will meet the needs for new bioactive compounds in all fields of life sciences (human and veterinary medicine, systems biology, biotechnology, agriculture, nutrition, etc.).

Background

EU-OPENSCREEN brings together chemical and bio-logical expertise to overcome the fragmentation of European research in the field of chemical biology. Through the transnational and coordinated activities of EU-OPENSCREEN, a substantially accelerated gene-ration of knowledge on the bioactivities of chemicals as well as on the responses of biological systems will be achieved. European researchers from academia will obtain access to the most advanced screening techno-logies that are currently only available in an industrial environment.


The infrastructure will be composed of integrated screening plat forms hosting high-throughput methodologies, a coordinated compound management and distribution and, as a key element, a database. Common standards will be established for efficient transfer of materials and procedures. There will be a restricted number of screening centres with copies of the compound collection, applying various methodolo-gies and operating at a high degree of automation. The Preparatory Phase started in November 2010. During the Preparatory Phase the design of the infrastructure will be planned in further detail and specifications will be elaborated. Technical challenges are the creation of a large compound collection (> 0.5 million substances) and the establishment of a high degree of automation at the major sites.

It is envisaged to create a legal entity, such as a Euro-pean Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), in order to facilitate the interaction of the stakeholders involved and their cooperation with the external users. EU-OPENSCREEN membership will be open to all European organisations involved in chemical biology and will offer access to external scientists. A coordi-nated research and training program will be developed and a central management office will be set up.


preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe

• Preparation phase: end 2010 –

end 2013

• Construction phase: 2014


eSTimaTed CoSTS



• operations: ca. 40 M€/year


www.eu-openscreen.eu

58 esfri


euro-BIoIMAgINg European ResearchInfrastructure for biomedical imaging

The facility

Euro-Bioimaging will be a European Research Infra-structure for biomedical imaging stretching from basicbiological imaging up to medical imaging of humansand populations. It will consist of a number of distrib-uted and strongly coordinated biomedical imaginginfrastructures (“nodes”), which will serve Europeanscientists by providing access to, and training in,advanced imaging technologies across the full scale ofbiological andmedical applications. At the same time,the infrastructure will provide the possibility for manyexisting imaging research institutions or laboratoriesto contribute to technology development and train-ing. Euro-BioImaging will also serve as a platformdelivering knowledge and expertise, allowingexchange of methodologies and the joint use ofacquired data.

Background

Research in and application of bio-molecular andbiomedical imaging is progressing rapidly and in amultidisciplinary manner. Innovative imaging tech-niques are key tools for all life scientists to understandliving systems at both the molecular and the physio-logical level, from biological model systems to patients.Imaging technologies are core disciplines of tomorrow’s

biology and medicine, and represent essential newResearch Infrastructure for the life sciences. It is nownecessary to provide broad access to state-of-the-artand new emerging imaging technologies to theEuropean scientific community, to strengthen researchand training in imaging and to ensure Europeanleadership in this competitive field.


The planning and construction of future nodes of Euro-BioImaging will be an open and transparent processaligned with the dif ferent phases of the Euro-BioImaging project. They include: i) a Consultationphase (2011-2012) to develop and publish eligibilitycriteria for nodes of the planned infrastructure.Common criteria for all Euro-BioImaging nodes will bescientific/technological excellence, open access forexternal users and support from funders; ii) a Planningphase (2012-2013) whereby an open call for futureEuro-BioImaging nodes based on the defined eligibi-lity criteria will be published; iii) a Construction phase(2014-2017) whereby Euro-BioImaging nodes will benewly constructed or existing facilities will undergomajor upgrades, subject to the results of the Planningphase and the availability of funding. Imaging facilities(Euro-BioImaging) are currently listed on the nationalroadmaps of CZ, EE, IL, ES, FI, FR, IE, IT, NL, NO, SE.


preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: EMBL


TimeliNe




eSTimaTed CoSTS





www.eurobioimaging.eu

59esfri 59esfri


INFrAFroNtIer European Infrastructure for phe-notyping and archiving of model mammalian genomes

The facility

Infrafrontier will be a distributed Research Infrastruc-ture offering access to systemic phenotyping, archivingand distribution of mouse models for human diseasesto the biomedical research community. The Infrafron-tier Research Infrastructure will be composed of mouseclinics andmouse repository facilities. Mouse clinics arehigh-throughput phenotyping centres that carry out acomprehensive clinical characterisation of mousemutants in order to reveal themolecular and functionalbasis of human diseases and to identify mouse modelsfor biomedical research. Scientifically valuable mousemodels are archived and distributed by EMMA (theEuropean Mouse Mutant Archive), which is an intrinsicpart of the Infrafrontier Research Infrastructure.

Background

The mouse has become a central tool for the study ofthe functional basis of human diseases. Men andmiceshare 95% of their coding genes and researchers havedeveloped an extensive methodology for targetedintervention in the mouse genome to unravel gene

function. Mouse models are used in all disease areas,and hundreds of new mouse strains are created eachyear by the biomedical research community. This crea-tes an enormous demand for access to a comprehen-sive characterisation, archiving and distribution ofthese mice that cannot be accommodated with thecapacities currently available in Europe. Therefore theInfrafrontier partners are scaling-up capacities, bothby building new facilities and upgrading existing ones,and by providing an efficient framework for pan-European cooperation in the Infrafrontier ResearchInfrastructure.


The Infrafrontier consortium started out with 22mem-bers from 10 European countries and has meanwhilebecome a global initiative with 28 members from12 European countries and Canada. The signing proce-dure for a Memorandum of Understanding betweenthe InfrafrontierMember States for setting up Infrafron-tier ERIC is currently under way. A formal applicationfor the creation of Infrafrontier ERIC, based on the Infra-frontier business plan, is expected for mid 2011.


preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe




eSTimaTed CoSTS



•operations: 80 M€/year (0.9-1 M€/

year for central coordination unit)


www.infrafrontier.eu

The mouse as model organism for biomedical sciences.

60 esfri


INStruct Integrated Structural BiologyInfrastructure

The facility

INSTRUCT is a European distributed infrastructure thatwill promote integrative science by providing openaccess to state-of-the-art structural biology technol-ogies to researchers in member countries. INSTRUCTwill facilitate research that brings together biologicalstructure with cellular function by not only providinginfrastructure but also engaging in development ofinstrumentation, technologies and methodologies.INSTRUCT will enable its members to access instru-mentation and expertise through a dynamic, sustain-able infrastructure which will stimulate innovation atthe boundary between technologies, and foster a val-uable relationship with industry.

Background

Europe has, for many years, demonstrated world-leading strength in structural and cell biology. Bothdisciplines advance our understanding of how biologi-cal systems function, and underpin progress in bio-medicine and biotechnology, thus benefiting publichealth, the environment and the economy. Integratedstructural biology will allow us to see in atomic detailthe mechanisms by which healthy cells function anddiseases progress, and help to provide new therapeuticsto meet the grand challenges of an ageing society,public health and global pandemics. The equipment atthe frontier of today’s structural biology is expensiveto build and maintain and will become more so in thefuture. A co-ordinated European infrastructure willallow ongoing development of, and user access to,state-of-the-art sample preparation and characteri-sation facilities and core structure determinationtechnologies, as well as novel structural biologytechnologies that are developing at the interface withcell biology. INSTRUCT will therefore help to drive theco-ordinated development across Europe of the nextgeneration of technologies.


INSTRUCT comprises 14 centers providing infrastruc-ture for access to scientists. Amembership fee of €50Kper annum permember state has been agreed. Lettersof support have also been sent to INSTRUCT by theDirectors of major funding bodies in UK, Germany,France and Italy and discussions are in progress in alarge number of othermember states. AMemorandumof Understanding has been drafted, a legal model hasbeen agreed and the process towards establishing aSpecial Purpose Legal Entity for INSTRUCT operationsis well advanced. INSTRUCT will be launched officiallyon 1st April 2011. On that date, the first calls for accessproposals will be published, kick-starting the infra-structure provision for an ambitious programme ofintegrated biology in Europe.


preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe




eSTimaTed CoSTS



•operations: 25 M€/year (750 k€/year

for coordination office)


www.instruct-fp7.eu

Virus particles along with ribosomes – an expanded structuralrepresentation.

