Editorial Project News and Events

Issue 6 July 2010 – January 2011 ■ Editorial Project News ■ Project no. 212879 ■ EU News and Events ■ Useful Links and Documents This e-newsletter can be downloaded at the following address: http://www.euroris-net.eu/

■ Editorial Research Infrastructures are at the ‘heart” of European Research Area, according to the FP7 Interim Evaluation report, published in October 2010. During the last semester, there were changes in Chairs of both ESFRI and e-IRG, whereas, both an e-IRG blue paper (requested by ESFRI) and ESFRI TWG documents have been produced, to support decision making procedures, which will significantly move RIs forward, despite the worldwide economic crisis. The presentations and discussion held during the International Conference on RIs in Rome (http://www.euroris-net.eu/News/project_news) highlight - among other issues - the socio-economic benefits stemming from Research Infrastructures, built with a global perspective and requiring an international cooperation setting, fully aligned with the European Research and Innovation Strategy. In the current issue, you can read information on the outcomes of important RI events in which EuroRIs- Net actively participated throughout this period, with dynamic contribution both in the dissemination of the benefits of RI programme to research communities, and to the broader dialogue with all FP7 thematic areas covered within the Research Infrastructures programme.

■ Project News and Events 1. International Conference on Research Infrastructures, 30th September 2010, Rome, Italy

An International Conference on Research Infrastructures was organized by APRE in collaboration with the European Commission, the Italian Ministry of Research, the National Research Council and the National Institute of Astrophysics, within the framework of the EuroRIs-Net project. The aim of this conference was to provide explicit information on the current and visionary benefits of RIs, discuss their international collaboration perspectives and contribute to a vivid dialogue among RI stakeholders. The event was held at “Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)”, in Rome, Italy, on 30th September 2010.

During the first session of the event European policies, national strategies and case studies on Research Infrastructures’ (RI) implementation were illustrated through the presentations of Mr Herve Pero (Head of Unit, Research Infrastructures, EC, DG Research), Mr Wim Jansen (representing the Unit of Geant and e-Infrastructures, DG INFSO), the ESFRI Chair (Dr Beatrix Vierkorn Rudolph) , e-IRG Chair (Mr Leif Laaksonen). Representatives from the Italian Ministry of Research, Italian RI Programme Delegates, the Italian Research Institutions and Council, as well as other representatives of RI stakeholders sketched the landscape of RIs in Italy, highlighting, in parallel, expectations for the future.

At the subsequent round table entitled “A vision of the socio-economic benefits of research infrastructures at international level”, organized within the scope of EuroRIs-Net’s ongoing dialogue with RI stakeholders, Mr Pero summarized the vision of EC on RIs, whereas representatives of Research Institutions involved in the development of Research Infrastructures, RI operators, representatives from Innovation agencies and industry discussed the socio-economic benefits of research infrastructures at international level. 1

With Research Infrastructures being at the core of the Research and Innovation Strategy, an urgent need to highlight the power of knowledge sharing, pan-European added value & high level services was expressed. Better coordination and coherence of national/regional policies regarding the RI roadmaps is necessary, taking into account multi-disciplinary scientific evaluation and priority setting, based on the uniqueness and excellence of RIs, also considering education and innovation aspects. The training of young researchers, engineers and managers as well as the creation of the appropriate toolboxes, were also discussed as emerging priorities, embedded in ESFRI & e-IRG objectives, whereas RI impact assessment methodologies were discussed in the international setting. RI NCPs’ role in further disseminating this knowledge to the scientific communities and industry is considered important to widen and spread the usage of existing RIs and help communicate expectations and new needs to RI policy makers, catalyzing the communication among European and national stakeholders. More information, such as minutes and short conclusions are available at the EuroRIs-Net project website (www.euroris- net.eu).

The EuroRIs-Net consortium participated actively in the conference, supporting especially the round table moderation. The next day, the 3rd EuroRIs-Net Annual Meeting took place, as well as the Symposium on Transatlantic EU-US cooperation in the field of Large Scale Research Infrastructures. The purpose of the symposium was to increase mutual understanding and raise awareness on the planning and management processes of the LSRI in Europe and in the USA. The symposium brought together major LSRI funding organizations, officials, major research infrastructure executives and other related experts and scientists to discuss how LSRI are developed and managed, the priorities and strategic perspectives for development of LSRI, ongoing initiatives at the EU Level, at national level in Europe and in the USA, as well as good practice examples on selected topics of mutual interest, including recommendations for tackling the challenges facing trans-Atlantic cooperation. More at: http://www.euussciencetechnology.eu/home/risymposium

