Side Events

In 2006, the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) was included on the ESFRI Roadmap as a visionary project to build a new generation of high-power laser facilities in Europe. Twenty years later, ELI has moved from roadmap ambition to operational reality: it has been built, is operating as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium, and is recognised as the world’s largest and most advanced high-power laser research infrastructure.

The session is directly aligned with ICRI 2026’s overarching focus on “Bridging Science, Society and Diplomacy through Research Infrastructures”, and in particular with its themes on research infrastructures as drivers of socio-economic impact and as instruments of science diplomacy. ELI provides a concrete case study of how long-term European coordination, strategic investment, distributed implementation, and international governance can generate frontier science, technological leadership, regional development, and global partnerships.

The event will examine ELI’s impact across three interconnected dimensions. First, it will highlight the scientific and technological achievements made possible by ELI’s unique laser systems, secondary sources and experimental platforms, which are now enabling cutting-edge research across physics, chemistry, materials science, life sciences, medicine, energy and other fields. ELI’s user programme has attracted more than 1,800 individual applicants from around 40 countries and is delivering an increasing number of high-quality experiments and scientific results, demonstrating the maturity and international demand of the infrastructure.

Second, the event will reflect on ELI as a model for building globally competitive research infrastructures in Europe’s newer Member States. ELI combined European Regional Development Fund support, national investment, European framework programme funding, and Member contributions to create flagship facilities in Czechia, Hungary and Romania and to integrate them into a single pan-European organisation. In doing so, ELI has helped connect emerging research and innovation ecosystems with leading scientific communities across Europe and beyond, while strengthening Europe’s position in high-power laser science and technology.

Third, the session will explore ELI’s evolving strategic role. ELI’s expanding membership, now comprising 10 Member and Observer countries, shows the continued relevance of the infrastructure to national and European research strategies. Beyond excellence-based access, ELI is increasingly positioned to support mission-oriented research serving its members and wider society. Its Mission-Based Access Programme in Inertial Fusion Energy illustrates how advanced research infrastructures can mobilise communities around long-term scientific and technological challenges, support public-public and public-private collaboration, and contribute to areas of major societal relevance such as sustainable energy.

The side event will bring together testimonials from ELI stakeholders, including representatives of Member and Observer countries, scientific users, facility leaders, partners and policymakers. It will take stock of what has been achieved since the 2006 ESFRI Roadmap, identify the enabling conditions behind ELI’s success, and draw lessons for the next generation of European and global research infrastructures. It will also look forward, presenting ELI’s plans to consolidate its integrated operation, expand its user community, strengthen international partnerships, and develop further mission-oriented initiatives.

By using ELI’s 20-year trajectory as a reference point, the event will contribute to the ICRI 2026 discussion on how research infrastructures can translate vision into long-term societal value, combine place-based investment with global excellence, and act as trusted platforms for science, innovation and diplomacy.

Research infrastructures are becoming central instruments for addressing global scientific, technological and societal challenges. In health and life sciences, progress increasingly depends on access to distributed capabilities, interoperable data ecosystems, trusted digital environments, advanced analytical methods, and specialised expertise that no single country or region can provide alone. At the same time, research infrastructures are increasingly relevant for science diplomacy, strategic resilience, trusted internationalisation and global standard setting.

Europe and Australia are well positioned to develop a new model for structured international cooperation between mature research infrastructure ecosystems. On the European side, Health and Life Sciences Research Infrastructures, including ESFRI Landmarks and ERICs, provide advanced capabilities in biological resources, imaging, biobanking, translational medicine, disease modelling, structural biology, bioinformatics, data services and user access. On the Australian side, the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) has created a coordinated national ecosystem with complementary strengths in phenomics, genomics, imaging, population health data, bioinformatics, advanced computing, trusted research environments and digital research infrastructure.

The Prato White Paper, "Building an Intercontinental RI Ecosystem in Health and Life Sciences: Opportunities for Australia–Europe Collaboration", provided an important starting point for this discussion. It captured a shared recognition that existing EU–Australia links are substantial, but remain too dependent on bilateral relationships, project-specific initiatives and voluntary coordination. It identified the need to move from collaboration between individual infrastructures towards an ecosystem-to-ecosystem approach that can address common barriers in governance, access, data interoperability, workforce development, policy alignment and long-term sustainability.

This policy session will examine how the momentum created by the Prato process can now be translated into practical cooperation between European and Australian Health and Life Sciences Research Infrastructures. The session is particularly timely in light of Australia’s association to Horizon Europe Pillar II. While this association opens significant new opportunities for collaborative research and innovation, it does not automatically resolve the research infrastructure dimension of the partnership. Dedicated mechanisms are still needed to support reciprocal access to infrastructure services, trusted and FAIR health data collaboration, responsible AI governance, workforce mobility, and alignment between European and Australian RI strategies and funding environments.

The session will therefore focus on the policy question: how can Europe and Australia build a sustainable intercontinental research infrastructure ecosystem that supports excellent science, trusted data collaboration and long-term strategic cooperation?

European and Australian Health and Life Sciences Research Infrastructures will present concrete perspectives from both ecosystems. Speakers will discuss how the European Life Sciences RI Strategy Board and the Australian NCRIS Health Group can serve as anchors for a structured EU–Australia RI partnership. The session will explore the proposed EU–Australia Life Sciences RI Forum as a governance and coordination mechanism for joint priority setting, stakeholder engagement and sustainability planning.

The discussion will address four practical cooperation areas. First, reciprocal user access: how can researchers in Europe and Australia benefit from complementary infrastructure services, expertise and facilities, and what funding or operational models are needed to make such access sustainable? Second, data sharing, interoperability and responsible AI: how can European and Australian RIs support trusted, FAIR, secure and AI-ready health data collaboration across jurisdictions, while respecting data sovereignty, privacy and emerging AI governance frameworks? Third, workforce development: how can staff exchanges, training and knowledge-sharing activities strengthen the professional communities needed to operate international RI partnerships? Fourth, policy alignment: how can EU–Australia RI cooperation contribute to wider discussions on trusted global partnerships and responsible internationalisation?

The world has entered an era of compounding and interconnected crises that are fundamentally reshaping the global order, highlighting the critical role of science diplomacy in addressing challenges and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Today's emerging crises, including public health emergencies like the Covid 19 pandemic, the urgent need for climate change mitigation and adaptation (SDG 13), armed conflicts, threats to food security (SDG 2), depletion of natural resources (SDG 12), and biodiversity loss (SDG 15), demand coordinated global responses that bridge scientific expertise and diplomatic actions.