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ISBe Infrastructure for Systems Biology-Europe

The facility

ISBE will (I) interconnect hubs of technologicalexcellence in Systems Biology, of fering the bestEuropean research expertise, and experimental andmodelling facilities, necessary for systems biology, (II)establish and make available repositories of data andmodels, and (III) enable real-time connections withinand between components of (I) and (II) and withexternal ‘user’ laboratories, through the provision ofhigh performance connections to existing high capacityelectronic network infrastructures. Hubswill contributespecific skills and expertise to functional clustersfocused on a variety of topics in an operational matrix,and some hubs may have groups that participate indifferent and/or multiple clusters. This structure willalso facilitate efficient interaction with the substantialtechnology development efforts relevant to SystemsBiology already funded by national and EU programmes.ISBE will enable all European laboratories to model,conduct experiments and undertake other essentialactivities remotely, where they cannot be done locally.

Background

Detailed information on components of living systemscontinues to increase, but our ability to understand thedynamic interactions within systems remains a

challenge. Hitherto it has not been possible to tacklethis challenge ef fectively because of technicallimitations and limited accessibility to a small numberof specialised groups. This situation is rapidly changingand this is a timely opportunity to coordinate thedistributed European research effort in Systems Biologywithin an infrastructure, the focus of which will be toenable researchers to address how the interaction ofbiological components leads to the functioning ofliving organisms in a constantly changing environment,create models of living organisms at various scalesrepresenting these interactions, and exploit thisinformation to generate major-socio-economicbenefits in areas including healthcare, agriculturalscience and the environment.


Early in the Preparatory Phase of ISBE, memoranda ofunderstanding between the component institutionswill be put in place. The Preparatory Phase willorganise calls for, and subsequent evaluations of,proposals for additions to the infrastructure. AScientific Advisory Board of international scientists willbe asked to check on the excellence of ISBE, itsgovernance structure and its membership. Standardsand IP issues will then be discussed and agreed.


preparaTory phaSe

Not yet started


TimeliNe




eSTimaTed CoSTS





Website under construction

For related activities see

www.erasysbio.net

62 esfri


MIrrI Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure

The facility

MIRRI will be a pan-European distributed ResearchInfrastructure that will provide microbiological ser-vices facilitating access to high quality microorgan-isms, their derivatives and associated data for research,development and application. It will connect resourceholders with researchers and policy makers to deliverthe resources and services more effectively and effi-ciently to meet the needs of innovation in biotechnol-ogy. The infrastructure project includes over 70micro-bial domain resource centres in 26 European countries;collectively they provide access to more than 350,000strains of microorganisms.

Background

Microorganisms provide essential raw material forbiotechnology – but to date less than 1% of theestimated number of species are described andavailable to be harnessed. As new species are dis-covered, the expertise is difficult to locate to ensure itscorrect identification and this human resource isdiminishing. Public sequence databases are expanding,rapidly providing modern tools for identification butthe information is often of poor quality and not backedup by the biological material which would enablevalidation of data. The current fragmented resourcedistributed across Europe needs to be coordinated bya network of microbial domain Biological ResourceCentres (BRC) operating to common standards withfacilitating policy. This can help focus activities toresolve key problems and address the big challengesin healthcare, food security, poverty alleviation andclimate change.


The key resource centres have been identified and arewell established across Europe. Lacking infrastructure,policy framework and governance structures will bedefined in the Preparatory Phase, as will be the linksto researchers and policy makers and their roles in thefuture development. Identified representative groupswill evaluate their best contribution to this ResearchInfrastructure. Envisioned specialist clusters willaddress priority issues, their structure and outputsteering. Cross discipline interaction with otherResearch Infrastructures (such as BBMRI and ELIXIR)will lead to new approaches. An appropriate datamining solution will enable MIRRI to focus its acqui-sition strategy, to ensure its partners' high perfor-mance allocation of required strains and hence bridgecurrent gaps.

Priority activities will be: define form and governancemechanisms; identify and engage researchers, usersand policy makers; define scope, work programmesand business plans; establish implementationmechanism i.e. secretariat and clusters; establish datainteroperability and support innovative informationsystems.


preparaTory phaSe

Not yet started


TimeliNe




eSTimaTed CoSTS




Website under construction.

For related activities see

www.embarc.eu and www.gbrcn.org

Engineering, Physical Sciences, Materials and Analytical FacilitiesPaRt 2 Roadmap

ê


Engineering and physical sciences (EPS) cover a widerange of research areas and types of infrastructuresas well as materials and analytical facilities. In thepresent context, the main areas are: engineeringresearch (e.g. fluid dynamics, hydraulics and nano-technology), materials science (focused on analyticfacilities), astronomy, astrophysics, nuclear physicsand particle physics. Research Infrastructures playan increasingly important role in the advancementof knowledge and technology in all these areas. Newknowledge and innovation can only emerge fromhigh-quality and easily accessible Research Infra-structures like radiation sources, data banks, obser-vatories for astronomy and astrophysics, imagingsystems and clean rooms for the study and develop-ment of new materials or nano-electronics. Thecommunities in the physical sciences and enginee-ring have known for a long time that such largeResearch Infrastructures require typically fundingfrom international consortia, but as the ESFRIRoadmap exercise has shown, not all fields ofresearch have developed the same degree of inter-national co-operation regarding Research Infra-structures. The landscapes of the different scientificareas reflect this difference in tradition.

research Infrastructures on theroadmap

Out of the 14 Research Infrastructure projectspublished in the 2008 Roadmap update, five arenow implemented: ESRF Upgrade, European XFEL,FAIR, ILL 20/20 upgrade and SPIRAL2. The on-goingupgrade process of the existing Research Infra-structures ESRF and ILL will be completed in 2015,construction work for the European XFEL hasstarted in 2009 and FAIR has reached the next stageof implementation with the official signing of theconvention by several partner countries. The startof construction for this facility is foreseen for theend of 2011.

The European Spallation Source (ESS) hasmade a hugestep forward into the implementation phase bydeciding to locate the facility in Lund (Sweden). Firstresults have been achieved in setting up the necessarylegal and administrative framework for an ESS com-pany. E-ELT and ELI are also making good progresstowards implementation, since in both cases thedecision on the location of the facility has been taken.

PRINS, as alreadymentioned at the beginning of thissection, has chosen another approach for its imple-mentation; therefore, it has been taken out of theroadmap.

The remaining projects considered in this section ofthe ESFRI roadmap are:

› CTACherenkov Telescope Array for Gamma-rayastronomy› E-ELTEuropean Extremely Large Telescope foroptical and infrared astronomy› ELIExtreme Light Infrastructure: ultra highintensity short pulse laser› EMFLEuropean Magnetic Field Laboratory› EuroFELComplementary Free Electron Lasers inthe Infrared to soft X-ray range› European Spallation SourceEuropean Spallation Source for neutronspectroscopy› KM3NeTCubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope› SKASquare Kilometre Array Radio Telescope


There are several common issues to be tackled forthe Research Infrastructures in engineering andphysical sciences. Many of these need to be dealtwith in a global dialogue. ESFRI will continue todevelop a structured outreach to the organisedscientif ic communities in these fields. ESFRIencourages closer and enhanced cooperation andnetworking of Research Infrastructures to form newEuropean Strategic Partnerships. The EPS TWGbelieves that ESFRI should also encourage new formsof partnerships with industry to accelerate techno-logical developments and secure strategic materials,whichmay be unique to Research Infrastructure uselike 3He. Finally, ESFRI will work towards commonapproaches to handling the increased streams of datafrom the new Research Infrastructures – the “datadeluge” – that can be foreseen in the physicalsciences in particular.

With regard to the highly differentiated scientificlandscapes in the broad area of Engineering andPhysical Sciences the vast potential of ResearchInfrastructures to make a valuable contribution tointensify interdisciplinary co-operation in scienceand technology development is remarkably high.