For agenda and presentations, please visit: http://www.apre.it/lucidi/infrastrutture2011/default.html

Issue 6 July 2010 – January 2011 ■ Editorial ■ Project News Project no. 212879 ■ EU News and Events This e-newsletter can be ■ Useful Links and Documents downloaded at the following address: http://www.euroris-net.eu/

2. EuroRIsNET participation in ICT 2010: Digitally Driven, 27-29 September 2010, Brussels, Belgium

Efficient synergy for e-infrastructures & ICT through joint dissemination actions with Idealist and EEN networks, 27th to 29th September, 2010

ICT 2010: Digitally Driven, Europe's most visible forum for ICT research and innovation, was organised at Brussels EXPO, from 27th to 29th September 2010, under the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU. At this specific event, ICT and e-infrastructures projects and worldwide cooperation initiatives were represented. The FP7 RI Call 9 (closed on 23rdNovember, 2010) was also presented, together with the Work Programme 2011 & the Digital Agenda.

Our network was represented at the National Contact Points booth, in cooperation with Idealist (Network of ICT NCPs) and contributed to the dissemination of the RI programme and especially e- infrastructures, supporting also the dissemination of the RI-related ICT topic on Exa-scale computing, software and simulation, as an Objective in FP7 ICT Call 7 (ICT- 2011.9.13), which closed in January 2011. During the conference, the RI WP2011 was presented (in relation to RI Call 9). The networking sessions related to: • Standards for e-infrastructures & FI research, organised by SIENA • Global Information Infrastructures for Science and Cultural Heritage (in relation to GRDI2010 & DC-NET projects) • Joining efforts in building an e-infrastructure Ecosystem for Environmental Science (in relation to D4Science project) • The GEANT Green Team: exploring “green” networking technologies, tools and applications (organised by GEANT) and were organised in cooperation with DG INFSO. You can find more information, presentation and conclusions at: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/ict/2010/, or http://www.ICT2010.en/content/conclusions & at EuroRIs-Net website: www.euroris-net.eu

3. 5th Meeting on the Internet Governance Forum, 14th-17th September 2010, Vilnius, Lithuania The fifth annual IGF Meeting was held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 14th-17th September 2010. The IGF is considered to be one of the major world events. Since 2005, IGF attracts 1500-2000 participants annually. Covering various Internet-related subjects, the Internet Governance Forum is a platform for public discussions and for sharing different experiences.

“IGF 2010 - developing the future together” was the overall theme for the Vilnius meeting. The agenda for the 2010 meeting included the following themes: • Managing critical internet resources • Security, openness and privacy • Access and diversity • Internet governance for development (IG4D) • Taking stock of Internet governance and the way forward • Emerging issues: cloud computing

The EuroRIs-Net project was there. Our booth was placed in IGF Village with quick screen display and promotional materials available for visitors. The Project was represented by participants from Lithuania (Agnė Palevičiūtė), Latvia (Andis Zilans), Israel (Felix Cincarevsky) and Poland (Aleksandra Ihnatowicz). For further information, please visit: http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/

4. EuroRIs-Net participation and booth support at ICARE 2010 event: International Conference on Airborne Research for the Environment 25th-30th October 2010, Toulouse (France)

Organized within the framework of the European network of airborne facilities EUFAR, the event was linked to the other European projects COPAL and IAGOS. The event sponsors included the European Commission, Météo-France, CNRS, CNES, Toulouse Blagnac Airport and Airbus.

EuroRIs-Net (represented by Sabine Lecompte, RI NCP France (CNRS), Piotr Swierczynski and Mikolaj Pyczak (IPPT-PAN) participated at the exhibition and supported a promotion booth for the network, jointly managed with the European Commission booth, providing dissemination material related to the network activities (Leaflets, RI success stories, E-newsletters etc.).

More info: http://www.eufar.net/icareEN, http://copal.igf.fuw.edu.pl/pl/archiwum/Flyer_ICARE-2010.pdf Exhibitors: http://www.eufar.net/document/advert/ICARE2010_Exhibitors_Web.pdf EUFAR: http://www.eufar.net/

5. eChallenges e-2010, Warsaw, 27-29/10/2010 This event took place in Marriott Hotel, Warsaw, Poland and was supported by the European Commission, Warsaw Convention Bureau and the Convention Bureau of Poland and hosted by Ministry of Sport and Tourism. The Technical Co-Sponsor was IEEE. The event attracted 229 participants from various countries.