Research Infrastructures (RIs) sit at the heart of this challenge. As pillars of scientific progress and generators of societal, economic, and environmental value, RIs need to undergo a profound transformation, embracing greening practices that reduce their environmental impact while building the resilience needed to withstand and recover from disruption.

This workshop will bring together leading experts and key stakeholders to validate preliminary findings on the greening and resilience of Research Infrastructures, exchange insights on emerging practices and policy gaps, and develop concrete, actionable recommendations.

The workshop pursues two complementary and mutually reinforcing aims: Advancing the Green Transition of Research Infrastructures and Strengthening the Resilience of Research Infrastructures.

With sustainability at its core, the workshop will focus on policies and practices that help RIs reduce their environmental footprint through initiatives such as climate change mitigation, energy use optimization, recycling and waste reduction, water management, and the integration of circular economy principles. As research infrastructures play a crucial role in delivering societal, economic, and scientific benefits, supporting their green transition is essential for achieving the SDGs.

At the same time, addressing the resilience of RIs through their capacity to withstand and recover from disruptive crises is a matter of both policy and international cooperation. Science diplomacy becomes an indispensable tool here. This will ensure that emerging challenges, ranging from climate change to geopolitical instabilities, are mitigated through coordinated risk management, continuity planning, and mutual support mechanisms.

The workshop's findings will directly inform policy recommendations addressed to national policymakers, the European Commission, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), and RI management bodies.

This activity fulfils ESFRI's commitment to the ERA Policy Agenda 2025–2027 and responds to the Competitiveness Council Conclusions of June 2025, which called on Member States to strengthen resilience, preparedness, and crisis prevention. It constitutes a dedicated deliverable within the ESFRI Work Plan 2024–2026 on the greening and resilience of RIs, contributing to a final recommendation report scheduled for 2027.

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The Einstein Telescope (ET) will be Europe’s future third-generation gravitational-wave observatory, and, together with ESA’s Large Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), will place Europe at the forefront of gravitational-wave and multi-messenger astronomy.

ET was included in the ESFRI Roadmap in 2021 and represents one of Europe’s most ambitious scientific infrastructure projects. Building on the breakthroughs achieved by today’s gravitational-wave detectors, LIGO in the United States and Virgo in Europe, ET will open an entirely new observational window on the universe thanks to its unprecedented sensitivity.

ET will anchor scientific excellence in Europe by enabling research that cannot be done by individual institutions or countries alone. At a time of major geopolitical instability, ET will be one of the key magnets to ensure that researchers, engineers, students, innovators and high-tech companies “Choose Europe” and all it has to offer, in science and beyond.

At the very core of this unique scientific infrastructure are technologies that require to push current technological boundaries in several key areas such as precision engineering, cryogenics, vacuum systems, photonics, advanced sensors, data infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence/High Performance Computing, construction technologies and systems integration. The technological demands coming from ET support the European quest for industrial competitiveness and the capabilities that will emerge from its development can have spill-over effects that will strengthen Europe’s strategic technology base.

Since the very beginning of its preparatory phase, the ET project has been collaborating with and mobilising know-how, expertise and R&D environments of world-leading, Europe-based research organisations like CERN and ESA. By connecting complementary scientific infrastructures and their associated industrial ecosystems, ET will foster Europe's strategic autonomy in critical technologies and its position as a global leader in research and innovation.

ET is rooted in the principles of long-term vision, cooperation, and shared responsibility that underpin the European Research Area. Developing an infrastructure of this scale requires, in fact, wide and sustained political commitment, sound governance, and a genuinely shared European vision, and it offers a unique opportunity to deepen cooperation across borders around common scientific and strategic goals.

This event will provide an opportunity to learn about the progress of the ET project in all areas above, and to hear from the key stakeholders that are enabling it from within – including the Einstein Telescope Organisation, the Einstein Telescope Collaboration and the ET Candidate Sites. Moreover, external partners that are contributing to addressing some of the most pressing technical and project management challenges will reflect with us on why ET is worth supporting for their organisations and for Europe.

The goal of this event will hence be two-fold: 1) sharing the journey of the ET project, its progresses and the next steps as a flagship European scientific infrastructure; 2) inspiring the global research and innovation communities with all their stakeholders to continue pursuing and investing in visionary initiatives.

The event will include engaging, moderated dialogues among leading experts and communities’ representatives. The talks and discussions will be accompanied by visual content created through live artistic performances, offering an unconventional and imaginative interpretation of the themes emerging from the exchanges and helping to create a more immersive and reflective experience.

Artificial Intelligence is becoming a strategic capability for Research Infrastructures (RIs), not only transforming how scientific data are generated, managed, analysed and reused, but also increasing the scientific, societal and economic value that RIs deliver. AI-ready infrastructures have the potential to accelerate discovery, improve the efficiency of publicly funded research, enable new services for researchers, industry and public authorities, and strengthen Europe's competitiveness. Realising these benefits, however, requires coordinated investment, sustainable operational models and robust mechanisms to measure and communicate the impact of AI-enabled research infrastructures.

This side event explores how Research Infrastructures can help shape Europe's future AI in Science landscape by connecting operational experience with strategic policy development. The session will examine how practical lessons from AI-enabled infrastructures are being translated into shared priorities for future investment, coordination and long-term sustainability.

A central element of the discussion will be the SCIANCE initiative, which is developing a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for AI in Science through structured engagement with Research Infrastructures, e-infrastructures, scientific facilities, compute providers and scientific communities. Rather than presenting SCIANCE as a standalone initiative, the discussion will position it within the broader European AI in Science ecosystem, including RAISE (Resource for AI Science in Europe), which aims to federate AI expertise, data, computing infrastructures and funding across Europe to accelerate AI-enabled scientific discovery. Together, these complementary initiatives illustrate how Europe is building a coordinated AI ecosystem that connects strategic planning with operational capabilities, helping to reduce fragmentation and identify common priorities for AI-ready data, computing infrastructures, interoperability, governance, skills and sustainable service delivery. This ensures that European strategic planning is grounded in real operational needs and aligned with existing initiatives such as ESFRI, EOSC, EuroHPC, AI Factories, Data Labs and national research infrastructure programmes. By translating operational experience into shared strategic priorities, these initiatives provide an evidence base for coordinated investments, infrastructure upgrades and long-term sustainability while strengthening Europe's scientific competitiveness and socio-economic impact.

The session will complement this strategic perspective with examples of operational AI capabilities that are already emerging across the European research infrastructure landscape. These include Data Exploitation Platforms, AI-enabled data services, reusable workflows, AI-assisted data discovery, and environments that integrate the computing continuum across cloud, HTC, HPC and AI-optimised infrastructures. Rather than presenting technology demonstrations, these examples will illustrate transferable implementation patterns, highlight common infrastructure requirements and provide evidence for future policy and investment priorities.