Engineering sciences

Engineering research typically has components ofboth basic and applied research as well as experi-mental development. Therefore many of theResearch Infrastructures used for materials researchalso serve the engineering research communities. Asurvey of existing engineering Research Infrastruc-tures showed that there are well functioningEuropean networks of national facilities in the fieldsof fluid-/aerodynamics (e.g. wind tunnels), hydrau-lics and nano-technology.

ê



Fluid dynamics is a scientific field in which turbulentflows as one of the major challenges in physics andengineering are examined. High Reynolds-numberturbulence is ubiquitous in aerospace engineering,ground transportation systems, flow machinery,energy production (from gas turbines to wind andwater turbines), as well as in nature, e.g. variousprocesses occurring in the planetary boundary layer.Wind tunnels and other Research Infrastructures inthis area are typically national or regional withmixedscientific and commercial missions. The collaborationon methodology and standards in Europeanprogrammes should be developed into strategicpartnerships.

Water is one of the essentials of life. In this section,just those aspects of water classed as hydraulics inthe sense of natural flows in rivers, estuaries and thesea, the use of water for transport, and the conse-quences of ice in the environment shall be considered.Experiments in hydraulics are fundamental for creatingthe necessary tools for predictions of such phenomenaas flooding, coastal inundation, impact on waterquality in rivers, estuaries, coastal and marine areas,exploitation of ocean-based resources, ship designand ice engineering. Over the last sixty years, thebalance has shifted from an emphasis on experimentallaboratory and field research to an emphasis onnumerical modelling. Field experiments andexperimental laboratory research are neverthelessindispensable to the synergetic approach of hydraulicresearch. A promising example of the urgently neededco-ordination and co-operation on a European scaleis the Integrating Activity HYDRALAB. Hydraulicresearch facilities have been established as nationalor regional Research Infrastructures and are typicallyoperated with both commercial and scientificmissions. The European co-operation is focused onco-ordination, common transnational accessprocedures, development of new experimentalmethods and analytical tools. ESFRI encouragesfurther strengthening of these activities.

Nano-science and technology embracesmaterialsscience, materials technology and engineering. Itstudies the manipulation or self-assembly of indi-vidual atoms, molecules, or molecular clusters intostructures to create materials and devices with newproperties. There is no doubt that nano-science andtechnology is, and will be, one of themajor researchand development areas for the coming decades. Dueto its very multidisciplinary nature, the question onResearch Infrastructure needs is quite different fromthat of other fields. A broad range of often smallerbut dedicated and complementary equipment isneeded in one single site in order to be able toperform all processing and characterization stepsneeded. A recent report of the Nanoforum 12 clearlyshows that Europe already has a large number ofresearch centres dealing with nano-science and –technology. Organising these typically smallercentres into a network and stimulating transnationalaccess to all existing facilities could help to avoidduplication and also could reduce costs. Greatadvantage could come from co-location of analyticalfacilities and nano-science centres, for example. Sucha growing concentration of capability adds value tothe scientific landscape of Europe as a whole, but onthe other hand it needs to be balanced by a broadgeographic distribution of partner facilities andnetworks, and by mechanisms to ensure broadscientific use and access to the facilities. In general,a closer and enhanced co-operation of ResearchInfrastructures to form new European strategicpartnerships should be encouraged.

12See www.nanoforum.org: “European Nanotechnology Infrastructureand Networks” (published July 2007).

Materials and analytical facilities

The rate at which new products can be developed,and pressing societal challenges can bemet, is closelylinked to our ability to characterise materials across arange of spatial and temporal scales. For example, ourcapacity to analyse in detail key processes related tocatalysis, smart materials, biomedical devices, tissueregeneration or even to threats to global security willprofoundly affect our standard of living and generalwell-being. Similarly, the speed of our response toglobal challenges such as pandemics or naturaldisasters is also closely linked to the ability of scien-tists and engineers to have access to analytical infra-structures. Having access to high class Research Infra-structures has enabled us now formore than a centuryto live in durable and effective industrial and econo-mic growth, based on increasingly sophisticated newproducts from catalytic converters or cell phones tonew pharmaceutical drugs, accompanied by conti-nuous improvement in traditional products, from carengines to glass cover for housing or highly developedfunctional fabric for clothing.

Well equipped laboratories are necessary for carryingout advanced research on these new materials.Among the necessary infrastructures are: clean roomsfor synthesis and processing, high quality analyticalfacilities based on synchrotron radiation sources, freeelectron lasers, neutron sources, high power laserlaboratories, high magnetic field laboratories andhigh resolution electron microscopes. ESFRI willexplore ways in which networking and linking ofthese facilities can create European added value.

Astronomy and astroparticlephysics

In the exploration of the universe as a whole, of theobjects in it and in the quest to gain a better under-standing of the constituents of matter and theirbehaviour, science has made enormous progress in

66 esfri

recent decades. In turn, this progress has generateda lot of new fundamental questions which are todayon the agenda of astrophysics, astroparticle physics,particle physics and nuclear physics. These researchareas are in many ways interconnected. Examplesare the search for dark matter and dark energy, theorigin of mass and understanding the origin of thechemical elements through nuclear astrophysics.

Basic science has always been the driver for thedevelopment of new technologies to improve thegathering of tiny bits of information from the farthestdistances and from the smallest dimensions of spaceand time. New instruments have always led to newdiscoveries and new insight. In the course of thisdevelopment the facilities in fundamental physicsand astronomy have become definitely larger,technicallymore sophisticated andmuchmore costly.This means that more than ever before it has becomea necessity to combine the intellectual and financialresources of many countries to realise these projects.

In astronomy, outstanding discoveries in recent yearshave highlighted new fundamental issues to beaddressed. These include the emergence of the firststars and galaxies in the universe and their evolution,the description of gravity, and planet formationaround other stars. To tackle these and other ques-tions, a new suite of instruments is required to pro-vide data across the electromagnetic spectrumwithgreater sensitivity than ever before.

Nuclear and Particle Physics

Nuclear physics has been revolutionized by the recentdevelopment of the ability to produce acceleratedbeams of radioactive nuclei. Modern nuclear physicsputs the focus on two main aims. At the larger scalewe want to understand the limits of nuclear stabilityby producing exotic nuclei with vastly dif ferentnumbers of neutrons and protons. At the smaller scale,wewant to explore the substructure of the constituentneutrons and protons, for it is in the interaction of their

constituent parts that the ultimate description ofnuclei must lie. There are two approaches to producingradioactive beams – the “In-Flight Fragmentation”and the “ISOL (isotope-separation on-line)”techniques. These techniques provide complementaryinformation and both need to be pursued.

Particle physics stands on the threshold of a new andexciting era of discovery. The experiments nowcollecting data at the LHC will explore new domainsand probe the deep structure of space-time. Europeanparticle physics is based on national institutes, uni-versities and laboratories and on CERN as a jointlyoperated international organisation. The EuropeanStrategy for Particle Physics was adopted in 2006 bythe CERN Council, with the followingmain elements:

(1) The LHCmachine at CERN, now in operation, willbe the energy frontier machine for the foreseeablefuture and its physics potential should be fullyexploited. R&D should be pursued for luminosityupgrades and a potential energy upgrade;

(2) In order to be in a position to push the energyand luminosity frontier even further, an advancedaccelerator R&D programme is needed (involvinghigh performancemagnets, Compact Linear Collider(CLIC) technology andwork towards a high intensityneutrino facility); and

(3) the results of the LHC should be complementedwith measurements at an electron-positron linearcollider. Three on-going preparatory phase projectshave been established to address these priorities (seeshort descriptions on page 67. The European Strategyfor Particle Physics also emphasizes the importanceof the links to Astroparticle and Nuclear Physics andthe potential of regional projects in the area offlavour physics, the latter being addressed by theplans for the SuperB facility in Italy.

Generally, the contribution of facilities to interdiscipli-nary science should be promoted. There should be

increased co-ordination and networking in supportof breakthroughs in areas of societal relevance. Thegoals would include identifying new opportunities,new challenges, entirely new fields in science andimpact of new facilities. Such initiatives shouldcouple research, education, and innovation inpartnership with universities and industry.

