European Strategy on Research and Technology Infrastructures

Develop criteria for identifying technology infrastructures of European interest, in synergy with the ESFRI roadmap for research infrastructures 2025

Map and assess the research and technology infrastructures capacities in Europe in the context of global competition, policy priorities and user needs, and develop joint capacities investment roadmaps, identifying priority areas for targeted investments in a continuum from research infrastructures to technology infrastructures, including in EU-level sectoral initiatives. 2026

Invest in building and sustaining critical new capacities for world-class research and technology infrastructures in Europe, spearheaded by EU priorities, facilitating the implementation of strategic initiatives aimed at ensuring long-term global leadership. 2027

Increase funding opportunities for research and technology infrastructures at EU level and propose specific funding and financing models to encourage a more effective pooling of public and private funding for investments, leading to better exploitation of existing funding frameworks, while also addressing the need to reduce regional disparities. 2026

Provide a stable framework for maintaining and upgrading world-class research infrastructures by providing the support to the implementation of existing and new roadmaps for research infrastructure technologies, responding to jointly identified needs and commonalities across research infrastructures and, where applicable, across domains; support the roadmapping for new technology needs, taking into account aspects of digitalisation of operation, standardisation, interoperability, resilience and sustainability of research infrastructures 2025

Support the mapping of research infrastructure funding sources at national, regional and EU level and promote synergies among complementary funding instruments by promoting good practice and appropriate guidance; where applicable, explore adjusting the conditions and rules of EU funding instruments for combined and complementary funding, notably for research infrastructures regarded as essential infrastructures for EU operational or deployment programmes. 2025

Propose a revision of the ERIC Regulation on specific aspects that cannot be addressed by revised Practical Guidelines such as facilitating the participation of international partners, promoting this legal framework as a reliable vehicle for joint investments. 2026

Support and implement measures facilitating transnational and multisitecollaboration among technology infrastructures, developing coordinated service offers in strategic technologies, including for defence, and promoting their visibility and uptake. 2026

Sustain and enhance the EOSC Federation as Europe’s research and innovation data space, enabling sharing and reuse of high-quality, FAIR research data, scientific results and digital services. 2025

Support compliance with FAIR principles, increasing FAIR data productivity, and connections to EOSC and other relevant data spaces. 2025

Support the pooling and development of AI-ready research data as well as tools and services that enable the development of scientific AI models, and their technological applications, accelerating the use of AI in science and, through it, contributing to the pilot phase of RAISE. 2025

Support the development of an integrated and sustainable scheme for accessto state-of-the-art research infrastructures of European interest, offering a ‘one-stop-shop’ for access to them, and to a single European portfolio of complementary and cross-domain R&I services of European interest, including AI assisted research infrastructure service navigation.

Implement pilot access schemes to technology infrastructures for startups and scaleups, with the view to scaling-up future implementation.14.Test joint research and technology infrastructures transnational access schemes addressing priority areas e.g. advanced materials, clean energy, quantum technologies, AI or health and biotechnology.

Develop research and technology infrastructures strategies for attracting talent from outside Europe, in line with the Choose Europe approach.

Support the training of research infrastructure and technology infrastructure staff, while promoting the recognition of their diverse contributions in research assessment

Propose an overarching EU coordination framework for the research and technology infrastructures ecosystem steering a holistic, synergy-based approach, while recognising the different missions, objectives and policy contexts of these infrastructures.

Implement a governance mechanism, in collaboration with Member States and stakeholders, that will provide a common framework for a European approach to technology infrastructures

Encourage ESFRI to engage further with relevant stakeholders and review its landscape analysis methodology and long-term vision accordingly. Propose indicators to assess and raise awareness on the strategic relevance of ESFRI Landmarks and ERICs or of their services according to EU priorities, including economic security.

Strengthen the international dimension of pan-European research infrastructures and their role for science diplomacy notably through enlarging geographical coverage in high-priority scientific fields, promoting European standards and approaches to access, data management and open science globally, promoting reciprocal access for EU researchers, facilitating exchange of best practices, while ensuring the appropriate levels of security/confidentiality.

Develop actions to support: (i) the implementation of risk management, mitigation and contingency measures for infrastructures, (ii) aligning and coordinating investments across Europe for trusted and secure storage, processing and sharing of critical data including through EOSC, and (iii) the development of data sovereignty frameworks for secure and efficient data sharing. These will also benefit by cooperating with the EU Observatory on Critical Technologies and relevant research security initiatives of the Protect EU strategy.

Promote the integration of candidate countries potential candidate and associated countries, with a focus on Ukraine, into the ERA, by supporting cooperation among research and technology infrastructures, and their host organisations, and by facilitating access to European research and technology infrastructures where appropriate.