EIROforum participated in the 2010 European Conference on Research Infrastructures (ECRI 2010), which took place on 22 March 2010 in Barcelona, Spain.
The conference hosted 600 experts who discussed efficient mechanisms for setting priorities and making decisions regarding the location of new European research infrastructures. Members of EIROforum offered to make their expertise available to help set up pan-European research collaborations.
“Creating new European Research Infrastructures and achieving world-class excellence requires concerted and sustained efforts by various stakeholders including governments, the European Commission, funders, administrators and scientists,” said Iain Mattaj, Director General of EMBL and present chairman of EIROforum. “EIROforum members have several decades of expertise in the construction and successful operation of large international research facilities, and would now like to make their experience available for the benefit of all.”
In their position paper “Establishing New Research Infrastructures in Europe – The EIROforum Experience”, which was released in March 2010, EIROforum identified some of the main challenges encountered by their research infrastructure projects and provides many examples from the collective experience of their members to illustrate how these can be addressed. The paper highlights that each research infrastructure has its own requirements and that there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution.