European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures
02INTRODUCTION
The "European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI)" is a multi-disciplinary forum for the Member States of the European Union and the Associated Countries for pan-European Research Infrastructures (e.g. supercomputers, specific internet architectures (GRID), data bases, virtual libraries, or large-scale research infrastructures in general). As the forum is not part of the Research Framework Programme, it does not allocate funding, nor does it give "direct recommendations" for funding. Still, as the major European think tank in the area of Research Infrastructures, ESFRI plays a major role in the respective decision-making processes.
The publication of the first "Roadmap for Pan-European Research Infrastructures" in 2006 was a major step in emphasising ESFRI's important strategic role. In November 2008, an updated and expanded Roadmap was published. The current Roadmap of 2012 consists of 48 unique pan-European research infrastructures in many research fields (humanities, energy, biomedicine, life sciences, materials sciences, astronomy, physics, etc.). Several projects are already being implemented or are just entering their implementation phase. ESFRI accompanies the implementation of its Roadmap and responds to the rapidly evolving science frontiers by updating the roadmap, if necessary.
ESFRI’s delegates are nominated by the Research Ministers of the Member States and Associated Countries, and include a representative of the Commission. The current Chair of ESFRI is Ms. Jana KOLAR.
For more information please visit the ESFRI Website