ESFRI and the European Commission should continuetheir important role in incubating and catalysingdecision processes for future large ResearchInfrastructures, and supporting their developmentthrough Preparatory Phase programmes, integratingactivities and design studies.

The European Commission should also considerplaying a role in catalysing new technological deve-lopments in areas such as accelerators and detectorsin partnership with industry. Detector developmentsshould be handled co-operatively between neutronand synchrotron facilities and in collaboration withHigh Energy Physics projects. A particular challengeto neutron scattering techniques is posed by thecurrent worldwide 3He shortage; there is aconsequent urgency to develop novel detectionsystems and to improve the alternative existingdetectors.


None of the abovementioned facilities could possiblybe implemented without truly international collabo-ration, but one of these projects even has inherentlya global character: the Square Kilometre Array (SKA)for radio-astronomy joining the astronomer’scommunities of Europe, North America and East Asiatogether with those of the host candidate countriesAustralia and South Africa. But also other projects –like E-ELT, CTA, European XFEL, FAIR or ELI – whichare primarily supported by European actors do attractnon-European science organisations and researchersas they offer unique opportunities for R&D and mayopen doors to a new quality of science.

ê

Engineering, Physical Sciences, Materials and Analytical FacilitiesPaRt 2 Roadmap

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67esfriPart 2 › roadmap › Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures 67esfriPart 2 › roadmap › Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures

This trend has also to be followed on the political andadministrative level. Networking of science adminis-trators working in different jurisdictions must befurther developed by systematic exchange of informa-tion and for best practices in planning, prioritisingand executing large projects. Best practices in projectmanagement including cost control, quality assuranceand data management must be employed. Policiesfor international, quality-driven access to the frontrank facilities need to be in place.

The stewardship of the fast growing experimentaldata files also calls for a global approach, where theResearch Infrastructures and the e-infrastructurecommunities need to come ever closer in the pursuitof common solutions that are beneficial to a broadspectrum of stakeholders. Modern ICT technologiesallows for a much broader access and use of highquality data for scientific, educational, commercialand political use.

For this vision to be fully realised, the culture andregulation of data generation, validation, curation,transformation and use needs to be much betterunderstood and appreciated in wide stakeholdercircles. ESFRI will enhance international outreach onthese issues both via bilateral contacts together withEuropean Commission initiatives and via the overlapin memberships of international fora like the OECDGlobal Science Forum (GSF). ■

ILC-HiGrade – Preparatory Phase for the InternationalLinear Collider

The ILC-HiGrade project brings together the key players in Europeto engage towards the realisation of the International Linear Col-lider. They constitute a large fraction of the European element ofthe Global Design Effort (GDE) that has recently led to the publica-tion of the Reference Design Report (RDR). The report forms thebasis for the Engineering Design Phase of the ILC. Starting in 2008,

the ILC-HiGrade Consortium will address important elements in this 2-stageprocess with siting of the facility as one major ingredient. Currently there aresite proposals in Japan, US and in Europe. Their benefits will be evaluatedand the international framework in which the project will be realised will bedeveloped.ILC-HiGrade encompasses the European side in this global endeavour.The participating laboratories and universities contribute their long-standingexperience in conceiving large-scale experiments and the organisation of largecollaborations to a process that establishes the global framework for an organ-isation that will support start of constructionmatching the technical timelines.Website: www.ilc-higrade.eu

SLHC – Preparatory Phase for the Large HadronCollider Upgrade

The Preparatory Phase project of the LHC-upgrade will preparethe ground for a decision on the approval of the project'simplementation. Beside the justification of SLHC by the physicsresults and operational experience from the first years of LHCrunning, the necessary ingredients for the approval will include:

thematurity of new technologies required for SLHC, solutions for critical safetyissues, and the formation of collaborations for the implementation, includingthe definition of work sharing and financial commitments. The SLHC-PP projectis fully set up to address these issues and to prepare for the approval by theCERN council and by all other funding agencies involved.The SLHC-PP project runs in parallel with an extensive SLHC-oriented R&Dprogram, funded by CERN together with important contributions from manyCERNmember and non-member states. In order to prepare for the SLHC projectimplementation as a whole, the coordination tasks within SLHC-PP include thecoordination of these developments carried out outside SLHC-PP.Website: http://cern.ch/SLHC-PP/

TIARA - Test Infrastructure and Accelerator Research AreaThe main objective of TIARA (Test Infrastructure andAccelerator Research Area) is the integration ofnational and international accelerator R&D infrastruc-tures into a single distributed European acceleratorR&D facility. This will include the implementation oforganisational structures to enable the integration of existing individualinfrastructures, their efficient operation and upgrades, and the constructionof new infrastructures as part of TIARA.TIARAwill enable full exploitation of the complementary features and expertiseof the individual member infrastructures, maximizing the benefits for both theowners of these infrastructures and their users. This unique distributed facilitywill also support the development of an integrated R&D programme embracingthe needs of many different fields, as well as medical and industrial sectors,both on technical and human resource aspects.Website: http://www.eu-tiara.eu

Preparatory Phase projects for the European Strategy for Particle Physics (CERN)


› ENGINEERING, PHYSICAL SCIENCES, MATERIALS AND ANALYTICAL FACILITIES

ctA Cherenkov Telescope Array

The facility

The Cherenkov Telescope Array will be an advancedfacility for ground-based high-energy gamma-rayastronomy. With two sites, in both the southern andnorthern hemispheres, it will extend the study ofastrophysical origin of gamma-rays at energies of afew tens of GeV and above. It will provide the firstcomplete and detailed view of the universe in this partof the radiation spectrum and will contribute towardsa better understanding of astrophysical and cosmo-logical processes.

Background

The present generation of imaging atmosphericCherenkov telescopes has allowed the first detailedobservations of the sky using gamma-rays of energiesof a TeV and above. They have revealed a sky unexpec-tedly rich in gamma-rays features such as extendedsources with complex and resolved structure lining thecentral band of the Milky Way, and extragalacticsources at very large distanceswith some showing veryfast variability on a time scale of minutes. Extendingthese observations is an important future avenue ofinquiry for astronomy.

The CTA will consist of arrays of Cherenkov telescopeswhich will increase the sensitivity for observations ofdistant or faint objects by another order of magnitude,provide better angular resolution and lead to improvedimages of the structure of gamma-ray sources, allowa wider field of view enhancing all-sky survey capa-bility and the study of transient phenomena, enhanceall sky survey capability, and have wide and uniformcoverage for gamma-ray energies from tens of GeV tohundreds of TeV. The facility will investigate cosmicnon-thermal processes, in cooperation withobservatories in other wavelength ranges of theelectromagnetic radiation spectrum, as well as withthose using other messenger types (i.e. neutrinotelescopes, cosmic ray arrays). This multi-messengerapproach to astronomy will lead to deeper under-standing of major astrophysical processes and of theevolution of the universe.


The array will be built at two separate sites, one in thesouthern hemisphere with wide gamma-ray energyrange and high resolution to cover the plane of theMilkyWay, and the second in the northern hemispherespecialised for lower energies, which will focus onextragalactic and cosmological objects. The CTA facilitywill be operated as a proposal-driven observatory, witha Science Data Centre providing transparent access todata, analysis tools, and user training.

An ongoing design study supported by nationalsources shall be finished at the end of 2011. Startingin 2011, an EU funded 3-year preparation phase projectshall prepare the ground for the start of constructionwhich is currently foreseen for 2014/2015. Start ofoperation is expected for 2019; expected lifetime willbe 20-30 years.

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TimeliNe



• Operation phase: 2019

eSTimaTed CoSTS





www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/CTA

Artist's conception of a CTA site (Copyright: ASPERA).



e-eLt European Extremely Large Telescope

The facility

ELTs are seen world-wide as one of the highest prio-rities in ground-based astronomy. They will vastlyadvance astrophysical knowledge allowing detailedstudies of inter alia planets around other stars, the firstobjects in the Universe, super-massive Black Holes,and the nature and distribution of the Dark Matter andDark Energy which dominate the Universe. The 42mEuropean Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) projectwill maintain and reinforce Europe’s position at theforefront of astrophysical research.