This was the twentieth in a series of Annual Conferences supported by the European Commission, which regularly attracts over 650 delegates from leading commercial, government and research organizations around the world to share knowledge and experience, lessons learnt and good practices in the areas of eInfrastructures, ICT for Networked Enterprise & RFID, eGovernment & eDemocracy, eHealth, Collaborative Working Environments, Living Labs, Digital Libraries and Cultural Heritage, Technology Enhanced Learning, Intelligent Content & Semantics, High Performance Computing Applications, Security and Identity Management and Mobility. E- Infrastructures were at the top of the core thematic priorities of the conference.

The goal of eChallenges 2010 was to stimulate rapid take-up of Research and Technology Development (RTD) results by industry and in particular SMEs, and help open up the European Research Area (ERA) to the rest of the world. eChallenges provides a prestigious, international forum to share success stories and lessons learnt from applied Information and Communications Technology (ICT), related research at European level (FP6 & FP7) as well as Regional, National and Commercial initiatives. International cooperation and discussion on commercialization, exploitation & interoperability issues were key aspects of the programme. The programme combined strategic keynote presentations, technical, legal and policy papers, business and government case studies, workshops and tutorials. eChallenges 2010 also featured an Exhibition and an attractive Social Programme for partners, presenters, delegates and exhibitors, to enhance networking opportunities both during and after the Conference.

EuroRIs-Net and Idealist2011 networks were represented in a shared booth, set up in the exhibitor’s area. Our Polish partner (IPPT-PAN) representatives offered information services on funding possibilities in the RI area, supported by the project’s promotional materials such as fliers, posters, roll-up and video presentation. More information at: http://www.echallenges.org/e2010/

6. Research, development and innovation for a more secure Europe SRC’10, the 5th edition of the European Security Research Conference, 22nd-24th September 2010, Ostend, Belgium

SRC’10 at a glance: SRC’10, as an event of the Belgian Presidency, was a meeting place for security research, technology and development, and innovation stakeholders in Europe. This year’s conference created an important discussion forum for shaping the European security research agenda SRC’10 as a part of the action undertaken in the FP7 European security research Programme, aimed at the development and knowledge and new technologies to improve the security of European citizens, while enforcing the competitiveness of Europe’s security. The conference was a meeting place between research and innovation actors, policy makers and end- users. Special attention was given to presentations of successful projects funded under FP7 in different security fields, particularly involving SMEs and users. The conference sessions were accompanied by brokerage meetings enabling networking in 7 selected activities, such as security research coordination and structuring.

EuroRIs-Net at the exhibition during the SRC’10: The SRC’10 exhibition allowed to present projects, products and services. During the exhibition the EuroRIs-Net project had its booth presented by the IPPT PAN.

The exhibition was accompanied by the poster session which created an excellent opportunity for the scientific community to present ongoing research or results achieved. It was organized following the themes included in the FP7-Security research Programme (ESRP).

Security Research Conference 2011 (SRC’11): During the SRC’10 the venue for SRC’11 was announced. Due to the Polish Presidency in the European Union starting 1st July 2011, the SCR’11 will take place in September in Warsaw. The main organizer of the event will be the Industrial Research for Automation and Measurements (PIAP), a leading Polish research institute.

7. DC-Net: Cultural Heritage approaches e-Infrastructures ERA-NET DC-Net aims to explore how e-infrastructures could contribute to the development of new cultural services, and to establish a joint programme of research priorities with all stakeholders, for the digital cultural heritage sector. The network objectives and goals were described at the International Conference on Research Infrastructures, held on 30.9.2010, in Rome, where Ms Rossella Caffo, of the Italian Ministry of Culture, coordinator of the project, presented the project’s approach to integrating research; she emphasized the need to refocus on the research priorities with cooperation between cultural, research and eInfrastructures sectors; she talked about the coordination of national and EU programmes through a shared “research agenda”; and described the development of a joint activity plan which will activate a multi-disciplinary virtual research community. EuroRIs-Net representatives also attended the DC-Net workshop held in 29th October 2010, in Brussels, Belgium, within the framework of the Belgian EU presidency, where Mr Jean Moulin (Director, STIS/BELSPO, Belgium), responsible for the dissemination activities of the project as well as RI NCP and EuroRIs-Net partner, presented the DC- NET’s twofold approach: a) to understand the rules, requirements and operative conditions which the (digital) cultural heritage sector should be aware of in order to use e-Infrastructures, and b) to investigate new services for research and innovation in digital cultural heritage (DCH) that can now be envisaged, thanks to the availability of e- infrastructures.