Recognising that sustainable AI adoption depends as much on people as on technology, the discussion will also address organisational readiness, regulations and skills development. Research Infrastructures require new professional profiles and operational capabilities that combine domain science, AI, research software engineering and infrastructure operations. Developing these capacities is essential for embedding AI as a sustainable component of research infrastructure services.

Finally, the session will explore how strategic planning, operational experience and emerging European coordination mechanisms can jointly reduce fragmentation and strengthen the long-term sustainability of the AI in Science ecosystem. Drawing on experiences from SCIANCE, RAISE and complementary strategic efforts such as SPECTRUM's Strategic Research, Innovation and Deployment Agenda (SRIDA), the discussion will consider how infrastructure requirements, good practices and implementation experience can inform realistic infrastructure upgrade scenarios, coordinated investment priorities and long-term governance models.

By bringing together research infrastructure directors and data managers, e-infrastructures, scientific facilities, policy initiatives and research communities, the side event will provide a forum to identify shared priorities, validate emerging strategic directions and strengthen the role of Research Infrastructures in shaping Europe's AI in Science agenda.

Relevance to Theme 1: Research Infrastructures as Drivers of Socio-Economic Impact

The session contributes directly to Theme 1 by examining how Research Infrastructures can maximise the societal and economic value of AI through coordinated, sustainable service development rather than isolated experimentation. AI has the potential to accelerate scientific discovery, improve the efficiency of data-intensive research, enable new digital research services and increase the return on investments in research infrastructures. However, achieving this impact requires more than access to AI technologies; it requires interoperable infrastructure, sustainable operational models, skilled personnel and coordinated investment strategies.

By bringing together operational experience from Research Infrastructures with strategic agenda-setting through SCIANCE, the session will identify common priorities for AI-ready data, computing infrastructures, governance, interoperability and workforce development. These priorities provide an evidence base for future European investments and help reduce duplication of effort across infrastructures. The discussion will also explore approaches for assessing and communicating the impact of AI-ready Research Infrastructures, including indicators related to scientific productivity, service adoption, operational efficiency, workforce development and broader societal benefits.

Relevance to Theme 2: Research Infrastructures as Instruments of Science Diplomacy

The session also aligns strongly with Theme 2 by highlighting the role of Research Infrastructures as trusted platforms for international cooperation in AI-enabled science. Scientific challenges increasingly require collaboration across national borders, disciplines and infrastructure providers. Coordinated approaches to AI-ready data, computing resources, interoperability, governance and service provision are therefore essential for maintaining an open and collaborative European research ecosystem.

The discussion will demonstrate how structured engagement through SCIANCE enables Research Infrastructures, e-infrastructures, scientific facilities and scientific communities to jointly define strategic priorities that reflect diverse operational needs while supporting common European objectives. By connecting initiatives across ESFRI, EOSC, EuroHPC, AI Factories, Data Labs and national infrastructures, the session will explore how shared governance, interoperable services and coordinated investment can strengthen Europe's capacity to conduct trustworthy, collaborative and internationally competitive AI-enabled research.

More broadly, the side event positions Research Infrastructures not only as providers of scientific services but also as strategic partners in shaping European AI policy, fostering cross-border cooperation and contributing to a coherent, open and sustainable AI in Science ecosystem.

Research Infrastructures are becoming pivotal environments for data-intensive, AI-enabled and policy-relevant science. In Earth System Science, challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, natural hazards, sustainable agriculture, urban resilience and environmental monitoring depend on connecting distributed observations, long-term data assets, modelling capabilities, computing resources, trusted services and scientific communities across borders.

This side event will explore how environmental EOSC Nodes, Research Infrastructures, ERICs, distributed observing systems, thematic data infrastructures, data centres, AI Factories and international scientific communities can work together to prepare GenAI-ready services for Earth System Science.

The discussion will be anchored in Data Terra as an environmental EOSC Node and in GenAI4Earth as a European initiative to operationalise Generative AI for Earth System Science across the EOSC and Research Infrastructure landscape. Data Terra provides an operational entry point: it is a distributed research infrastructure for Earth System and environmental data and services, structured around five thematic hubs covering atmosphere, ocean, land surfaces, solid Earth and biodiversity, with cross-cutting mechanisms for satellite imagery, inter-domain coordination and science-society interfaces. This makes it a relevant connector between domain-specific RIs, observing systems, data centres, regional user communities and European digital services.

The link with AI Factories will be a central dimension of the discussion. Data Terra's role as lead of the environmental vertical of AI2F creates a bridge between environmental data infrastructures, EOSC service environments and sovereign AI/compute capacities. This bridge is essential to move from AI-ready datasets to operational GenAI workflows: model pre-training and fine-tuning, inference, benchmarking, reproducibility and frugal computing require coordinated access to data, expertise, software environments and scalable compute.

The strategic value of the session lies in connecting this infrastructure capacity with the requirements of GenAI-enabled science. Data Terra supports discovery, access, processing, visualisation, modelling and combination of multi-source Earth System data, with FAIR-oriented services, catalogues, vocabularies, ontologies, persistent identifiers, virtual analysis environments and processing close to data. These capabilities provide a concrete basis for embedding GenAI services in operational RI environments.

GenAI4Earth adds the scientific and technological case. The project builds on the EOSC Node architecture, where nodes such as Data Terra and NFDI act as trusted intermediaries for onboarding datasets and services, supporting EOSC standards and FAIR metrics while working with European RIs and data centres. It aims to deliver explainable, benchmarked and reusable GenAI services for metadata generation, dataset enrichment, semantic discovery, scientific workflows and foundation models.

The side event will focus on co-design between infrastructures: how RIs can jointly define the interfaces, responsibilities and operating models required to make GenAI services robust, trusted and reusable. The discussion will cover FAIR and AI-ready data, metadata enrichment, persistent identifiers, provenance, access governance, explainability, bias monitoring, scalable computing, human validation, service onboarding, skills and long-term sustainability.

Three GenAI4Earth use-case families will structure the discussion. Urban monitoring will explore how Earth observation, UAV, street-level, in-situ and FO-DAS data can support urban resilience, climate-stress assessment and infrastructure monitoring. Agro-forestry monitoring will address how RIs and data infrastructures can support crop and forest phenotyping, disease detection, biomass estimation and resilience monitoring. Land-ocean floor systems will examine how conventional seismology and fibre-optic distributed acoustic sensing can be integrated into explainable and interoperable workflows for hazard detection, event characterisation and monitoring.