Background

Extremely Large Telescopes allow the next major stepin addressing the most fundamental properties of theuniverse. All areas of known astronomy, from studiesof our own solar system to the farthest observableobjects at the edge of the universe, will be advancedby the enormous improvements attainable incollecting area and angular resolution. Following aresolution by the ESO Council in 2004 instructing ESOto ensure European leadership in ground-basedoptical/near infrared astronomy in the ELT era, ESOcompleted at the end of 2006 the Reference Design ofthe 42 meter European Extremely Large Telescope(E-ELT). In parallel, the E-ELT’s scientific case has beendeveloped and is being refined by the astrophysicalcommunity through the EC-funded OPTICON programas well as by various ESO Committees. Major enabling

technologies are being pursued by European researchinstitutes and high-tech companies within the ELTDesign Study FP6 project, with ESO and theCommission as the main funders. These efforts areconducted in close contact with the other similarprojects all around the world. Astronomy is known tobe themost effective topic attracting young people toscience and technology careers. Astronomicaltelescopes, being large precision opto-mechanicalsystems in hostile environments, develop advancedtechnologies inmany state-of-the-art areas with spin-offs ranging frommedicine to image data processing.


E-ELT will be implemented and operated on behalf ofESO, and all 14 ESO member states formally givesupport to this project. Additionally, a consortium ledby ESO and 26 institutions from 8 ESOmember statesis completing the EU funded E-ELT Preparatory Phaseproject. Furthermore, 10 nationally funded consortiaare developing instrument design studies for the E-ELT.The telescope will be located at Cerro Armazones,Chile. Construction decision by the ESO Council isexpected in December 2010, along with a finalimplementation plan. The E-ELT InstrumentationProject Office has been established to work on theinstrument studies and the telescope interface. So far,ten instrument consortia have been formed. A full suiteof instruments covering a wide parameter space willbe built up over the first decade of E-ELT operations.

preparaTory phaSe

Coordination: ESO

Number of participating countries:

ESO Member States

TimeliNe


eSTimaTed CoSTS





www.eso.org/projects/e-elt



eLI Extreme Light Infrastructure

The facility

ELI will be an international Research Infrastructure forthe investigation and applications of laser matterinteraction at more than 6 orders of magnitude higherthan today’s state of the art. ELI will explore lasermatter interaction up to the nonlinear quantumelectrodynamics (QED) limit along with atto-secondlaser science designed to conduct temporal investi-gation at the atto-second scale of electron dynamicsin atoms, molecules, plasmas and solids and develop-ment of dedicated beam lines of ultra short pulses ofhigh energy radiation and particles up to 100GeV forusers. ELI will be a pan-European multi-sited infra-structure with three pillars: Atto-second Pillar (Szeged,Hungary), Beamlines Pillar (Dolni Brezany near Prague),and Photonuclear Pillar (Magurele, Romania). ELI willbecome the first genuinely international large-scalelaser facility.

Background

Laser intensities have increased by 6 orders of magni-tude in the last few years. These are now so large thatthe laws of optics change in a fundamental way, thusopening up the new field called relativistic optics. Oneimportant aspect of ELI is the possibility to produceultra short pulses of high energy photons, electrons,protons, neutrons, muons, and neutrinos in the atto-second and possibly zepto-second regimes ondemand. Time-domain studies will allow unravellingthe dynamics in atomic, molecular physics and plasmaphysics. ELI will be the first facility in the worlddedicated to laser-matter interaction in the ultra-

relativistic regime. It will provide unprecedentedintensity levels andwill be the gateway to new regimesin physics while at the same time promoting newtechnologies. ELI will have a large societal benefit inmedicine with new radiography and hadron therapymethods, in material sciences with the possibility tounravel and slow down the ageing process in a nuclearreactor and in environment by offering new ways totreat nuclear waste.


A Memorandum of Understanding on the Establish-ment and Operation of ELI was signed on 16 April 2010in Prague by the governments of the Czech Republic,Hungary and Romania. The MoU lays out stepstowards future establishment of the ELI-ERIC infra-structure with single governance, and establishes thepan-European ELI Delivery Consortiumwith amissionto implement the designed ELI Pillars. It is expectedthat other countries will soon join the MoU. Fundingapproval for the Pillar of the ELI Beamline Facility inthe Czech Republic is expected for January 2011, thelaunch of the implementation for January- February2011 and start of construction of the building for theELI beamlines in September 2011. Completion andcommissioning of the building and start of installa-tion of the laser systems and other equipment areexpected by mid 2013; with commissioning of thecompleted facility and entry into operation in late2015. Negotiations on funding schemes for the ELI-Atto-second and Photonuclear facilities from therespective national programmes of the StructuralFunds of the EU are underway.

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TimeliNe


• Operation phase: late 2015

A fourth site will be selected in 2012

and is scheduled for commissioning

in 2017.

eSTimaTed CoSTS

• Construction: ca. 700 M€ (includes

estimated costs of three Regional

Partner Facilities)

• Operations: ca. 70 M€


www.extreme-light-infrastructure.eu/

ELI will be the first ESFRI Roadmap project implemented in new MemberStates (Copyright: ELI Delivery Consortium).



eMFL European Magnetic Field Laboratory

The facility

EMFL will be a dedicated magnet field laboratoryproviding the highest possible fields (both continuousand pulsed) to European researchers. It will beoperated as a single distributed Research Infrastructurewhich integrates and upgrades the four alreadyexisting major European high magnetic field labo-ratories: the Grenoble HighMagnetic Field Laboratory(GHMFL), the Laboratoire National des ChampsMagnétiques Pulsés (LNCMP) in Toulouse, theHochfeld-Magnetlabor Dresden (HLD), and the HighField Magnet Laboratory (HFML) in Nijmegen. EMFLwill allow Europe to take the lead in the productionand use of very highmagnetic fields for scientific goals.

Background

High magnetic fields, both static and pulsed, providethe most powerful tools available to scientists for thestudy, the modification and the control of the state ofmatter. They are extensively used in a variety ofscientific domains, from physics and material scienceto chemistry and life sciences. Technological applica-tions include the characterisation of superconductivematerials. At present the USA’s National HighMagneticField Laboratory (NHMFL), distributed over three sitesis the leading facility in the field. EMFL will coordinateand upgrade Europe’s high field activities to an

effective size and efficiency comparable to that of theNHMFL. EMFL will coordinate joint developmentprograms. HFML will concentrate on advanced spec-troscopy through the unique combination with a FELand the dedicated continuous 40 T low vibration hybridmagnet, while GHMFL will house a record field hybridmagnet (50 T) with a new 40 MW installation. ESRFand ILL (Grenoble) will cooperate with the EMFL todesign, build and operate the necessary magnets forbeam scattering and will share the new high powerinstallation. HLD will fully exploit the coupling to theELBE FEL for infrared spectroscopy and will developmagnets for the production of the highest availablepulsed fields, while LNCMP will expand its activitiesin X-ray and visible spectroscopy, and strengthen itsmagnet materials development program.


EMFL has been granted a 3-year EU Preparation PhaseProject and will also manage the scientific access of itsusers to all its installations, the selection of the propo-sals beingmade by an independent external SelectionCommittee.

The construction of the new EMFL facility is expectedto start in 2014 after the Preparatory Phase, and to lastfor 5 years. The facility should remain in operation forat least 15 years.

preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe

• Start of preparatory phase: 2011


eSTimaTed CoSTS



•operations: 8 M€/year additional to

existing budget

www.emfl.eu



euroFeL (ex-IRUVX-FEL)

The facility

Intense light beams with infrared to soft X-ray wave-lengths are the major probe to study the electronicproperties of matter, involving a very large usercommunity. Free Electron Lasers (FELs) can nowproduce such beams of coherent, femto-second lightpulses with unprecedented intensities. The EuroFELConsortium (previously called IRUVX-FEL) willintegrate the national FEL based facilities currently inoperation or emerging in Europe into a single, distri-buted and internationally open Research Infrastructure.The integration will exploit in the best way thecomplementary specifications and instruments of eachfacility for wide-ranging studies of matter by a largescience community.

