About ESFRI

Mission 

The mission of ESFRI is to support a coherent and strategy-led approach to policy-making on research infrastructures in Europe, and to facilitate multilateral initiatives leading to the better use and development of research infrastructures, at EU and international level.
ESFRI's delegates are nominated by the Research Ministers of the Member and Associate Countries, and include a representative of the Commission, working together to develop a joint vision and a common strategy. This strategy aims at overcoming the limits due to fragmentation of individual policies and provides Europe with the most up-to-date Research Infrastructures, responding to the rapidly evolving Science frontiers, advancing also the knowledge-based technologies and their extended use.

Background and Scope 

Since it was formed in 2002 at the behest of the European Council, ESFRI has witnessed significant advances towards unity and international impact in the field of research infrastructures. The publication of the first Roadmap for pan-European research infrastructures in 2006, and its update in 2008 was a key contributing factor, and several projects are now entering the realization phase. The Forum is determined to sustain the momentum in the implementation of the projects on the Roadmap, to expand the outreach to those scientific fields which are still evolving their conceptual approach in this direction, and to increase the involvement of all Countries by developing ad-hoc Regional policies. A further update of the ESFRI Roadmap, focusing on Energy, Food and Biology, was published at the end of 2010.

ESFRI  Mandate

ESFRI's mandate

  • to support a coherent and strategy-led approach to policy making on research infrastructures in Europe
  • to facilitate multilateral initiatives leading to a better use and development of research infrastructures
  • to establish a European Roadmap for research infrastructures (new and major upgrades, pan-European interest) for the next 10-20 years, stimulate the implementation of these facilities, and update the roadmap as needed
  • to follow-up on implementation of ongoing ESFRI projects after a comprehensive assessment, as well as the prioritisation of infrastructure projects listed in the ESFRI Roadmap

The 2016 roadmap contains details of 21 ESFRI Projects — including six new projects, and 29 ESFRI landmarks. These landmarks are RIs that reached the implementation phase before the end of 2015.