The necessity of working together with the e-Infrastructure operators was stressed, in order to develop joint action plans, among other things. Initiatives to strengthen the sharing of mutual knowledge were emphasized as imperative. Common requirements of the SSH area needed to be tackled (included in the ESFRI TWG SSH) – especially in relation to raising awareness of collaboration opportunities, knowledge on facilities and services, and the current usage of e-infrastructures at the level of national stakeholders. The key objective was to draw up a new set of priorities for research into digital culture heritage.

8. MoU signed with SEERA_EI project

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed among EuroRIs-Net and SEERA_EI (South- East European Research Area for eInfrastructures) projects, after a dialogue on joint activities between the two project management boards and coordinators, which started in June 2010, during the presentation of the EuroRIs-Net project at the National Workshop of SEERA_EI, in Athens, Greece. SEERA_EI capitalizes on a series of eInfrastructure projects in the region (SEEREN for the network, SEE-GRID for the Grid, HP-SEE for High-performance computing) by linking national-level programme managers and providing an open forum for information exchange, in order to enable coordination of national programmes in e-Infrastructures, and to set the framework for a common regional agenda. Through the MoU, knowledge will be better shared among networks regarding mutual needs for information on past and present e-Infrastructure-related programmes, policies and priorities in Europe (and South-East Europe specifically) as well as recommendations for the programme managers, policy and strategies in eInfrastructures.

The MoU is also expected to facilitate in e-infrastructures’ programmes’ communication of data, through the mutual forwarding of project requests to the other project’s contacts, and supporting the identification and description of national e-infrastructure initiatives (national programmes, regional collaborations etc.), on the basis of relevant project tasks and initiatives.

9. The EuroRIs-Net New Success Stories

The EuroRIs-Net project website includes information on success stories related to FP6 and FP7 projects, with the aim of increasing stakeholders’ understanding of the RI programme, encouraging them to participate, and demonstrating the useful input of RI NCPs.

Since July 2010, one new success story from Lithuania has been added to the project website, namely: Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) - NCP Lithuania, October 2010.

More success stories and interviews with successful and prominent RI stakeholders will be published at the project website, at http://www.euroris-net.eu/success_stories

■ Ongoing dialogue between EuroRIs-Net and other NCP networks

EuroRIs-Net has already actively participated in a series of other NCP networks’ meetings (to improve synergy and knowledge sharing among NCP networks), in order to exchange ideas and discuss cooperation opportunities (Net4Society, People Network, NMPTeam, ResPotNET and Idealist). Recently, our representatives participated in joint knowledge sharing workshops with COSMOS (Space NCP network), C-Energy+ and Environment NCPs Network. The dialogue was fruitful and collaboration opportunities were discussed, aiming to promote the benefits offered by Research Infrastructures, in order to enhance Research Excellence. The multiplier benefit of disseminating the RI Call topics to other NCP networks, as well as targeted information transfer related to access to Research Infrastructure services and visits are straightforward actions, to be elaborated with other NCP networks for the benefit of the scientific community and industry.

A knowledge sharing meeting with the Idealist network, aiming to explore cooperation opportunities mainly at the level of the e-infrastructures and data infrastructure development and usage, is planned in April 2011. For relevant information and planning of synergy events, please contact Mr Felix Cincarevsky ([email protected]), RI NCP Israel, ISERD (task leader of the “Dialogue with other NCP networks” activity of our project) 8

■ RI News and Events

Transnational Access Calls 1. VENUS-C VENUS-C, a project co-funded by in DG INFSO/F3, launched an open call to select up to 20 scientific communities that will be supported (including funding) in using its cloud computing infrastructure. The aim of the VENUS-C Open Call is to expand the user community, gather additional requirements for the VENUS-C platform, test and validate it by funding between 10 and 20 new pilot prototypes with applications suited to the Cloud. The Call is open to European public and private research organisations involved in Research and Technology Development (RTD) from the 27 Member States and the 13 Associated Countries (Annexes). The Open Call targets a spectrum of application areas (Annexes), spanning the Arts & Humanities, Engineering, Health & Life Sciences, Economics and Financial Services, Natural Sciences, as well as maths and science with application characteristics such as dynamic scaling requirements, peak demands and ubiquitous availability. Specifically VENUS-C aims to bring onboard research groups that have operational and scientifically productive application software already running on platforms, whether commodity clusters, HPC clusters, grids or clouds. The Open Call closes on Monday, 11th April 2011. For details, see http://www.venus-c.eu/Pages/OpenCall.aspx

