“Making Science Happen” – a document published by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures

Тhe European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) published a strategy paper called “Making Science Happen”. This document summarizes the effort of the last fifteen months, during which ESFRI has been working on its vision of an integrated Research Infrastructure ecosystem being fully capable to meet new challenges and to contribute to the goals of the new European Research Area (ERA).

Responding to the new emphasis on environmental, social, and economic goals, the renewed ERA envisions stronger contributions of Research and Innovation activities to Europe’s wider policy objectives, such as increasing Europe’s competitiveness and identifying significant solutions to global challenges.

European Research Infrastructures are a key element to make this happen. The ESFRI vision relies on developing a robust, connected ecosystem of Research Infrastructures, based on the highest scientific standards. This requires consolidating the existing Research Infrastructure landscape and continuously strengthening its capacity through investments in unique, leading-edge scientific instrumentation and services, and working jointly to serve researchers’ needs across disciplines.

The importance of a well-functional and integrated Research Infrastructure ecosystem has also been shown during the COVID-19 outbreak. Within a very short time, the Research Infrastructures have been capable to connect and share dedicated services offered by them to fight coronavirus pandemic. ESFRI is helping the scientific community by communicating all relevant actions at the focused webpage www.esfri.eu/covid-19.

ESFRI informs about the upcoming fully digital Croatian Presidency Conference ‘European Research Infrastructures for a Smarter Future’ which will be held on 15 May 2020. This event will be the occasion to discuss ambitious vision for Research Infrastructures in Europe and exchange ideas in this important field. More information will come shortly at www.esfri.eu.