Science Europe issues research infrastructures report
Science Europe, an association of major European research funding and research-performing organisations in 27 countries, has today released a survey report on ‘Strategic Priorities, Funding and Pan-European Co-operation for Research Infrastructures in Europe’.
The 26-page report sets out the decision making landscape when it comes to the planning, funding and collaboration of public scientific research facilities in Europe. It offers insight into the diversity of processes in place to define strategic priorities across the different national research systems.
The report highlights the benefits of cross-border collaboration among research organisations and finds that “huge potential still exists for increased co-operation and real integration, such as sharing operation costs, structured exchange about priorities, and bilateral and multilateral funding initiatives”.
The report proposes 15 recommendations to foster the development of a stronger research infrastructure base for the European Research Area. These recommendations were articulated following the analysis of data collected from Science Europe member organisations in spring 2014.
Among the recommendations, Science Europe suggests that an analysis of the research infrastructure landscape is carried out to show what is currently available and what should be available for each country at the European, national, regional and/or organisational level; urges that information and best practice exchange between countries is increased; and argues that more emphasis should be put on the development and assessment of the business case of a research infrastructure.
Reducing barriers for multilateral or multi-organisational co-operation and developing options for the joint funding of research infrastructures, as well as developing separate assessment and funding schemes for small, medium and large research infrastructures or introducing assessment tailored to the different types of research infrastructures, are also recommended.
The full report is available to read here.