Background

Recent technological advances have allowed develo-ping new light sources based on free electron lasersfor a broad spectral range from infrared to X-ray wave-lengths. The development of a set of complementaryFEL sources as an integrated pan-European ResearchInfrastructure will give Europe a first-class infrastruc-ture, unprecedented worldwide, complementingpresent synchrotron radiation sources and “table top”lasers. The interaction between matter and intenseelectromagnetic radiation in this spectral range isvirtually unexplored. The photon beams of soft X-rayFELs have completely new qualities compared to those

of synchrotrons and also exceed other sources basedon conventional lasers. Europe has the unique chanceof consolidating its world leadership in a field ofhighest relevance. Scientific challenges and opportu-nities will open for a wide range of scientific disciplines,ranging from nano-sciences, materials and bioma-terials sciences to plasma, molecular, cluster, femto-,nano-physics and chemistry with various connectionsto life, environmental, astrophysical and earth sciences,and the development of technologies ranging frommicro-electronics to energy. Some novel emergingsynchrotron techniques, like holographic coherentimaging or ultra fast pump-probe studies, will greatlybenefit from the enhanced beam properties.


EuroFEL will develop common strategies between IR,UV and X-FELs, sharing know-how, software andtechnological developments. The core activities ofEuroFEL are:(1) ensuring efficient construction and operation of

complementary, world-class FEL facilities formulti-disciplinary research with pan-European access,

(2) coordinating technical developments,(3) coordinating training and education,(4) ensuring efficient external and internal communi-cation, and

(5) representing European FEL science and technologywithin the consortium. A web-based single-entryaccess for users is also envisaged.

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TimeliNe

• Preparatory phase project:

2008-2011

eSTimaTed CoSTS

• preparation: 150-200 M€

• Construction: 1200-1600 M€

•operation: ca. 10% of total

investment costs


www.eurofel.eu

The first two operational X-ray FELs of EuroFEL in Germany and Italy and two advanced projects in Switzerland and Sweden (Copyright: Maxlab, PSI, DESY,FERMI/G. Crozzoli).


eSS European Spallation Source

The facility

The European Spallation Source will be the world’smost powerful long-pulse source of neutrons at 5MW.Its built-in upgradeability will make it the most cost-effective top tier source for the next 40 years. Agenuine pan-European facility, it will serve a commu-nity of 5,000 researchers across many areas of scienceand technology. The ESS will be co-hosted by Swedenand Denmark and built in Lund with a Data Manage-ment Centre located in Copenhagen. Additionally, animportant infrastructure site, an ESS Laboratory TestFacility and Accelerator Components Factory, will belocated in Bilbao (Spain).

Background

Fine analysis of matter requires the complementaryuse of diverse “probes” and techniques, such as lightscattering, neutron scattering, Nuclear MagneticResonance (NMR), computer modelling and simu-lations. Neutrons are particularly important for softand hard condensed matter, magnetism and biology,as well as for nuclear physics. The intense beams oflow energy neutrons that will be available at the ESSare entirely new opportunities for real time, real size,in situ, in vivo measurements, including movies ofnano-scale events. They will allow understanding ofthe structure, dynamics and functions of increasinglycomplex systems covering the broad field of inorganicand organicmaterials, as well as biomaterials. The longpulse configuration of ESS provides substantially high

power and the largest instrument innovation potential.Its performances guarantee a long-termworld leadingposition for Europe. ESS will also offer new modes ofoperation and user support to maximally facilitate theindustrial access, next to university and research labusers. The high neutron flux will allow advanced andeffective investigations in a wide range of fields.Requirements for novel detectors, instrument andsoftware technologies will be additional drivers ofinnovation. ESS, amultifunctional facility with applica-tions in many industries, will also have a markedregional impact.


In line with the global neutron strategy endorsed byOECDministers in 1999, the US is now commissioningits SNS facility at Oak Ridge and Japan is preparing forthe first neutrons at J-PARC. The ESS conceptual designand cost-estimation phase involved all major Europeanlaboratories and demonstrated the feasibility of aMW-power spallation source for Europe. ESS is nowestablished as a Swedish company (ESS AB) withinternational governing board, management andadvisory committees that reflect the partnership of16 countries, including Sweden and Denmark. Thelatter became shareholder of ESS AB at 26.3% on21 December 2010. Negotiations with new countriesare underway. Detailed design is ongoing (until end2012) and co-operation agreements with a range ofpartner laboratories and organisations are in place.

Visualisation from EAST (Photo credit: ESS AB).


poSTpreparaTory phaSe

Coordination: Sweden


TimeliNe

2010-2071

eSTimaTed CoSTS

• preparation: 30 M€




http://ESS-Scandinavia.eu



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Coordination: Italy


TimeliNe

2008-2014

eSTimaTed CoSTS





www.km3net.org

KM3Net Kilometre Cube Neutrino Telescope

The facility

KM3NeT will be a deep-sea Research Infrastructure intheMediterranean Sea hosting a cubic-kilometre sizeddeep-sea neutrino telescope for astronomy based onthe detection of high-energy cosmic neutrinos andgiving access to long term deep-sea measurements.The goal of KM3Net is to investigate neutrino “pointsources” (gamma ray bursts, supernovae or collidingstars) in the energy regime of 1-100 TeV. The telescopewill also be a powerful tool for the indirect detectionof dark matter. It will have improved sensitivity(> factor 50) compared with the current Northernhemisphere telescopes (ANTARES) andwill also exceedthe sensitivity of the US-led IceCube experiment. Theobservatory would also provide a facility for Earth andmarine sciences.

Background

Neutrinos are ideal messengers for studying thehighest-energy, most violent processes in the universe,since they are not deflected and can travel cosmolo-gical distances without absorption. However, due totheir weak interaction with ordinary matter, hugedetectors are required to measure them. Several firstgenerations of such neutrino telescopes in the Medi-terranean Sea are currently in operation or underconstruction. However, only future installations ofcubic-kilometre size will exploit the full scientificpotential of neutrino astronomy. These installations

can be built in synergy with environmental observa-tion underwater stations such as EMSO. The KM3NeTneutrino telescopewill be the leading European facilityfor neutrino astronomy. It will be the only deep-seainstallation of this size in the world and only be com-plemented by the US-led IceCube project currentlyunder construction in the Antarctic ice at the SouthPole. Compared to IceCube, KM3NeT will determinedirection and energy of the neutrinos with higherprecision, it will have a significantly higher sensitivityfor source detection and it will have the major advan-tage of being able to observe neutrinos originatingfrom the central region of the Milky Way.


The design, construction and operation of KM3NeTwillbe pursued by a consortium formed around the insti-tutes currently involved in the ANTARES, NESTOR andNEMO pilot projects, which have been investigatingtechnologies relevant to KM3NetT and deployingsmall-scale prototype telescopes. Critical issues for thefacility have been addressed in a FP6 design study(2006-9). The EU-funded Preparatory Phase projectstarted inMarch 2008 and is expected to be completedbyMarch 2012. In July 2010 the consortium publisheda preliminary Technical Design Review. A decision onthe final design and the site is expected for October2011. Start of construction is intended for 2013, withdata acquisition from 2014 onwards.



SKA Square Kilometre Array

The facility

The Square Kilometre Array will be the next generationradio telescope. With an operating frequency range of70 MHz - 25 GHz and a collecting area of about1.000.000 m2, it will be 50 times more sensitive thancurrent facilities. With its huge field-of-view it will beable to survey the sky more than 10,000 times fasterthan any existing radio telescope. The SKA will be amachine that transforms our view of the universe.

