88th ESFRI Forum Meeting

The 88th European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) meeting took place on June 6th, 2024, at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels. The event followed the “Research Infrastructures in a Changing Global, Environmental and Socio-economic Context” conference, organized under the Belgian Presidency of the European Council on June 4th and 5th, where ESFRI presented the newly published ESFRI Landscape Analysis 2024.

In his introduction to the Landscape Analysis 2024 (LA), ESFRI Chair José Luis Martínez emphasized that the Analysis is part of the recurring activities towards the ERA Policy Agenda 2025-2027. The LA provides an overview of the European RI ecosystem by identifying the main research infrastructures providing transnational access in Europe and helps pinpointing potential critical gaps in the current landscape. The LA 2024 is a stand-alone document that can be used by the scientific community.

ESFRI Roadmap 2026 Preparation
The release of the Landscape Analysis will be followed by the preparation of the ESFRI Roadmap 2026. Gelsomina Pappalardo outlined the key dates for the Roadmap 2026 preparation, including an Info Day on October 8th, 2024, and the publication of the Roadmap by December 2026.

Report on Funding Research Infrastructures
In addition to the Landscape Analysis and Roadmap 2026, the ESFRI Forum discussed a draft report on funding of research infrastructures. This report highlights the complexity of national funding landscapes and the need for comprehensive methodologies and best practice sharing. An OECD-ESFRI joint workshop on Sustainable Funding will take place online on July 10th in response to the report's launch.

Furthermore, the ESFRI Workplan for 2024-2025 will, among other topics, also focus on resilience and greening of research infrastructures, stakeholder engagement, and providing input for the preparation of the next EU framework program for research and innovation. 

The next ESFRI meeting is scheduled for September 16th-17th, 2024, in Szeged, Hungary.