Event Overview

The objective of the workshop organised by the ERIC Forum 2 Task 12.2 is to promote a dialogue between ERICs that have had experience with integration of new communities and may share their know how.

 
We aim to capitalise on the experience of those ERICs who have successfully undergone this process and to understand the main obstacles faced by those who have not succeeded.
 
We will focus on the opportunities for ERICs and major challenges related to the implementation of the ERIC Regulation, the core business of WP12. These may range from changing the scope of the ERIC, its name, governance, members, etc. Participants will be asked to actively engage in the webinar by responding to a survey.
 

Rationale of the webinar

 
The ERIC landscape is composed of 32 ERICs. Many RI projects are aiming to become RIs. At the same time, the landscape is becoming increasingly fragmented, resulting in a multiplication of efforts and a lack of synergies. This raises concern for the sustainability and cohesion of the ERIC ecosystem.
 
In this context, the idea of integrating new communities, RI projects, RIs in existing ERICs or mergers of ERICs has recently gained momentum. Already in 2022, the Competitiveness Council conclusions (15429/22) called for the ESFRI Landscape Analysis 2024 to
 

“propose […] associating and even merging of European, national and regional RIs, and their deeper integration in a fully functional and interoperable European RI ecosystem”. The ESFRI Roadmap 2026 Public Guide now welcomes and encourages the “merging of RI projects with existing RIs whenever possible”.

 
In its 2024 position paper on the upcoming Framework Programme 10, the ERIC Forum urged
 

“to consolidate the current RI arena and focus in the next phase in terms of support and financial program […] on the exploitation of existing ERICs as strategic assets rather than funding more efforts towards projects in preparation for future ERICs. New initiatives can build instead on existing infrastructure whenever possible and consider how their needs can be addressed by working jointly with the ERICs already being in place.”

 
And, indeed, some INFRADEV calls of the Horizon Europe 2026-2027 Work Programme make it mandatory for applicants aiming to develop new RI concepts to
 

“assess as a first option extending the scope of already existing infrastructures and/or sustainably integrating existing pan-European and national capacities […].” Concerned are RI concepts, “which could develop independently and would qualify, alone, as a next generation of research infrastructure of European interest but which, for the sake of sustainability and consolidation of the European landscape of research infrastructures, would benefit from developing by extending or integrating into an existing research infrastructure.”

 
Finally, the ESFRI position paper on the European Research Area Act (ERA Act) states that consolidation of the RI ecosystem should be a key point of the ERA Act. This should be achieved by
 

“facilitating the clustering of RIs needed to tackle the complex problems and challenges that the EU is facing and the need for consolidation of the infrastructure landscape to bolster excellence and to keep it sustainable in the long run”.

Among the possible actions, ESFRI mentions:
 

• Expand existing ERICs to include new related RI initiatives.
• Facilitate mergers between ERICs with overlapping or complementary scopes.
• Promote synergies through initiatives such as a dedicated INFRA-INTEGRATE call.
• Provide support for the consolidation of the RI/TI landscape, necessary to increase the overall technological readiness of MS/AC (capacity building in industry and personnel), the breeding ground for excellent science and cutting-edge technology.

Here is the agenda of the webinar.

The agenda is provisional, as some speakers are still to confirm their participation. We kindly invite you to check this page regularly for updates and the final version of the programme.