Background

The development of radio telescopes and radio interfe-rometers over recent decades has helped drive acontinuous advance in our knowledge of the universe,its origins and evolution, and the enormously powerfulphenomena that give rise to star and galaxy formation.Radio astronomy also provides one of the mostpromising search techniques in humanity’s quest todetermine if life exists elsewhere in the universe. Thehuge collecting area of the SKAwill result in sensitivity50 times greater than any existing interferometer, arequirement to see the faint radio signals from the earlyuniverse. The radically new concept of an “electronic”telescope with a huge field-of-view and multiplebeamswill allow very fast surveys. The SKAwill be themost sensitive radio telescope ever built andwill attackmany of the most important problems in cosmologyand fundamental physics. Observations of pulsars willdetect cosmic gravitational waves and test Einstein’sGeneral Theory of Relativity in the vicinity of blackholes. The SKA will study the distribution of neutralhydrogen (themost common element in the universe)in a billion galaxies across cosmic history, thus makingit possible to map the formation and evolution ofgalaxies, study the nature of dark energy and probethe epoch when the first stars were born. The SKAwillbe the only instrument that will map magnetic fieldsacross the universe, allowing us for the first time tostudy the nature of magnetism.


SKA is conceived as a global project bringing togetherthe astronomy communities of Europe, North America,and East Asia, together with those of the host candi-date countries Australia and South Africa. 55 institutesin 19 countries around the world are working togetherto plan the SKA and develop the technologies required.The two candidate host countries, Australia and SouthAfrica, are constructing specific SKA pathfinder tele-scopes (Australia: ASKAP (~AU$100M); South Africa:MeerKAT (~ZAR800M). A top-level policy steeringgroup, the Agencies SKA Group (ASG) is chaired by theUK and involves representation from, among others,the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Italy, France,the United States, South Africa, Australia, Germanyand Canada. The SKA Program Development Office(SPDO) coordinating global design activity is locatedat the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

At the end of the Preparatory Phase project of SKA, alegal entity based on national law (site to be decidedin spring 2011) should be established in 2011 tooversee the pre-construction phase, expected in2012-2016. A site decision is expected during 2012.Construction will be executed in two phases: 2016-2018 and 2018-2022. Early shared risk science isexpected to begin in 2017.

preparaTory phaSe



TimeliNe

• preparation phase: 2008-2012

• pre-construction phase: 2013-2015

• Construction phase:

phase 1 2016-2018,

phase 2 2018-2022

• Start of operations (phase 1): 2017

eSTimaTed CoSTS

• preparation: ca. 200 M€ (R&D and

Pathfinders)

• Construction: 1500 M€ (350 M€

for Phase 1)


www.skatelescope.org/

The SKA will consist of an inner core and outer stations arranged in alog-spiral pattern and extending to distances of up to at least 3,000 km(Copyright: SPDO).


ThematicWorking GroupMembersand Experts

Biological and Medical SciencesChairperson – Eckhart CURTIUSvice Chairperson – Murat ÖZGÖRENSecretariat – Silke GUNDEL, Marie-Christine MAHLKE

MembersBEEM Edvard (The Netherlands)CARRASCOSA José Lopez (Spain)FAURE Jean-Emmanuel (EC representative)FRØKJÆR Jørgen (Denmark)FRONCISZ Wojciech (Poland)GUDBJARTSSON Hakon (Iceland)HEINEGÅRD Dick (Sweden)HENGARTNER Michael (Switzerland)HEVER Ann (Ireland)HILSON Pierre (Belgium)MALAS Stavros (Cyprus)METSPALU Andres (Estonia)MLINARIČ-RAŠČAN Irena (Slovenia)OMHOLT Stig W. (Norway)PASTORI Gabriela (United Kingdom)PIHLAJANIEMI Taina (Finland)RADU Gabriel-Lucian (Romania)RIVA Silvano (Italy)SERRÃO Ester (Portugal)St. JOHN Brian (Malta)SUSSMAN Joel (Israel)SYROTA André (France)SZABO Gabor (Hungary)THANOS Dimitrios (Greece)VALINCIUS Gintaras (Lithuania)ZATLOUKAL Kurt (Austria)ZWOCH Ingrid (Germany)

Additional ExpertsBATOKO Henri (Belgium)DUDITS Dénes (Hungary)FALASCHI Arturo (Italy)HERAULT Yann (France)LAWLOR David (United Kingdom)SALKINOJA-SALONEN Mirja (Finland)HUUB Spiertz (The Netherlands)

Environmental SciencesChairperson – Eeva IKONENvice Chairperson – Elisabeth KOCHSecretariat – Saara LILJA-ROTHSTEN, Timo SARENEvA

MembersBULLA Miklòs (Hungary)FRIBERG Magnus (Sweden)GIARDINI Domenico (Switzerland)HAUGAN Peter M. (Norway)HERMAN Rudy (Belgium)

JOHANSSON Anna-Maria (EC representative)JOUSSAUME Sylvie (France)MAREK Michal V. (Czech Republic)MARTENS Frans (The Netherlands)McGOVERN Frank (Ireland)NAVARRA Antonio (Italy)HÖIJER Laura (Finland)PAIVA Maria Rosa (Portugal)SCHULTZ Michael (United Kingdom)STANICA Adrian (Romania)VIELGRAF Saskia (Germany)VAIKMÄE Rein (Estonia)ZALEWSKI Maciej (Poland)

Additional ExpertsDODD David (Ireland)

Engineering and Physical SciencesChairperson – Jørgen KJEMS

MembersGIRARD Bertrand (France)NAGY Denes L. (Hungary)KARLSSON Ulf (Sweden)KOSSUT Jacek (Poland)KŘENEK Petr (Czech Republic)KURRER Christian (EC representative)PRASSE Heike (Germany)RYAN Michael (Ireland)SAXEN Henrik (Finland)VAN SAARLOOS Wim (The Netherlands)WOMERSLEY John (United Kingdom)

EnergyChairperson – Gabriele FIONIAdvisor – Morten GRONLI

MembersCARRERE Jean-Marie (France)BINDSLEV Henrik (Denmark)BOLT Harald (Germany)BRANDON Nigel (United Kingdom)LOPES CARDOSO Niek (The Netherlands)CRISTESCU Ion-Catalin (Romania)FERRAZZA Francesca (Italy)JUODIS Laurynas (Lithuania)KENNEDY Matthew (Ireland)Mc. AULEY David (Ireland)KONSTANDOPOULOS Athanasios (Greece)LEIJON Mats (Sweden)LUND Peter (Finland)LABEAU Pierre-Etienne (Belgium)REKSTAD John (Norway)SORIA LASCORE Enrique (Spain)ŠTEKL Ivan (Czech Republic)TOMCZYK Piotr (Poland)WEISS Brigitte (EC representative)WOKAUN Alexander (Switzerland)

annexes


Social Sciences and HumanitiesChairperson – Peter FARAGO

MembersBRAENDSTROEM Anders (Sweden)CALZOLARI ZAMORANI Nicoletta (Italy)DEBOOSERE Patrick (Belgium)DEMONET Marie-Luce (France)DUSA Adrian (Romania)ELIAS Peter (United Kingdom)HENRICHSEN Bjorn (Norway)KENESEI István (Hungary)KREJČÍ Jindřich (Czech Republic)MACH Bogdan (Poland)OHLMEYER Jane (Ireland)ROBERTS Caroline (Switzerland)ROJOLA Lea (Finland)SPANNHAKE Brunhild (Germany)THEOFILATOU Maria (EC representative)VAN KESSEL-HAGESTEIJN Renée (The Netherlands)

Members of the Draftingand Review Groups

Drafting GroupANDREI IonelCURTIUS EckhartFARAGO PeterFIONI GabrieleIKONEN EevaKJEMS JørgenÖZGÖREN MuratVIERKORN-RUDOLPH Beatrix (current ESFRI Chair)

Review GroupCHANG Hans (first ESFRI Chair)MOULIN JeanPAULI AnneliRIZZUTO Carlo (third ESFRI Chair)VIERKORN-RUDOLPH Beatrix (current ESFRI Chair)WOMERSLEY John

