ESFRI has started the process of updating its Research Infrastructure Roadmap

The ESFRI Roadmap 2026 Infoday, organised by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), took place in Brussels on Tuesday 8th October 2024. The event officially launched a new process to update the ESFRI Roadmap, which will result in a document scheduled for release in December 2026. Over the next two years, ESFRI will focus on analysing the European research environment to identify and promote the cutting-edge facilities, resources and services that enable research teams to conduct excellent research. These include, for example, laboratories with unique equipment, data archives, observatories, computer networks and other specialist tools available to scientists across Europe and beyond.

The event was attended by more than 130 representatives of research infrastructures, research policy makers, funders and research infrastructure experts. Participants received detailed information on the planned scope of the update, the requirements for new initiatives and the methodology for selecting new research infrastructure projects.

The Infoday also introduced the official call to the research community to submit proposals for new research infrastructures for inclusion in the ESFRI Roadmap 2026, with a deadline of 8 April 2025.

A key objective of the ESFRI Roadmap 2026 is to strengthen the European research ecosystem and enable efficient sharing of resources across scientific disciplines and countries. For new infrastructures, the emphasis will be on financial sustainability, clear focus and advanced implementation with full operation within ten years, according to ESFRI Vice President Gelsomina Pappalardo. One of the new aspects of the ESFRI Roadmap 2026 is the consideration of environmental aspects of research. 

„Indeed, the sustainability and cultivation of the entire Research Infrastructure (RI) ecosystem, which is composed of the various RIs and the upcoming RI projects, will be the largest challenge for ESFRI in the years to come. Not only Landscaping but mainly an improved monitoring methodology will be the tools needed for the fertilization of the research and innovation infrastructure ecosystem in Europe,” said Jan Hrušák from the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the CAS. 

All information on the ESFRI Roadmap 2026 is available here. Already in June 2024, the ESFRI Landscape Analysis 2024 was published, which provides an overview of the available scientific facilities and services in Europe and identifies gaps, needs and opportunities for further development of research infrastructures.