Through these use cases, the event will address a central operational question for the RI community: how can different categories of Research Infrastructures interoperate across domains and regions to transform distributed data assets into trusted GenAI-enabled services for science?

The session will align RI operators, EOSC Nodes, AI Factories, data centres, scientific communities, funders, policymakers and industry actors around the emerging requirements of GenAI-enabled Research Infrastructures. It will position environmental EOSC Nodes such as Data Terra as connectors between domain infrastructures, EOSC service environments, AI/compute resources, innovation ecosystems and international RI communities.

This ASEAN–EU knowledge-exchange workshop positions ASEAN as a strategic architect in the global research and technology infrastructure landscape by doing three concrete things: (1) presenting a mapping of ASEAN science diplomacy capacities and engaging with the EU Science Diplomacy Framework to identify complementarities; (2) facilitating a moderated dialogue among ASEAN and EU stakeholders to derive priority inputs for an ASEAN-owned Science Diplomacy Action Plan, including priority domains, governance models, and delivery mechanisms; and (3) generating concrete ideas for joint EU–ASEAN pilot activities, such as training on science diplomacy for policymakers and RI managers. The session therefore directly supports the ICRI26 theme of building an inclusive, interoperable, and future-oriented research infrastructure ecosystem following the 2025 adoption of the ASEAN Regional Research Infrastructure Strategy and the EU Strategy on Research and Technology Infrastructures.

The Horizon Europe-funded ACCESS2ACCESS project is developing the foundations for a future European Research Infrastructure (RI) access framework that responds to the needs of users, operators, policymakers and funders across the European Research Area (ERA). As part of this process, Work Package 3 focuses on systematically assessing stakeholder needs and co-creating recommendations to inform the design of an inclusive and sustainable framework.

ICRI 2026 provides a unique platform to convene high-level stakeholders from across the global RI landscape to discuss strategic questions surrounding equitable, sustainable and efficient access to research infrastructures. The proposed side event will serve as a structured consultation and co-creation workshop, bringing together representatives of research infrastructures, policymakers, funding organisations, and other key stakeholders to validate emerging findings from the ACCESS2ACCESS stakeholder engagement activities and explore priorities for a coordinated European access framework.

The session directly contributes to Theme 2 – Research Infrastructures as Instruments of Science Diplomacy by examining how coordinated access mechanisms can strengthen international scientific collaboration, foster openness and trust, and lower barriers to participation across disciplines, countries and stakeholder communities. A transparent and well-governed access framework can enhance the ability of RIs to support collaborative research addressing global challenges while reinforcing the role of Europe as a reliable and attractive partner in international science.

The event also addresses Theme 1 – Research Infrastructures as Drivers of Socio-Economic Impact by exploring how access policies and governance models can maximise scientific excellence, innovation, industrial engagement, skills development and broader societal benefit. Discussions will consider how user needs, governance arrangements and sustainability considerations can be balanced to ensure that future access models generate long-term value for researchers, research infrastructures and society.

The outcomes of the discussion will directly inform the design of the ACCESS2ACCESS access framework while contributing to broader European and international discussions on the evolution of RI access, interoperability and international cooperation within the ERA.

One of the two ICRI themes is “Research Infrastructures as Drivers of Socio-Economic Impact”. The economic dimension is to a significant extent shaped by engagement with the private sector. In that regard, strengthening collaboration between Research Infrastructures and private companies or industrial peak bodies is considered essential. In particular, with this side event we would like to focus on the two aspects:

- How to grow such a collaboration. In other words, how to attract more companies and industrial entities towards research infrastructures.

- How to strengthen such a collaboration. In other words, how to make the collaboration more frequent, enduring and successful once it’s already in place.

We would like to address these aspects by having several success cases of RI/industry collaboration being present across research sectors. Importantly, different RI domains have varying levels of industrial maturity, and even within a single RI domain, there can be significant differences in maturity across infrastructures. It is also true that in some RIs and domains, the focus rightly remains on academic and early-stage research, and finding ways to encourage and accelerate ‘hand-off’ to industry for further adoption is the goal. This side event offers the opportunity for both cross- and within-domain experience exchange and strategic dialogue towards improving the industrial maturity trajectory of various RIs and fostering an increase in the overall intensity of cooperation among RIs and industry.

- Physical sciences RIs might have a longer track record and collected experience of cooperation with industry. This experience would be highly welcomed to share with health & food infrastructures to build on.

-- As an example, the learnings from the Accelerator Science and Technology Industry Permanent Forum could be highly beneficial, the co-chair of which expressed initial interest in participating in our side-event.

- Several health & food RIs have dedicated personnel for collaboration with industry – industry liaison officers. Sharing their experience with the other RIs from the health & food domain could be highly beneficial in the light of the abovementioned objectives.

-- We have made preliminary agreements with the following five health & food RIs to participate in the event in case granted: AnaEE-ERIC, MIRRI-ERIC, LifeWatch-ERIC, EMPHASIS, and Euro-BioImaging ERIC. Those are the RIs with a track record of common service pipelines for the sector in the INFRA-SERV projects Microbes-4-Climate, AgroSERV and others. The latter are complemented by a proven track record of joint service developments with industry partners (e.g. INFRA-TECH project PHENET), fostering competitiveness of European SMEs. Given that Euro-BioImaging ERIC is also a part of the Global BioImaging network, and noting the other global RI partnerships that exist (for example between EMPHASIS and the Australian Plant Phenotyping Network), this consortium brings not only a pan-European, but also a global cooperation perspective.

Why now? From the EU side, there is a big effort to make the EU more friendly and supportive for startup ecosystem development, including cooperation with RIs. This is being done through a number of initiatives like INFRA bridging actions 2027, EIC cooperation with RIs, etc. This side-event could be a very timely effort to further support these actions.

The intended structure and attendees of the side-event (initial contacts made):

- Companies who have used RI services (success story presentations cross-sector).

- RI industry liaison officers (from both physical and health & food).

- Accelerator Science and Technology Industry Permanent Forum co-chair.

The organisers of this proposed session (AnaEE-ERIC) are part of the INFRASERV Microbes-4-Climate project composed of four RIs (AnaEE-ERIC, MIRRI-ERIC, EMPHASIS, LifeWatch-ERIC). As part of the liaising activities work package, they are currently working on organising a stakeholder engagement event. This side-event could present a great opportunity for synergies between the ICRI conference and the project.

This side event could go well with the breakout session “#1 Private sector impact” from the conference and, depending on the content of the session, logically happen before or after that session (to be defined).