2. SFERA Thanks to the European Commission and as part of the FP7 Capacities programme, the Solar Facilities for the European Research Area project (SFERA) has been launched in 2009: http://sfera.sollab.eu/. Recently, the SFERA project team announced the opening of the second SFERA Access Campaign. The SFERA project includes the possibility for researchers to get free access to top level European solar facilities for approximately a period of two weeks. Considering your different activities related to Science & Technology and/or solar applications, you might be interested in knowing more on this campaign. You can benefit from this offer by submitting a project proposal to the SFERA Access Committee, as described here http://sfera.sollab.eu/proposal_form.php. The 2011 campaign call for proposals is currently running. The deadline for 2011 was 1st March 2011.

3. CHARISMA (Cultural Heritage Advanced Research Infrastructures: Synergy for a Multidisciplinary Approach to Conservation/Restoration) ARCHLAB CALL FOR PROPOSALS CURRENTLY OPEN - DEADLINE: 16th MARCH 2011. CHARISMA is calling for applications from researcher teams working in Europe or in Associated Countries to visit one or more of the open Museums and Research Institutions, possessing vast archives on analytical and technical data on paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, metals, etc. The ARCHLAB Transnational Access program is offered by six participating organizations (providers). For more, see http://www.charismaproject.eu/transnational-access/archlab/archlab-welcome-desk.aspx

4. NuPNET

NuPNET is the ERA-NET for research infrastructures in Nuclear Physics, grouping 12 institutions funding Nuclear Physics in ten European countries, and has launched its first call for transnational joint activities in Nuclear Physics, for a total of € 3,4 M (http://www.nupnet-eu.org/wps/portal/launch-of-nupnet-call.html) • NuPNET Call Launch: 14 February 2011 • NuPNET Call Closure: 22 April 2011 at 5pm

New Research Infrastructures

1. Member States and Commission put forward new research infrastructures targeting energy

Conference ENERI 2010 Brussels, 29th-30th November 2010

EU Research Ministers and the European Commission have identified three new pan- European research infrastructures in the field of energy: a wind research facility to be built in Denmark; a concentrated solar power installation to be realized in Spain, and a nuclear research reactor to be constructed in Belgium. The global investment is about € 1.2 billion.

The report of the ESFRI Thematic Working group on Energy, where the projects are described, was released at the ENERI Conference on 29th November, in Brussels.

More at ESFRI Energy Thematic Group Report: http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/energy_wg_report.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none

2. Three new research infrastructures in the field of biological and medical sciences will be part of the forthcoming ESFRI roadmap

Three new research infrastructures in the field of biological and medical sciences will also be part of the next ESFRI roadmap update, to be published at the beginning of 2011. One project is supported by the United Kingdom: ISBE, an infrastructure for systems biology, and two are supported by France: ANAEE, aimed at the analysis and experimentation on ecosystems, and MIRRI, a European platform for Microbial resource. For further information, see the report of the ESFRI Biological and Medical Sciences Thematic Working Group below (adopted on 1st December 2010). More at ESFRI Biological & Medical Sciences Thematic Working Group Report: http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/bms_report_en.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none 10

Open Access

1. OpenAIRE presentation & Launch Event, 2ndDecember 2010, Ghent, Belgium

Almost one year after the kick off of the project (13th-14th January 2010, Athens, Greece), OpenAIRE infrastructure, aiming to open access to EU scientific results, was launched at a ceremony supported by DG Research & DG INFSO, in Ghent, on 2nd December 2010, at Ghent University Library, Belgium (http://www.openaire.eu/launch-event.html). Among other issues, it is underlined that “Developing research infrastructures and e-Infrastructures, including those for scientific research results, with a view to boosting Europe's competitiveness, is a priority of both the Digital Agenda for Europe and of the Innovation Union initiative. Currently, the project is running a helpdesk in 27 European countries, consisting of a network of experts and a portal of tools helping researchers to make their articles available online. More at: http://www.openaire.eu/

2. Open Access International Conference, Athens, 12/12/2010

ΕKT/NHRF's Conference "Open Access: Research- Education-Public Data" held with success

Current trends and future challenges for Open Access to scientific publications, research results, educational content and public data were discussed at the International Conference "Open Access: Research – Education - Public Data", successfully held by the National Documentation Centre with the support of LIBER and SPARC Europe on 16th -17th December 2010 in Athens, Greece.

