1st ESFRI Stakeholders Forum Meetup

After the fully digital High-Level Launch of the ESFRI Stakeholders Forum that took place on 24 March 2022 to mark its formal establishment, the 1st ESFRI Stakeholders Forum Meetup took place on 15 September 2022 at the Royal Belgian Institute (Museum) of Natural Sciences, in Brussels. It was organised as a full-day event with the limited physical presence of around 130 people to set the Stakeholders Forum deliberation and co-design processes in full motion.

The ESFRI Stakeholders Forum Meetup is currently an annual event (bi-annual after 2023) bringing together Research Infrastructures (RIs), decision- and policy-makers, regions, socio-economic actors, research organisations, and higher education institutions which may contribute to or run RIs, or are potential users of RIs. It aims to attract stakeholders of RIs, raise awareness across the whole research and innovation ecosystem and facilitate cooperation and mutual learning between RIs and their stakeholders.

The 1st ESFRI Stakeholders Forum Meetup was recorded in full. Watch the video recording here.

Summary of key messages

Engaging with stakeholders is fundamental for Research Infrastructures to provide services that meet evolving user needs and support science in delivering for our society and economy. The Stakeholders Forum aims to engage these actors and facilitate regular discussion among them. 

Research Infrastructures were called upon to interact with other communities, and increase the impactful role of RIs in fundamental research and in addressing societal challenges. The stakeholders were called to utilise the newly launched SH platform to keep the messages shared alive. The key messages will be further analysed and worked out through the ambitious ESFRI workplan.

Topics identified included, among others, how the different stakeholders perceive and interact with each other, where multi- and inter-disciplinarity exists, or can exist, training, education and skills, and where RIs can truly engage with industry.

Some key thematic areas were also discussed such as climate, energy, oceans and culture, with diverse messages that need further analysis. Funding mechanisms, pathways to sustainability and potential impact were also highlighted, bringing the experiences of several actors. Identified good practices prescribed a good mix of funding, from public to private, tracking costs (including the rising energy costs), cost-benefit analyses, and links with the local communities and economies. In particular, smart specialisation strategies were highlighted, combining research, educational, industrial, and innovation policies based on the strengths of the different regional areas to boost investments based on the region’s strengths and comparative advantages. The speakers and audience also stressed that the two-way communication between ESFRI and its stakeholders needs to be sustained, bringing the experience of the different actors together.

A strong takeaway message from the workshop was that closer links between RIs are needed in order to bring together and engage stakeholders around RIs and also connect RIs with users, as well as the R&I ecosystem overall. Rationalisation of the landscape is also important, including RIs beyond ESFRI of all sizes and also a connection to the different missions and partnerships. The role of the landscape and gap analyses was stressed, and several stakeholders offered their contributions from their experiences, including good practices, but also challenges and bottlenecks.