Developing these approaches to increase the collaboration between private companies and Research Infrastructures will help with the long-term infrastructure sustainability by providing additional revenue streams, increasing international cooperation and providing a platform for strategic dialogue between RIs.

Research infrastructures are widely recognised as essential drivers of scientific excellence, innovation and international collaboration. Discussions on their development have traditionally focused on governance models, funding mechanisms, technical design and long-term sustainability. While these dimensions are indispensable, they primarily address how research infrastructures operate once established rather than the conditions that enable their emergence. The vision of an African Light Source represents one of the most advanced continental research infrastructure initiatives currently emerging in the Global South. Beyond the ambition of establishing a new large-scale facility, it has become a powerful catalyst for scientific cooperation across the continent, bringing together governments, funding agencies, scientific organisations and research communities around a shared long-term objective. Yet achieving this vision requires more than the construction of a facility; it requires the progressive development of the scientific ecosystem capable of sustaining it.

This session proposes a complementary perspective based on a community-centred ecosystem framework for research infrastructure development. Rather than viewing large-scale facilities as the starting point of scientific development, it considers them as the outcome of progressively maturing ecosystems in which scientific communities, education, institutional capacity, regional cooperation, governance and international partnerships evolve together.

The session will examine how different actors contribute complementary components to this ecosystem. LAAAMP provides an international platform for advocacy, scientific diplomacy and capacity development, coordinating initiatives that strengthen research infrastructure ecosystems across the Global South, including the IDSSD 2024-2033 UNESCO-endorsed Advanced Light Source Facilities Empower Global South Scientists for Sustainable Development (Light-GS) programme, which connects emerging regional initiatives pursuing future advanced light-source facilities across the Global South and promotes dialogue, knowledge exchange and cooperation among them. SESAME demonstrates how a research infrastructure can itself become an instrument of science diplomacy, fostering cooperation, shared governance and scientific ownership across politically diverse regions—an experience of particular relevance as Italy has recently joined SESAME as a Member. Existing facilities such as Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste illustrate how user programmes, training, mobility and long-standing international partnerships extend the impact of mature research infrastructures well beyond their host countries, contributing to the development of emerging Research Infrastructure ecosystems.

A key element of the proposed framework is the role of regional feeder facilities as strategic components of research infrastructure ecosystems. These facilities bridge the gap between community development and future large-scale infrastructures by consolidating expertise, institutional ownership and regional scientific networks. X-TechLab in Benin, whose foundation was facilitated by LAAAMP, provides an example of how sustained investment in education, access to advanced instrumentation and regional cooperation can evolve into an internationally recognised research centre, that presently serves as a regional hub for West Africa and as a catalyst for broader ecosystem development. Conceived as a regional feeder facility supporting the long-term vision of the African Light Source, it illustrates how intermediate research infrastructures can strengthen the scientific ecosystem required for future continental facilities. The subsequent establishment of crXstal in Jamaica further demonstrates the transferability of this ecosystem approach. Conceived from the outset as a feeder facility for the proposed Greater Caribbean Light Source, it serves the Caribbean region by adapting the same educational and institutional principles to a different regional context, fostering new scientific communities while laying the foundations for future large-scale research infrastructures.

The policy dimension of this approach will be illustrated through BRIDGE Africa, a new initiative supported by the Italian Ministry of University and Research within the Piano Mattei for Africa. By combining specialised regional hubs, researcher mobility, access to international research infrastructures and institutional partnerships, BRIDGE Africa seeks to operationalise an ecosystem approach to research infrastructure development through Italy–Africa cooperation.

Together, these complementary experiences converge towards the long-term vision represented by the African Light Source, illustrating that the emergence of new continental research infrastructures depends on the progressive maturation of scientific ecosystems in which education, community formation, regional feeder facilities, science diplomacy and international cooperation evolve together. In particular, the release of three Strategic Task Force reports highlights plans for an African-operated beamline at international AdLS, collective African membership for stronger representation, and regional research hubs to support AfLS. Key milestones include the AAS-AfLS MoU signed in December 2024, the AU’s STISA-2034 plan naming a synchrotron as flagship infrastructure, progress on the SESAME-African beamline, and AUDA-NEPAD’s role in implementing STISA-2034 through its MoU with AAS.

The war in Ukraine has severely affected the country's research and innovation ecosystem, disrupting scientific activities, limiting access to facilities and services, and forcing many researchers and technical personnel to relocate or interrupt their work. In this context, the contribution of research infrastructures (RIs) goes far beyond the physical reconstruction of laboratories and facilities. Research infrastructures play a crucial role in preserving scientific capacities, maintaining international scientific cooperation, supporting researchers and technical staff, and preparing the conditions for the long-term recovery and modernisation of the Ukrainian research system.

This side event will explore how European and global research infrastructures can contribute (and are contributing) to Ukraine's recovery through cooperation, capacity building and knowledge sharing, in line with the objectives of the International Coalition for Science, Research and Innovation in Ukraine, and in particular with its initiative on the reconstruction and modernisation of research and technology infrastructures based on open science principles.

The session will provide a platform for policymakers, researchers, research infrastructure managers, funding organisations and representatives of Ukrainian institutions to discuss how international cooperation can strengthen the resilience of the Ukrainian scientific community and support its progressive integration into European and international research ecosystems.

A key objective of the event is to move from policy discussions to practical experiences and concrete actions. The session will therefore present examples of cooperation between European, global and Ukrainian research infrastructures, highlighting initiatives that have enabled:

• access to scientific facilities, services and data resources;

• training and professional development opportunities for researchers, technicians and infrastructure personnel;

• mobility schemes and hosting opportunities for Ukrainian researchers and staff;

• knowledge transfer, peer learning and institutional twinning activities;

• capacity building and skills development to support the long-term sustainability and modernisation of Ukrainian research infrastructures;

• the development of lasting partnerships and networks connecting Ukrainian institutions with European and international RI communities.

Among these experiences, the Research Infrastructures for the Future (RIFF) project will be presented as a case study of European cooperation supporting Ukrainian research infrastructures. In particular, the event will showcase the results of the Open Call for Research Infrastructures in Ukraine, illustrating how targeted actions can strengthen partnerships, facilitate access to infrastructures and services, and support the development of human capacities and institutional resilience.

Another relevant example is the UNESCO Remote Access to Research Infrastructures for Ukrainian Scientists initiative, which has mobilised research infrastructures worldwide to provide remote access to scientific facilities, instruments, data and services for Ukrainian researchers affected by the war. The initiative demonstrates how international cooperation can preserve scientific continuity, prevent the isolation of researchers and maintain Ukraine's connection to global scientific networks.

