THE RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES IN FP7 I

29 October 2004
Working Document on
THE RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES IN FP7
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Introduction
In the Commission’s communication on the financial perspectives of the European Union for
the period 2007-2013 1, the support to research infrastructures of E uropean dimension and
interest is mentioned as a key element for the European effort in research and technological
development. In line with this, “developing research infrastructures of European interest”
appears as one of the six major objectives in the recent Commission’s communication on the
future EU policy for research 2.
The purpose of the present working document is to describe how the Research Infrastructure
action will be implemented in the Seventh Framework Programme.
I – Background
1 - What are Research Infrastructures?
In the scope of the Community action, the term “research infrastructures” refers to facilities
that provide essential services to the scientific community for basic or applied research. Only
research infrastructures which have a clear European dimension or interest are being
considered. They may concern the whole range of scientific and technological fields, from
social sciences to astronomy, going through genomics or nanotechnologies. Examples include
libraries, databases, biological archives, clean rooms, communication networks, synchrotrons,
accelerators, telescopes. They may be “single-sited”, “distributed”, or “virtual”.
Research infrastructures are essential tools for the development of leading-edge research in
Europe in scientific and technological fields. By attracting users from various countries and
through networking, they integrate and structure the scientific community in Europe and play
a major role in the construction of the European Research Area. In many domains, they have a
significant economical, social or environmental impact.
2 - Research Infrastructures in FP6
a – The current Research Infrastructure action
Five major schemes are available in FP6 to support research infrastructures. One of them is a
new scheme, “integrating activities”, which has been introduced to structure better, on a
European scale, the way research infrastructures operate in a given field. It combines, within
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COM(2004) 101 – 10 February 2004
COM(2004) 353 – 16 June 2004
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the single I3 contract (Integrated Infrastructure Initiatives), “access”, “networking” and
“research” activities that were supported through individual contracts in previous Framework
Programmes. Two other new schemes, “design studies” and “construction”, have been
introduced to promote the creation of new research infrastructures. The five schemes are
outlined below:
1. Transnational Access: to support new opportunities for research teams to obtain access to
the best research infrastructures in Europe;
2. Integrating Activities: to support the integrated provision of infrastructure-related
services (“networking” “access” and “joint research activities”) to the research community
at a European level, for a group of infrastructures in the same field;
3. Communication Network Development: to help establish the GEANT communication
network and support Grid type activities;
4. Design Studies: to support feasibility studies or technical preparatory work for new
infrastructures;
5. Construction of New Infrastructures: to partly support (10% maximum) the development
costs of new research infrastructures.
b – Lessons learnt from FP6
For all the above schemes, the calls for proposals published so far under FP6 have attracted a
large number of high quality proposals, in a wide range of fields. The overall financial request
was much above the financial resources available.
These results clearly show that the existing schemes for the Research Infrastructures action
should be continued and better supported. It appears however, that the newly introduced
“construction” scheme should be given a more strategic approach.
II - Research Infrastructures in FP7: Proposed lines of action
It is proposed to continue and improve the current line of action, aiming at optimising the
utilisation of existing research infrastructures and improving their performance. This will be
implemented through calls for proposals covering all fields of science and technology, in a
“bottom-up” approach.
In addition, it is proposed to reinforce the Research Infrastructure action by adding a new line
of action for the development of new research infrastructures (new facilities or major
upgrades to existing ones) of pan-European interest. This “strategic” approach will concern
“unique” infrastructures with a crucial impact for the development of the relevant field in
Europe (their size and cost will depend on the field). In line with the conclusions of the
informal Competitiveness Council of 1-3 July 2004, this approach will require the
development of a vision and roadmap for research infrastructures in Europe in the next 10 to
20 years and the development of a new operational mechanism.
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1 - The “bottom-up” approach
This will include the continuation of the following schemes:
•
Access to research infrastructures: to support access to individual research infrastructure;
•
Integrating Activities : to support networking of research infrastructures in a given field,
coordinated access to these infrastructures, and research activities to improve their
performance;
•
Communication Network Development: to support interconnection and improvement of
communication networks, and development of new architectures;
•
Design Studies: to explore possibilities for the creation of new infrastructures.
