72nd ESFRI plenary meeting was held virtually on 16th – 17th June 2020
The 72nd plenary session of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) took place virtually, by a videoconference, on 16th and 17th June 2020, due to the persistence of pandemic measures. The main topics of the ESFRI meeting were the presentation of ESFRI activities that are being developed in response to the pandemic of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strain and the Covid-19 disease; a discussion on the ESFRI Roadmap 2021 update; and a debate on priority measures to bring a practical implementation of the ESFRI post-2020 European research infrastructure ecosystem vision. At the end of the ESFRI meeting, mandates of ESFRI Chair Jan Hrušák, ESFRI Executive Board Members and Chairs of the ESFRI Strategy Working Groups have been extended by 31st December 2021.
72nd virtual ESFRI Plenary Meeting
European research infrastructures fights the SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19 pandemic
At the beginning of the ESFRI meeting, ESFRI Chair Jan Hrušák presented the measures, by which ESFRI responds to the SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, ESFRI has set up a dedicated website summarising services offered by European and national research infrastructures to carry out studies related to the development of diagnostics, drugs and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19, as well as other research projects to mitigate the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic. ESFRI, thus, makes a significant contribution to the implementation of the ERAvsCorona Action Plan, which was prepared by the European Commission and EU Member States to immediately mobilise European research and innovation capacities and capabilities, and provides a short-list of 10 priority actions for the European Research Area stakeholders to respond to the pandemic.
European research infrastructures fights the SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19 pandemic
ESFRI Roadmap Update 2021
Further, the outputs of the monitoring of the implementation of the European research infrastructures ACTRIS, DANUBIUS, EMPHASIS, E-RIHS, EST and KM3Net were presented. These European research infrastructure projects were included in the 2016 ESFRI Roadmap. When updating the ESFRI Roadmap, an assessment is made of how they have progressed in their implementation phase. If an ESFRI Project satisfactorily meets all the necessary criteria, ESFRI includes it among the so-called “ESFRI Landmarks”, i.e. successfully implemented projects of European research infrastructures that have already fulfilled milestones leading to the successful implementation of scientific, technical and managerial concepts.
ESFRI Roadmap Update 2021
Implementation of the ESFRI White Paper
The second day of the ESFRI meeting focused on a discussion on the priority steps to launch in the near future the practical implementation of the ESFRI vision for the development of the European research infrastructure ecosystem in the framework of the post-2020 European Research Area narrative, which has been embedded in the ESFRI White Paper 2020: Making Science Happen – A New Ambition for Research Infrastructures in the European Research Area. ESFRI delegates debated possible impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19 pandemic crisis on the ecosystem of European research infrastructures, the potential for a much closer link between the research infrastructure policy and sectoral policies, and ESFRI communication plan and organisation in the upcoming period.
ESFRI White Paper
The ICRI conference will be held in 2021
On the occasion of the 72nd ESFRI meeting, it was announced that the ICRI (International Conference on Research Infrastructures), which should take place in October this year in Ottawa, Canada, will not take place due to pandemic measures, and the organisers shifted the date for 2nd – 4th June 2021.
ICRI 2021