The event will also showcase additional initiatives promoted by European research organisations and research-performing institutions in support of Ukraine. These experiences illustrate how the research community has mobilised to host Ukrainian researchers, provide training and career opportunities, preserve scientific and cultural assets, and promote collaborative approaches that strengthen both institutional capacities and human capital.

The proposed side event directly contributes to several ICRI 2026 themes, including international cooperation, resilience, open science, scientific diplomacy, widening participation and the societal impact of research infrastructures. It also provides an opportunity to strengthen dialogue among members of the International Coalition and identify new mechanisms to support cooperation with Ukraine through research infrastructures.

By bringing together policymakers, researchers, infrastructure managers, and representatives of the scientific community, the session aims to demonstrate that research infrastructures are not only scientific facilities but also strategic instruments for scientific diplomacy, capacity building, talent retention, and the long-term integration of Ukraine into the European Research Area and the global research ecosystem.

Maximising the innovation potential of research infrastructures requires stronger collaboration with industry, improved visibility of available capabilities, coherent access pathways and sustainable partnership models that respond to the needs of industrial users. While many successful collaborations exist, engagement with industry remains uneven across scientific domains and geographical regions. Companies—particularly SMEs and emerging innovators—often face challenges in identifying the most appropriate infrastructure, navigating access mechanisms or establishing long-term partnerships. These challenges, and opportunities to address them, have been recognised through several international and regional initiatives, including the Horizon Europe RITIFI (Research Infrastructure and Technology Infrastructure for Impact) project.

Building on this context, the side event will bring together representatives from research infrastructures, industry, funding organisations and policymakers from around the world to exchange experiences and identify transferable approaches for strengthening industry engagement. Rather than focusing on a single scientific discipline or regional perspective, the discussion will explore common challenges and successful practices across different infrastructure domains and innovation ecosystems. Participants will examine how research infrastructures can evolve from providers of facilities and services to strategic innovation partners, supporting industrial research, technology development and societal impact.

Practical examples from internationally recognised research infrastructures, including CERN, EATRIS and other infrastructures across multiple scientific domains, will illustrate diverse models of industry engagement, showcasing how long-term partnerships, multidisciplinary expertise and user-oriented services create value for both industry and society. By bringing together global perspectives, the session aims to identify common principles and actionable recommendations that strengthen collaboration between research infrastructures and industry, ultimately contributing to a more connected, visible and impactful international research infrastructure ecosystem.

FUND-RI and ACCESS2ACCESS are two European projects addressing complementary questions at the heart of the research infrastructure ecosystem: how research infrastructures are funded, sustained and connected to policy priorities; and how access to their services is organised, supported and made effective for users across Europe and beyond.

This satellite session will complement ICRI by directly engaging with the international research infrastructure community to start building a shared, practice-based picture of how funding and access work today. Rather than presenting fixed conclusions, the session is designed as a live landscaping exercise: a structured conversation with participants to identify current practices, bottlenecks, risks, needs, gaps and emerging challenges.

ICRI’s international setting is central to the value of the session. While FUND-RI and ACCESS2ACCESS are European projects, they can benefit significantly from perspectives, models and experiences developed in other regions of the world. The session will therefore invite participants to share approaches from other parts of the world related to funding, sustainability, access provision, user support, international cooperation and industry engagement. These insights will help participants, as well as the projects to test assumptions, identify transferable practices and better understand where European approaches align with or differ from global developments.

A particular focus will also be placed on the role and perspective of industry. Research infrastructures are increasingly important for innovation, technology development, competitiveness and the translation of research into societal and economic value. At the same time, industry users often face specific barriers linked to access routes, confidentiality, speed, cost, intellectual property, technical support and awareness of available capabilities. The session will explore how funding and access models can better support productive engagement between research infrastructures and companies, including start-ups and SMEs, while maintaining openness, excellence and public value.

The session will begin with a short introduction to the aims of FUND-RI and ACCESS2ACCESS, followed by brief “firestarter” contributions to frame the discussion. Participants will then split into two parallel rooms:

Room 1: Funding research infrastructures

This discussion will explore how funding for research infrastructures is currently organised, what models are working, where pressures are increasing and what risks or gaps may affect long-term sustainability. Topics may include regional, national, European and international funding alignment, lifecycle funding, operational costs, investment planning, policy expectations, public-private co-investment, innovation-driven funding models and the balance between excellence, openness and sustainability.

Room 2: Access to research infrastructures

This discussion will focus on how access is currently provided, managed and funded and what barriers users and operators face. Topics may include access routes and eligibility, transnational and virtual access, user support, cost models, access prioritisation, interoperability between schemes, industrial access pathways, confidentiality and IP considerations, as well as the needs of new or under-served user communities.

After the parallel discussions, participants will reconvene in plenary to compare insights from the two rooms and identify cross-cutting issues. The aim is to understand where funding and access challenges intersect, where they diverge and what shared priorities should inform future European and international action.

The session will be highly interactive and will rely on the knowledge and experience of ICRI participants. Contributions from research infrastructure operators, funders, policymakers, user communities, industry representatives and project partners from Europe and beyond will be especially valuable. The outputs will help FUND-RI and ACCESS2ACCESS refine their understanding of the current landscape and ensure that their work reflects real needs, practical constraints and strategic opportunities across the international research infrastructure ecosystem.

By the end of the session, we expect to have developed a clearer collective view of the present state of funding and access to research infrastructures, including the needs of academic, public-sector and industrial users; the main bottlenecks and risks; relevant approaches from different world regions; and the priorities that should guide future collaboration.

This side event is fully aligned with Theme 1 of ICRI 2026 – Research Infrastructures as Drivers of Socio Economic Impact, as it explores how Research Infrastructures (RIs) strengthen innovation ecosystems by generating, demonstrating, and communicating socio economic value through robust evidence, transparent governance, and measurable outcomes. MIRRI ERIC, the European Research Infrastructure for microbial resources, offers a mature and concrete example of how a distributed RI can reinforce Europe’s innovation capacity by supporting research, industrial competitiveness, public services, and policy development across multiple strategic sectors. In doing so, MIRRI ERIC also demonstrates how Research Infrastructures act as instruments of science diplomacy, fostering international cooperation, shared standards, and evidence-based dialogue between countries and regions, in Europe and beyond.

