Final Report Summary - INFRA / ERA 2003 (International conference on research infrastructures: centres of exchange, cohesion and excellence for the European Research Area)
The INFRA / ERA 2003 project aimed to discuss the role of research infrastructures in the construction of the European Research Area (ERA) and to develop a common European and Member States policy infrastructure as defined by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI).
In the first part of the conference, five examples have been provided from the fields of:
- humanities, namely the growth in libraries and data banks;
- environment, namely the observation of Earth with space-based platforms integrated with terrestrial networks;
- biology, namely the growth and continuous renewal of infrastructures for genomics and postgenomics;
- biomaterials and nanostructure science, namely infrastructures for nano-analysis and synthesis of new materials and products such as the free-electron laser and neutron spectroscopy;
- data transmission and elaboration.
The technical part was followed by a discussion of several recent developments in research policy, the intervention of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the positive expectations regarding the proposed founding of the European Research Council (ERC), as well as the expectations of the new Member States in the establishment of a policy for infrastructures.
The second session was dedicated to the presentation of the first annual report of ESFRI and to a discussion of the contribution of the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the European Research Advisory Body (EURAB).
In the final session, the significance of longer-term emphasis on infrastructures, involving also the presidencies of Ireland and the Netherlands, has been underlined, as well as some perspectives of growth in the research, namely the intention of proposing a Free-electron laser (FEL) project.
In the first part of the conference, five examples have been provided from the fields of:
- humanities, namely the growth in libraries and data banks;
- environment, namely the observation of Earth with space-based platforms integrated with terrestrial networks;
- biology, namely the growth and continuous renewal of infrastructures for genomics and postgenomics;
- biomaterials and nanostructure science, namely infrastructures for nano-analysis and synthesis of new materials and products such as the free-electron laser and neutron spectroscopy;
- data transmission and elaboration.
The technical part was followed by a discussion of several recent developments in research policy, the intervention of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the positive expectations regarding the proposed founding of the European Research Council (ERC), as well as the expectations of the new Member States in the establishment of a policy for infrastructures.
The second session was dedicated to the presentation of the first annual report of ESFRI and to a discussion of the contribution of the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the European Research Advisory Body (EURAB).
In the final session, the significance of longer-term emphasis on infrastructures, involving also the presidencies of Ireland and the Netherlands, has been underlined, as well as some perspectives of growth in the research, namely the intention of proposing a Free-electron laser (FEL) project.