Support GroupRIGHI-STEELE ElenaOEPEN AndreaRITTER ClaudiaWARNECK Beate

ESFRI ForumMembers

CHAIR

Beatrix vIERKORN-RUDOLPHFederal Ministry of Education and ResearchEmail: [email protected]

MEMBER STATES

AUSTRIA

Anneliese STOKLASKAAustrian Federal Ministry of Science and ResearchEmail: [email protected]

Daniel WESELKAAustrian Federal Ministry of Science and ResearchEmail: [email protected]

BELGIUM

Jean MOULINFederal Science Policy OfficeEmail: [email protected]

BULGARIA

Orlin KUZOvMinistry of Education and ScienceEmail: [email protected]

Anna PROYKOvAFaculty of Physics - Sofia UniversityEmail: [email protected]

CYPRUS

Christos ASPRISPlanning Officer / Planning BureauEmail: [email protected]

Stavros MALASThe Cyprus Institute of Neurology and GeneticsEmail: [email protected]

CZECH REPUBLIC

Jan HRUŜÁKAcademy of Science of the Czech RepublicEmail: [email protected]

Nadezda WITZANYOvAMinistry of Education, Youth and SportsEmail: [email protected]


DENMARK

Jørgen KJEMSTechnical University of DenmarkEmail: [email protected]

Hans Müller PEDERSENDanish Agency for Science, Technology and InnovationEmail: [email protected]

ESTONIA

Toivo RÄIMMinistry of Education and ResearchEmail: [email protected]

Indrek REIMANDMinistry of Education and ResearchEmail: [email protected]

FINLAND

Mika AALTOFinnish Funding Agency for Technology and InnovationEmail: [email protected]

Eeva IKONENAcademy of FinlandEmail: [email protected]

FRANCE

Gabriele FIONIMinistry for Higher Education and ResearchEmail: [email protected]

Susana GOTA GOLDMANNMinistry for Higher Education and ResearchEmail: [email protected]

GERMANY

Eckhart CURTIUSFederal Ministry of Education and ResearchEmail: [email protected]

Wilfried KRAUSFederal Ministry for Education and ResearchEmail: [email protected]

GREECE

George KOLLIASBiomedical Sciences Research CenterEmail: [email protected]

Ion SIOTISNational Center for Scientific ResearchEmail: [email protected]

HUNGARY

Péter LÉvAIHungarian Academy of SciencesEmail: [email protected]

Erika NÉMETHNÉ JÁROLINational Office for Research and TechnologyEmail: [email protected]

IRELAND

Jacqueline E M ALLANForfasEmail: [email protected]

Eucharia MEEHANHigher Education Authority (HEA)Email: [email protected]

ITALY

Giorgio ROSSILaboratorio Nazionale TASCEmail: [email protected]

Glauco TOCCHINI-vALENTINIIstituto di Biologia Cellulare – CNREmail: [email protected]; [email protected]

LATVIA

Maija BUNDULELatvian Academy of SciencesEmail: [email protected]

Kaspars LÃCISUniversity of LatviaEmail: [email protected]

LITHUANIA

Gintaras vALINČIUSInstitute of BiochemistryEmail: [email protected]

Stanislovas ŽURAUSKASMinistry of Education and ScienceEmail: [email protected]

LUXEMBURG

Pierre DECKERMinistère de la Culture, de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la RechercheEmail: [email protected]

Robert KERGERMinistère de la Culture, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la RechercheEmail: [email protected]


MALTA

Joseph MICALLEFUniversity of MaltaEmail: [email protected]

Nicholas SAMMUTMalta Council for Science and Technology,Email: [email protected]

POLAND

Jacek T. GIERLIŃSKIMinistry of Science and Higher EducationEmail: [email protected]

Anna OSTAPCZUKNational Centre for Research and DevelopmentEmail: [email protected]

PORTUGAL

Lígia AMANCIOFCT – Fundação para a Ciência e TecnologiaEmail: [email protected]

Gaspar BARREIRALIP-Laboratório de Física Experimental de Partículas e Instrumentação AssociadaEmail: [email protected]

ROMANIA

Ionel ANDREINational Authority for Scientific ResearchEmail: [email protected]

Adrian DUŞAUniversity of BucharestEmail: [email protected]

SLOVAKIA

Pavol SOvÁKInst. of Physics, P.J.Šafárik UniversityEmail: [email protected]

Mikulas SUPINMinistry of Education of the Slovak RepublicEmail: [email protected]

SLOVENIA

Miran CEHInstitut Jozef StefanEmail: [email protected]

Sergej MOŽINAMinistry of Higher Education, Science and TechnologyEmail: [email protected]

SPAIN

Carlos MARTINEZ RIERAMinisterio de Ciencia e InnovaciónEmail: [email protected]

Luis E. RUIZ LÓPEZ DE LA TORRE AYLLÓNMinisterio de Ciencia e InnovaciónEmail: [email protected]

SWEDEN

Lars BÖRJESSONSwedish Research CouncilEmail: [email protected]

Mats JOHNSSONMinistry of Education, Research and CultureEmail: [email protected]

THE NETHERLANDS

Hans CHANGKoninklijke Nederlandse AkademieVan WetenschappenEmail: [email protected]

Leo L. LE DUCDepartment for Research and Science PolicyEmail: [email protected]

UNITED KINGDOM

Steven WILSONNatural Environment Research CouncilEmail: [email protected]

John WOMERSLEYScience and Technology Facilities CouncilEmail: [email protected]

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Anneli PAULIDirectorate-General for Research & InnovationEmail: [email protected]


ASSOCIATED STATES

ALBANIA

Alban YLLIInstitute of Public HealthEmail: [email protected]

CROATIA

Hrvoje MEŠTRIĆMinistry of Science, Education and SportsEmail: hrvoje. [email protected]

ICELAND

Fridrika HARDARDOTTIRMinistry of Education, Science and CultureEmail: [email protected]

ISRAEL

David HORNTel Aviv UniversityEmail: [email protected]

LIECHTENSTEIN

Karl-Heinz OEHRIOffice of Economic AffairsEmail: [email protected]

MONTENEGRO

Radomir vUKASOJEvICMinistry of Education and ScienceEmail: [email protected]

NORWAY

Odd Ivar ERIKSENThe Research Council of NorwayEmail: [email protected]

Bjørn HENRICHSENNorwegian Social Science Data Services Ltd.Email : [email protected]

SERBIA

viktor NEDOvIĆInternational Science and Technological CooperationEmail: [email protected]

Darko DJUKICMinistry of Science and Technological DevelopmentEmail: [email protected]

SWITZERLAND

Philipp LANGERState Secretariat for Education and ResearchEmail: [email protected]

Peter FARAGODirector FORS c/o University of LausanneEmail: [email protected]

TURKEY

Murat ÖZGÖRENDokuz Eylul UniversityEmail: [email protected]

EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT(provided by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation, Unit B3)

Hervé PEROUnit Research InfrastructuresEmail: [email protected]

Elena RIGHI-STEELEUnit Research InfrastructuresEmail: [email protected]

Sharon KEARNEYUnit Research InfrastructuresEmail: [email protected]

Christos vASILAKOSUnit Research InfrastructuresEmail: [email protected]

OFFICE of the ESFRI Chair(provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research)

Beate WARNECKEU-Bureau of the BMBFProject Management AgencyEmail: [email protected]

Andrea OEPENEU-Bureau of the BMBFProject Management AgencyEmail: [email protected]

Claudia RITTEREU-Bureau of the BMBFProject Management AgencyEmail: [email protected]

ESFRI

Strategy report on research infrastructures – Roadmap 2010

Luxembourg, Publications Office of the European Union

2011 – 80 pp. – 21 x 29.7 cm

ISBN: 978-92-79-16828-4

doi:10.2777/23127

Contact:ESFRI Secretariat

Postal address:European CommissionSDME 01/143B-1049 Brussels, BelgiumTel: +00 32 2 299 25 39Fax: +00 32 2 299 21 [email protected]

www.ec.europa.eu/research/esfri

Strategy Reporton Research InfrastructuresRoadmap 2010

KI-31-10-650-EN-C

ISBN 978-92-79-16828-4

Documents

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