Research infrastructures

Research infrastructures refer to facilities, material and related services that are essential to research, and available, for example, through research equipment, research installations, collections, libraries, archives, databases and researcher communities based on an assembly of techniques and know-how. There are a number of large-scale research infrastructures in Europe that are used at a multinational level, such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory EMBL. However, the bulk of the European infrastructures are financed and used on a national level.

On the initiative and with the support of the EU Commission, EU Member States have established a strategic forum on joint research infrastructure issues, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). ESFRI was launched in April 2002 and consists of representatives for the ministries responsible for research of EU Member States and Associated States. Together, they aim to promote European policy on research infrastructures. A substantial part of the coordinated effort is focused on effective utilisation and improvement of existing infrastructures as well as on the planning and creation of new ones.

In 2006, ESFRI presented a roadmap for research infrastructures (pdf) in Europe.

Typically, the projects that ESFRI deals with require either considerable investment in the initial stages or long-term financial commitment for the future.