2 – The strategic approach
This will consist of two components: the first one being the development of a vision and
roadmap for the preparation of a number of priority projects, the second one being an
operational mechanism for the concrete implementation of the priority projects. The
experience drawn from the trans-European Networks (TENs) will be useful for the
development of this mechanism.
a - The vision, roadmap and priority projects
1 – Vision and European roadmap for research infrastructures
The targeted approach for the development of new infrastructures should be based on a clear
and global vision of the needs for research infrastructures in Europe in the medium-long term.
This implies the establishment of a European roadmap for the next ten to twenty years, under
a continuous process involving periodic updates and revisions.
In this context, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures will play a major
role. ESFRI has decided at its last meeting (3 September 2004) to prepare such a European
roadmap. The aim of ESFRI is not to prioritise and not to decide on funding, but to provide an
overview of the facilities needed. First results should be available by the end of 2005, with
new results following as different areas mature.
To reach these objectives, ESFRI is currently setting up three Steering Groups chaired by
ESFRI delegates, covering the following domains: Physical Sciences and Engineering;
Biological and Medical Sciences; Social Sciences and Humanities. A fourth group, focussed
on e-Infrastructures, already exists since the end of 2002 (eIRG, a group of Minister
representatives to discuss GEANT and Grid issues).
For the preparation of the roadmap, ESFRI will closely liaise with EIROforum3, an essential
stakeholder for research infrastructures in Europe. It will also collect information from
national roadmaps and other relevant analysis (e.g. from Community research contracts,
EURAB, ESF, NREN Policy Committee), and from existing formal groups of the scientific
community (e.g. NuPECC) as well as of the industrial community (e.g. UNICE).
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EIROforum is a collaboration between the major European Intergovernmental Research Organisations: CERN,
EFDA, EMBL, ESA, ESO, ESRF, ILL.
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ESFRI will also have the ability to create dedicated expert groups, as appropriate, for example
for domains where the scientific community is not yet structured, for cross-cutting domains at
the frontier of the steering groups, or for interdisciplinary or emerging fields.
The overall process to establish the roadmap should provide all guaranties for transparency
and impartiality and should be recognized by all stakeholders. The criteria for the roadmap
will be essentially of scientific and strategic character. These will include, for example:
European dimension, real needs of the concerned scientific community, potential impact on
the development of the field, technical feasibility, relation to other existing European and
international facilities.
2 - List of priority projects for new infrastructures
On the basis of the roadmap prepared by ESFRI, the Commission will establish a list of
priority projects, with the help, for example, of an independent expert panel or even a High
Level Advisory Board.
This list should be periodically updated. It should consolidate in a balanced way the needs
expressed by the scientific community and the European dimension. For each project, it will
provide the scientific and technological justifications and will give indications on the timing,
the required resources and the management method.
The criteria for the priority projects will include: pan-European interest, in particular in
liaison with the Lisbon and Barcelona objectives, potential impact on the European Research
Area, European partnership, maturity of project and timeliness, existence of a multi-annual
and long-term budgetary planning, quality of management.
3 - Decision process
A Commission’s proposal to Council and Parliament will present a first list of priority
projects and their characteristics. It will also include some orientations for future lists. This
will be the subject of a formal decision by Council.
b - The operational (TEN-like) mechanism
The decision by Council on the Commission’s proposal for a first list of priority projects will
be a clear sign of the commitment of the Member States and should stimulate the mobilisation
of other stakeholders towards the realisation of the projects.
Within the Framework Programme, the strategic part of the Research Infrastructure action
will be implemented in a two-stage process:
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The first stage will involve a restricted call for “construction of new infrastructures”,
targeted to the list of priority projects, to support a preparatory phase including the
detailed construction plans, the legal organisation, the management of the consortium
and the multi-annual planning of the project. Selected projects will get an EC support
of up to 50% of the total cost.
•
The second stage will deal with the main implementation phase of the project, and will
only be developed following the satisfactory implementation of the first stage. The EC
support should be sufficient to ensure leveraging and catalysing effects. It may take
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different forms (grant, membership fee, full partnership) on basis of the existing legal
frameworks.
It is to be noted that the European Commission will act as a “facilitator” at all stages of the
implementation of the priority projects. It will be active in coordinating financial engineering
mechanisms, including the various Community instruments (Framework Programme,
Structural Funds, European Investment Bank).
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