The Stakeholders’ workshop on ERICs was held on 13-14 September 2021, it was organized by the European Commission (DG RTD) and EGERIC (the Commission expert group to assess the implementation of the ERIC Regulation and identify best practices and potential recommendations).
Considering the added value of distributed Research Infrastructures in general as a major pillar for the success of the European Research Area, and the ERIC Forum in particular for grouping more than 30 European Research Infrastructures (among which 22 are established ERICs, and 10 are in the preparatory phase), several ERICs as well as the ERIC Forum took part in the event with the aim of discussing the EGERIC’s findings on the topic.
In that regards, ERICs’ impact towards the European Science and policy panorama was highlighted by the ERIC Forum Chair Francisco Colomer during the first session on ‘The governance of the ERIC system within the ERA’. The diversity of ERICs makes them important players in European Science excellence that respond to various societal challenges, supporting science diplomacy, and creating brides between research communities within Europe and worldwide.
The EGERIC assessment highlights that the impact of the ERIC system can be fostered by strengthening ERICs’ interconnection with:
- national research facilities and Nodes,
- with other ERICs,
- and with other Research Infrastructures.
The synergies that could potentially support this further integration cover strategic, managerial and operational aspects. In that respect, the opportunities for strengthening RIs’ coordination and consolidation through the ERIC Forum and ERICs’ clusters were highlighted by the ERIC Forum Executive Board Member Franciska de Jong during the session on ‘The ERICs as instruments to integrate and interconnect national and multidisciplinary resources’. Some of the examples cited include the use of a central and common registry of data to be used by the ERIC community, ESFRI, European Commission, Member States, national Nodes, ESFRI, and all other parties involved in the cycle.
Moreover, the event addressed specific operational topics assessed by the EGERIC, with the aim of finding potential solutions. Among these topics are HR/personnel careers’ issues which are fundamental considering the complex structure of RIs and their challenges. This aspect was highlighted by BBMRI-ERIC’s Italian Node through input from the RITrainPlus project, whose objective is to strengthen the Human capital of RIs via specialized training courses and workshops on managerial, financial and operational aspects.
- Presentation of the ERIC Forum Chair, Francisco Colomer (JIV-ERIC): here
- Presentation of the ERIC Forum Executive Board Member, Franciska de Jong (CLARIN-ERIC): here
- Presentation of BBMRI-ERIC’s Italian Node, Marialuisa Lavitrano (BBMRI IT): here
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► All presentations of the event are available in this public folder.
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About the mission of the EGERIC:
The expert group will provide a report on the implementation of the ERIC Regulation, including independent advice and recommendations on specific issues highlighted by the Council.
The group will also address the specific technical issues highlighted by the Council, which affect the implementation of the ERIC Regulation, notably concerning “an acceptable solution for the VAT exemption for in-kind contributions, to stimulate investments in ERICs and other ESFRI Roadmap Infrastructures, to increase transnational and open access to European Research Infrastructures and to enhance their financial sustainability”.
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