Leading academics, researchers and senior government officials from Greece, Europe and the USA presented Open Access policies, initiatives, infrastructures, international collaborations and current trends in scholarly communication and content management. The keynote speaker was John Willinsky, Stanford University professor and director of the Public Knowledge Project, widely known and awarded for his work on Open Access. During his presentation, Mr Willinsky underlined the benefits that Open Access, Open Public Data, Open Educational Content and Open Source Software bring to all, urging librarians to adopt them as we enter the "era of DIY democracy", as he put it. Visit the www.openaccess.gr website. For the Conference's videos-presentations see http://www.openaccess.gr/conferences/conference2010 .

ERIC news

The Community legal framework for a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) entered into force on 28th August 2009. This new legal form is designed to facilitate the joint establishment and operation of research facilities of European interest.

First ERIC application: SHARE

The first formal request to set up an ERIC was received by the European Commission on 20th December 2010. Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and The Netherlands have decided to join forces to build SHARE-ERIC, an infrastructure of micro data of households and individuals necessary to understand individual and societal ageing. SHARE, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, is a multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database of micro data on health, socio-economic status, and social and family networks of more than 45,000 individuals aged 50 or over. The decision on the request is expected shortly. Already, in June 2010, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science informed the Dutch Parliament of the agreed process and the role of the different Ministries involved, making the Netherlands the first to establish a national procedure for ERICs. For more on ERIC http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=eric

RI-related events

1. 2010 Euro-Africa Week on ICT Research & e-Infrastructures, December 2010, Helsinki, Finland

Two important events, to promote and enhance Euro-African cooperation on ICT research cooperation and European e-Infrastructures developments and exploitation in Africa, took place last December in Helsinki, Finland.

The 3rd Euro-Africa Cooperation Forum on ICT Research , held in Helsinki on 7th-8th December 2010, was hosted by the European Commission (DG INFSO, international relations unit), the African Union Commission, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Ministry of Employment and the Economy of Finland, organized by the EuroAfrica-ICT EU project with the support of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. 2010 Euro-Africa e-Infrastructures Conference, held in Helsinki on 9th-10th December 2010, was organized by the e-Africa EU project with the support of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and hosted by the European Commission (DG INFSO, GEANT and e-Infrastructures unit), the African Union Commission, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Ministry of Employment and the Economy of Finland. 12

2. Chain Launch event, Rome, 14th December 2010 Chain project (Co-ordination and Harmonization of Advanced eInfrastructures) Grant Agreement n°260011 started officially on 1st December 2010. The kick off meeting was organized on 14th December in Rome (see http://agenda.ct.infn.it/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=495). A description of the project is available on the web site (www.chain-project.eu).

3. Future Internet Assembly, Ghent, 16th-17th December 2010 The Future Internet Assembly brings together European researchers to work jointly on technical and non-technical issues in the developments of the Future Internet. More than 95 projects, investing Euro 600 million euros and mobilizing a community of some 300 experts, are active in shaping the European Future Internet vision. The Future Internet Assembly in Ghent, Belgium (December 16-17th) will be held as part of the Future Internet conference week.

■ EU News and Events

EU News

RI Calls 8 and 9 closed last November 2010

Call for proposals FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2011-1 The call was closed on 25th November 2010. Seventy seven (77) proposals were received, of which 67 proposals were considered eligible and will be evaluated. The remote evaluation took place from mid December 2010 up to the 21st January 2011. The experts met in mid-February to finalise their evaluation report. Following the negotiation phase, the first grant agreements are expected to be signed later this year, after the summer.

In addition to the RI programme’s Call 9 topics, an ICT programme topic (namely: Exa-scale computing, software and simulation, as Objective in FP7 ICT Call 7 - ICT- 2011.9.13 (issued in September 2010 with deadline in January 2011) was also presented, focusing on research to be conducted in relation to the PRACE e-infrastructure.

■ Forthcoming RI-related Events

1. ICT Proposers' Day 2011, 19th-20th May 2011, Budapest, Hungary The ICT Proposers' Day 2011, taking place in Budapest on 19th-20th May is dedicated to networking and promoting research & development in the field of Information and Communication Technologies. If you would like to know more about: • the funding opportunities offered by the European Union in the field of ICT research & development; • participating in Calls 8 and 9 of the FP7 ICT Work Programme offering more than one billion euros of EU funding and you are looking for the right partners to form project consortia, then the ICT Proposers' Day 2011 is for you! The event will provide academia and business sectors, SMEs and government actors from all over Europe a platform for building partnerships and exchanging ideas on participating in calls for proposals. About 2500 participants are expected to attend. In addition, over 100 Commission officials will be present to provide information on the content of the calls for proposals and advice you on how to submit your proposal.

