Launch of the 2021 ESFRI Roadmap on Research Infrastructures in Europe
Get the full ESFRI Roadmap 2021 Experience!
Αfter a two-year-long process of hard and meticulous work by a great number of scientists and ESFRI delegates, a new ESFRI Roadmap is to be published. On December 7th, 2021, ESFRI will present the 2021 ESFRI Roadmap on Large Scale Research Infrastructures during an online celebratory event (10:00 -16:30 CET).
Equipping Europe with infrastructures for groundbreaking impactful research is at the heart of the ESFRI Roadmap. The Roadmap identifies European investment priorities and provides directions for their further development, and looks into the future challenges of Research Infrastructure policy and analyses the main features of the RIs landscape in Europe to implement an integrated and interconnected Research infrastructure eco-system as an important element of the European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda.
The ESFRI Roadmap 2021 is the sixth edition of the document, which has been influencing the European and national RI strategies, policies and funding since 2006. ESFRI periodically updates its Roadmap to provide a coherent and strategic vision ensuring that Europe has excellent RIs in all fields of science and innovation. The key messages of the 2021 edition of the Roadmap, prepared during the COVID-19 pandemic, clearly underline the importance of world-class RIs in enabling cutting-edge research to address the pressing requests and challenges of our society. This Roadmap, with the highest total cost of pledged investments since the first edition in 2006, also demonstrates the persisting willingness of national governments to invest substantially in improving RI capacities in Europe, as an important element of long-term scientific sovereignty and crisis preparedness.
The ESFRI Roadmap now includes 41 European Research Infrastructures which have already been implemented (Landmarks) and 22 RI Projects that are in their preparatory phase. The total investment in these, often globally unique, facilities will exceed EUR 20 billion.
Key features of the ESFRI Roadmap 2021:
- 11 new RI Projects enter the Roadmap with total investment costs over EUR 4 billion. This is by far the highest value of new research infrastructures (RIs) investment plans since the first roadmap in 2006
- 4 RIs receive the Landmark status, signifying their successful implementation
- A revamped Landscape Analysis presents the existing RIs in Europe and identifies scientific needs and gaps as well as collaboration opportunities and directions for strategic investments in the future. It also explores the available RI services of particular relevance for the environmental, economic and social issues, focusing specifically on Sustainable Development Goals, COVID-19 and digital transition
This capacity creates outstanding conditions for European Research & Innovation to be globally competitive, enabling Europe’s leadership in a broad range of research fields. RIs included in the ESFRI Roadmap contribute to key EU policy priorities, such as the Green New Deal, Twin Transitions and Health Union. They facilitate the development of science-based solutions to key societal challenges, as illustrated with the COVID-19 platform. The services they offer could play an important role in implementing Horizon Europe Missions and achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The event is hosted by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, as part of the ESFRI Days event, and will be live streamed in full via ESFRI YouTube channel.
A seperate registration for the Press Conference is mandatory. Please register here.
Read the Press Anouncement here (PDF).