The strategic relevance of microbial resources is growing rapidly across biotechnology, healthcare, agrifood systems, environmental monitoring, and One Health preparedness. MIRRI ERIC has expanded its service portfolio, strengthened its digital infrastructure, increased the accessibility and FAIRness of microbial data, and enhanced its role within European innovation ecosystems. Despite their importance, the socio economic contributions of microbial resource infrastructures often remain insufficiently recognised or difficult to quantify. MIRRI ERIC addresses this challenge by developing indicators, case studies, and monitoring practices that make its scientific, societal and economic impact visible, measurable, and comparable across countries and sectors. This directly responds to ICRI 2026’s call to explore approaches, indicators, and governance practices that support evidence informed investment and long term sustainability.

The event will illustrate how MIRRI ERIC contributes to scientific excellence and innovation by enabling researchers, SMEs, and industrial actors to access high quality microbial resources, curated datasets, interoperable digital tools, and specialised services and expertise. These contributions are closely aligned with key European priorities such as the ERA, the ESFRI Roadmap, EU Missions, the Green Deal, and the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, highlighting the role of RIs as catalysts for competitiveness, technological innovation, and knowledge based growth.

The session is also highly relevant to the theme’s focus on regional and national development. MIRRI ERIC strengthens innovation ecosystems by supporting biotechnology clusters, agrifood value chains, and environmental monitoring capacities across Member States. It promotes balanced regional development, fosters collaboration among countries with different levels of RI maturity, and contributes to cohesion, capacity building, and territorial innovation. MIRRI ERIC is actively expanding its engagement with industry, including SMEs and start ups, and plays a growing role in supporting technology transfer, market oriented innovation, and the creation of new value chains.

MIRRI provides essential infrastructure services for biosecurity, pathogen reference collections, quality standards, and One Health preparedness. These services illustrate how RIs contribute to public goods, risk mitigation, and policy implementation, reinforcing the societal relevance of sustained investment in research infrastructures.

The event further addresses the conference’s interest in workforce skills and training ecosystems. MIRRI ERIC delivers specialised training programmes, digital learning tools, and capacity building initiatives that strengthen the skills of researchers, technicians, and industry professionals. This contributes to a resilient European workforce capable of supporting innovation and responding to emerging scientific and societal challenges. In 2025, MIRRI ERIC expanded its training offer, strengthened its e learning platforms, and increased participation from early career researchers.

Finally, the side event directly engages with ICRI 2026’s focus on governance practices that support evidence informed investment and long term sustainability. MIRRI ERIC is developing an impact assessment framework that integrates indicators, evidence, and monitoring tools into strategic planning and decision-making processes. By sharing this approach, the event will contribute to the broader discussion on how RIs can demonstrate their socio economic value, strengthen accountability, and develop sustainable funding models.

Through presentations, panel discussions, and an interactive co design session, the event will provide participants with actionable insights into how RIs can measure, communicate, and maximise their socio economic impact. It will also foster dialogue among policymakers, RI managers, researchers, and industry stakeholders on shared challenges and opportunities for enhancing the visibility, value, and strategic relevance of RIs in Europe and globally.

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are at the core of the global science system and represent one of the most successful examples of long-term public investment in research capacity. They enable cutting-edge science by providing shared access to advanced instruments, data, computing resources and specialised expertise, supporting discoveries across all scientific domains and fostering international collaboration.

However, in many innovation ecosystems, a structural gap persists between excellent scientific outputs generated within Research Infrastructures and their effective transformation into industrial applications, products and services. This gap - often referred to as the “valley of death” - is particularly relevant in areas characterised by long development cycles, high technological complexity and significant scale-up costs.

In this context, Technology Infrastructures (TIs) are increasingly recognised as complementary to Research Infrastructures. While RIs primarily enable knowledge generation and early-stage research, TIs provide the capabilities required to advance technologies towards higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), including validation, prototyping, testing, demonstration, certification and scale-up. They include pilot lines, experimental facilities, testing platforms, digital environments and application-oriented expertise, often developed in close interaction with industry.

The growing interest in Technology Infrastructures reflects a broader shift in research and innovation policies worldwide: from a linear view of innovation systems towards more integrated ecosystems where research excellence, technological development and industrial uptake are more tightly connected. This evolution is increasingly reflected in international policy discussions, including recent initiatives such as the European Strategy on Research and Technology Infrastructures adopted in 2025, which recognises Research Infrastructures and Technology Infrastructures as complementary pillars of a single innovation ecosystem.

Against this background, this side event aims to provide a dedicated international forum within ICRI on Technology Infrastructures and their complementary role with the Research Infrastructures. The discussion will address key questions related to governance models, sustainable funding mechanisms, access policies for industry and research entities, cross-border cooperation, and the role of infrastructures in strengthening innovation ecosystems and industrial value chains.

The event will bring together policymakers, infrastructure managers, research organisations, technology centres and industry representatives to exchange experiences on the development of Technology Infrastructures and to identify common challenges and opportunities.

As a concrete contribution to this discussion, Italy will present its experience under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which allocated €100 million to establish and strengthen ten national Technology Infrastructures. This initiative represents one of the first coordinated Italian efforts explicitly designed to reinforce Technology Infrastructures as complementary assets to Research Infrastructures, in order to accelerate technology transfer, strengthen industrial innovation capacity and improve access to advanced technological services for companies. The Italian case will be presented as a practical example to stimulate discussion on policy approaches that may support the development of Technology Infrastructures in different national contexts.

Research infrastructures are increasingly dependent on digital systems to provide access to data, computing resources, and scientific services. As research becomes more interconnected and data-driven, ensuring the security, integrity, and resilience of these digital assets has emerged as a strategic priority. Geopolitical tensions and changes, cybersecurity threats, and the growing complexity of data landscape underline the need for coordinated approaches to safeguarding research data and services while maintaining the principles of openness and international collaboration (OECD, 2022).

The increasing reliance on distributed research [EJ1.1]infrastructures and interoperable services creates new vulnerabilities that require shared approaches to governance, risk management, and incident response. Recent initiatives at European and international levels have highlighted the importance of strengthening cybersecurity capacities and protecting critical digital infrastructures (European Commission, 2022). Research infrastructures are uniquely positioned to contribute to these efforts by promoting common standards, trusted frameworks, and best practices across scientific domains.

This side event will explore how research infrastructures can strengthen the security and resilience of their digital ecosystems while enabling open science and global cooperation. Bringing together research infrastructures, e-infrastructures, data experts, policymakers, and international organisations, the event will provide a venue to discuss common challenges, emerging risks, and opportunities for collaboration in building trustworthy and resilient research environments.

The event aligns closely with the objectives of ICRI 2026 by demonstrating how research infrastructures can address global challenges through cooperation and innovation. It will examine how security considerations can be embedded into research data management and service provision without compromising openness, accessibility, and FAIR principles. Particular attention will be given to balancing data sharing and collaboration with the need to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of critical scientific resources.