DG INFSO - Unit INFSO/ "GÉANT & eInfrastructure” - will have a 90 min networking session on the WP2012-13 (presentation of the call - presentation of pre-selected proposals).

2. WIRE 2 - Week of Innovative Regions 2, 7th-9th June 2011 Debrecen, Hungary A three-day conference will be held under the Hungarian presidency of the European Union. Specific sessions will be dedicated to research infrastructures and their regional dimension as well as the complementarity of funding from the structural funds for their development, design and construction. More information will be available shortly through our site http://www.euroris- net.eu/Events/ris_events/. For further information, the detailed programme or for registration purposes, please check www.wire2011.eu

3. e-Challenges 2011, 26th – 28th October 2011, Florence, Italy

The eChallenges e-2011 Conference & Exhibition will take place in Florence, Italy on 26th – 28th October. This is the twenty-first in a series of Annual Conferences supported by the European Commission, which regularly attracts over 600 delegates from leading commercial, government and research organisations around the world to share knowledge and experience, lessons learnt, good practice and innovation.

A Call for Papers is now open, inviting extended abstracts (1,200 - 1,500 words) for technical papers, visionary papers, as well as business and government case studies. All extended abstracts (http://www.echallenges.org/e2011/default.asp?page=submission) must be submitted online by 28th February for double blind peer review by the International Programme Committee.

Papers should focus on a research or eAdoption topic on which a case study, initial or final results can be published. General project descriptions are not appropriate. All papers must highlight the level of innovation and actual or expected impact. Proposals to arrange 90-minute workshop sessions are also welcome. Related themes and suggestions for papers and sessions are outlined in the Call for Papers. See more at: http://www.echallenges.org/e2011/default.asp?page=c4p eChallenges e-2011 will focus on Applied ICT research topics addressing major societal and economic challenges. The programme will combine strategic keynote presentations, technical and policy papers, case studies, workshops, an exhibition and social activities. The programme will showcase results from projects funded at national and regional level as well as those funded by European Commission Research Programmes. More information is available at http://www.echallenges.org/e2011/default.asp?page=themes

ESFRI / E-IRG News

New Chairpersons for ESFRI and e-IRG

ESFRI: The inaugural meeting of ESFRI took place in Brussels on 25th April 2002. After Hans Chang from the Netherlands, John Wood from the UK, and Carlo Rizzuto from IT, during the ESFRI December 2009 meeting in Stockholm, the delegates unanimously agreed that Dr. Beatrix Vierkorn-Rudolph from Germany should take over as Chair from September 2010. e-IRG: Dr. Gudmund Høst (The Research Council of Norway) was elected new Chair of the e-IRG for the next two-year season (2011-2012) at the e-IRG meeting in Brussels on 16th December 2010. Dr. Høst has been a delegate of the e-IRG since 2004. He is replacing Dr Leif Laaksonen (CSC – IT Centre for Science, Finland) who has been chairing the e-IRG since 2006. Dr. Høst, together with the e-IRG delegates, will bring forward the work of the e-IRG for the next two-year term and will be supported by the e-IRG secretariat. The Chair acts in the general interest of the e-IRG and no longer as a country representative, to fully represent the European e-Infrastructure interests.

E-IRG BLUE PAPER

In October 2009 ESFRI invited the e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG) to produce a report, or “Blue Paper”, on e-Infrastructure services, enabling more efficient e-Infrastructure support for the science than is done by the ESFRI projects. This Blue Paper was delivered to ESFRI at the end of June 2010, and endorsed by the ESFRI plenum at the ESFRI delegates meeting, on Friday 24th October 2010. Download the document at http://www.e-irg.eu/publications/white-papers.html.

