Strengthening sustainability, accessibility and resilience of research infrastructures in the ERA

01WHAT’S UP

02INTRODUCTION

Structural Policy 2 in the ERA Policy Agenda (2025-2027)

This Structural Policy ensures the openness, accessibility and security of world-class sustainable Research Infrastructures (RI) for researchers and innovators across the ERA, develops further and consolidates RI, their integrative function in the R&I ecosystem and their potential to tackle EU priorities. A long-term strategy will streamline the RI landscape and identify and prioritise the RI services and technologies needed to boost the EU’s science and technology competitiveness and strategic autonomy, and its capacity to solve societal challenges. This will be done by

  • developing of a long-term strategy on RIs;
  • carrying out clear monitoring of the performance of the different RIs;
  • conducting a clear analysis of the financial support to the RIs;
  • carrying out a strategic landscape analysis for RIs in Europe.

Objectives

  • Strengthened research infrastructure (RI) services, better adapted to user needs, in the context of contemporary and emerging scientific, technological and innovation challenges and EU policy priorities;
  • strengthened European RI ecosystem including through consolidation of existing RI and identification of new RI projects filling gaps;
  • create more integrated and sustainable schemes to strenghten access to RI and their services, notably for researchers and innovators from across the ERA;
  • enhanced impact on research and society and strengthened engagement with industry;
  • create better links and, where appropriate, interoperability between different kinds of infrastructures (RIs, technology infrastructures, e-infrastructures, data infrastructures);
  • encourage greater involvement of stakeholders in RI activities.

Expected outcomes

  • From long-term and recurrent activities: (1) A long-term EU strategy for research infrastructures including a new, strategic approach for EU support to research infrastructures; (2) an ESFRI roadmap 2026 and key elements for the 2028 landscape analysis, (3) monitoring of ESFRI landmarks; (4) stakeholder engagement (event/activity reports).
  • From short-term activities, reports with recommendations on: (1) financing, including synergies with national and regional funding, EU and other sources, (2) international cooperation, taking research security considerations into account; (3) an impact assessment of ESFRI; (4) resilience and greening of European research infrastructures; (5) further strengthening of ERICs as part of the RI ecosystem.

Background information

The creation of the ERA through European level activities in the area of research infrastructures, such as the ESFRI Roadmaps and the ERIC Legal Framework, have radically transformed the availability of state-of-the-art facilities for scientists and innovators, reinforcing Europe’s strong research and innovation system. As the maturity of the research infrastructure landscape grows, new challenges emerge which require maintaining excellence and competitiveness of the ERA in the long term, while better addressing scientific and political needs, notably key societal challenges.

In the first ERA Policy Agenda (2022-2024), the action on research infrastructures took up a set of activities specifically aimed at addressing the above objectives and strengthening the European research infrastructure ‘ecosystem’ such as:

  • Strategic analysis of the European Research Infrastructure landscape;
  • broader and more sustainable access for all countries to European research infrastructures and their services, and revision of the European Charter of Access to Research Infrastructures;
  • update of the ESFRI Roadmap and implementation of the research infrastructures performance monitoring framework;
  • Report on the ERIC Framework;
  • Increased cooperation between research infrastructures, e-infrastructures and stakeholders, including through EOSC.

For more information:

Horizon Europe support for research infrastructures | European Research Area Platform

ESFRI Roadmap

03KEY DOCUMENTS