ESFRI WG DOCUMENTS supporting ESFRI Roadmap Update 2010

In September 2009, ESFRI launched a call for new projects to be considered for the Update of the ESFRI Roadmap due to be published in December 2010. The deadline for proposal submission was 31st December 2009 and proposals received are currently being evaluated by specific ESFRI Thematic Working Groups dealing with Energy and Biological and Medical Sciences. The call invited proposals for new (or major upgrades of) research infrastructures of pan-European relevance in the specific fields of Energy (Energy Thematic Working Group) and Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Biotechnology (incl. Systems biology) (Biological and Medical Sciences Thematic Working Group). See relevant references on reports of the Thematic Working Groups at New Research Infrastructures section, above. The elaboration of the ESFRI Roadmap update is in progress. 16

e-IRG Support Programme 3

The e-Infrastructure Reflection Group Support Programme 3 (e-IRGSP3) will provide a comprehensive support framework for the work of the e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e- IRG). The e-IRG is an inter-governmental policy organisation with delegates of the Member, Accession and Associated States of the European Union, and the European Commission. The delegates – appointed by their national ministries – have a widespread network of contacts within e- infrastructure organisations and the ICT-community, spanning from national level to European and worldwide levels. The e-IRGSP3 project will enable further efficient operation of the e-IRG. See more at http://www.e-irg.eu/

e-IRG meetings coming up

The e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (www.e-irg.eu) organises workshops twice a year in collaboration with the country holding the EU presidency. Workshops are open to all, and function as incubators for feeding new information and trends into the work of the e-IRG plenum. The next e-IRG open workshop will be held in Budapest, Hungary, on 4th-5th April 2011. The e-IRG workshop, organized in the frame of the Hungarian EU Presidency, will address the following topics: The ERA and e-Infrastructures, e-Infrastructure trends, e-Infrastructure relations and partnerships, and e- Infrastructures and FP8. All topics will be presented and discussed in plenary sessions. In addition, the Cohesion and Regional aspects and the e-IRG Recommendations will be discussed in two panel sessions. e-Infrastructure users and e-Infrastructure policymakers are invited to attend the e-IRG workshop and contribute to the future of European e-Infrastructures.

Please visit the e-IRG website for more information and to register to the event. http://www.e-irg.eu/e-irg-workshop-budapest-4-5-april.html

■ Useful Links and Documents

ESFRI / E-IRG related documents

• ESFRI Thematic Working Group & other reports

Visit ESFRI website (http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=esfri) to read recent reports from ESFRI thematic working groups: • BMS Thematic Working Group • Energy Thematic Working Group

as well as the report: ESFRI - Inspiring Excellence - Research Infrastructures and the Europe 2020 Strategy (Prof. Carlo Rizzuto, ESFRI Chair, Editor: Richard L. Hudson Science Business)

• e-IRG reports

Visit e-IRG website (www.e-irg.eu) to download the “Blue Paper” on e-Infrastructure.

RI–related links and articles

• High Level Expert Group on Scientific data report

Visit http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/e-infrastructure/docs/hlg-sdi-report.pdf, to download the report:

Riding the wave - How Europe can gain from the rising tide of scientiﬁc data (Final report of the High Level Expert Group on scientiﬁc Data), submitted to the European Commission in October 2010

• GÉANT Expert Group Visit http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/e-infrastructure/geant-expert-group_en.html to see the report "What role for European Research and Education networking in 2020"

• Interesting links with reports and audiovisual material:

Visit http://www.czelo.cz/fp8-preparation/ for a collection of more than 30 position papers on FP8, from countries, regions and large organisations Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F23E5J-jbhM to watch “live” information on the SACCESS project, and on opportunities to do your research in South Africa 18

Documents of interest in official DG Research / DG INFSO research infrastructure websites:

New RI Projects funded under the FP7 http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=projects

http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/e-infrastructure/home_en.html

Project factsheets Project Factsheets - Project form e-Infrastrucures RI Call 4 Project Factsheets - Projects from e-Infrastructures RI Call 5

Interesting articles on Research Infrastructures

Press corner http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=press

Cost Control and Management Issues of Global Research Infrastructures European Expert Group Report, October 2010 (Read this interesting Expert Group Report as well as more documentation on the European RI landscape. Full report available at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=impact_studies

EIROforum: introduced the publisher of Science in School See more at http://www.scienceinschool.org/

Visit our website (www.euroris-net.eu) to see more on:

• Project events and RI news , such as: o FP7 Interim Evaluation: Analyses of FP7 supported Research Infrastructures initiatives in the context of the European Research Area (C. Fotakis, Final Report (October, 2010))

o SPECIAL STUDY: A Strategic Agenda for European Leadership in Supercomputing: HPC 2020 — IDC Final Report of the HPC Study for the DG Information Society of the European Commission (September 2010, IDC #SR03S)

• Interesting news and bulletins on I3 projects & transnational access Calls 19