The side event will also highlight the importance of international coordination. Cybersecurity threats transcend borders and disciplines, requiring stronger collaboration among research infrastructures, e-infrastructures, funding organisations, and public authorities. Sharing experiences and lessons learned can contribute to more harmonised approaches and strengthen the resilience of the global research infrastructure ecosystem. Furthermore, the event will explore the role of research infrastructures in fostering trust and supporting responsible digital transformation. Investments in secure and resilient infrastructures are essential to maintaining confidence in scientific data and services, protecting valuable research assets, and ensuring continuity of operations. Such efforts contribute not only to scientific excellence but also to societal resilience and innovation.

References

European Commission. (2022). Cybersecurity Strategy of the European Union. Brussels: European Commission.

OECD. (2022). Recommendation of the Council concerning Access to Research Data from Public Funding. Paris: OECD Publishing.

Wilkinson, M. D., et al. (2016). The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Scientific Data, 3, 160018.

World Economic Forum. (2024). Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024. Geneva: World Economic Forum

The proposed side event would be a high-level stakeholder workshop for SESAME, organised by the SUNSTONE Consortium (https://sunstone.sesame.org.jo/). The workshop aims to bring together key stakeholders, policymakers, research infrastructure leaders, funding organisations, and international partners to discuss opportunities for strengthening scientific cooperation, capacity building, and sustainable development through SESAME and related research infrastructure initiatives.

The event would provide a platform to:

• Highlight the role of SESAME as a model for scientific diplomacy and regional collaboration;

• Build on ongoing activities and achievements of the SUNSTONE Consortium;

• Discuss future opportunities for collaboration, sustainability, and capacity development, including the African science communities and organisations;

• Foster dialogue among high-level representatives from research infrastructures, governments, funding agencies, and international organisations.

This side event would complement the objectives of ICRI 2026 Bridging Science, Society and Diplomacy through Research Infrastructures by showcasing the impact of international cooperation in research infrastructures and promoting strategic discussions on future partnerships.

Instruct-ERIC is the European research infrastructure for structural biology, with 17 Members across Europe partnerships with almost 20 organisations worldwide. As part of ERIC Forum 2 (coordinated by BBMRI). Instruct led the Work Package on International Collaboration of ERICs, which identified and analysed best practices and modalities of engagement of ERICs with organisations and national ministries in third countries outside Europe. This work, conducted alongside EMSO, CLARIN, and JIVE, produced two reports, the first outlining both the primary mechanisms that ERICs use to interact with third countries and the common barriers to achieving their aims of international collaboration, and the second report highlighted a series of workshops that went into deeper detail on key mechanisms of international engagement, namely Memoranda of Understanding (MoU), Associate Membership with organisations or Memoranda of Agreement (MoA), Observership, and Full Membership.

The aim of this ICRI 2026 Side Event, “Best Practices in International Collaboration of European Research Infrastructures”, will be to provide a platform to expand the findings and best practices identified in the ERIC Forum project to the wider research infrastructure community, both in Europe and worldwide. The session will include input from those within the ERIC Forum consortium, the experiences of other European RIs, and the specific needs and aims of RI staff in third countries, creating a coherent framework that RIs can use to effectively collaborate across regions.

The proposed structure of the Side Event is to have three main sessions: 1) Outline the challenges facing ERICs and European RIs, drawing on the results analysed in the first ERIC Forum 2 report on international collaboration, and understand the extent to which these challenges extend beyond ERICs to the wider RI community. 2) Exchange best practices on international engagement and collaboration, drawing on the conclusions of workshops conducted as part of ERIC Forum 2, and extending them to all European RIs. This will help to prevent any “reinvention of the wheel”, and enable RIs to initiate their international interactions early and effectively. 3) A session led by non-European partners, those in research institutions and funding bodies, outlining their needs, capacities, and expectations for engaging with European RIs, helping to bridge gaps and more effectively enable sustainable collaborations.

The European Commission and ESFRI have regularly stated that international collaboration is a priority of European RIs and ERICs, but there is minimal direction and resource available for RIs to carry out the necessary groundwork and collaboration activities to implement successful and long-term interactions with third countries. This ICRI 2026 Side Event will expand on the work done in ERIC Forum 2 to enable RIs to utilise efficient, effective, and sustainable tools of engagement.

Instruct has been involved in the organisation of similar Side Events at previous ICRI Conferences, including in 2022 at the “International Cooperation of Research Infrastructures: Building on the Outcomes of the RI-VIS Project” which addressed challenges for RIs on reaching third countries. Instruct was also part of the 2022 Satellite Event, EU-LAC ResInfra Conference, which focused on interactions between Europe and Latin America. Building on the experiences of these meetings, as well as the findings of the reports in the ERIC Forum 2 project, the Best Practices in International Collaboration of European Research Infrastructures event will be focused on exchanging concrete and actionable mechanisms for collaboration between global RIs.

Artificial Intelligence is transforming the way research is conducted, from literature review and hypothesis generation to data analysis and code development. However, the adoption of AI in scientific context and research raises pressing questions about sovereignty, transparency, research integrity, trustworthiness and frugality. These concerns are central to the agenda of ICRI 2026 and to the future of European research infrastructures.

This side event is organised in the context of AI4EOSC (ai4eosc.eu), an open ecosystem and collaboration for deploying, extending, and accessing research-grade AI services across the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). In particular, recently funded Horizon Europe projects like EOSC-ARENA (arena.ai4eosc.eu), GenAI4Earth (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101293266) and FLUID-AI (fluid.ai4eosc.eu), which are building a sovereign, generative and agentic AI environment integrated with the EOSC, and tackling interoperability between data, AI/ML models and solutions. EOSC-ARENA aims to deliver a complete AI-based ecosystem supporting the full research lifecycle, building on the FAIR principles, responsible AI usage, and human-centricity. EOSC-GenAI4Earth implements Generative AI (GenAI) and Agentic AI services specifically tailored for the discovery, exploitation and dissemination of Earth Science System (ESS) data and the construction of light and finely-tuned multi-modal foundation models.

EOSC-ARENA extends the AI4EOSC ecosystem towards GenAI and Agentic AI. It builds on top of earlier integrations developed within the AI4EOSC, including tailored environments for specific scientific communities, such as the iMagine project (with the participation of members from the SeaDataNet pan-European infrastructure and EMSO-ERIC) and the integration of the model catalog from the AI4Life project (where Euro-BioImaging ERIC contributed). EOSC-GenAI4Earth further contributes to the implementation of AI-driven services for the ESS communities, with the participation of members from the EPOS-ERIC (Solid Earth), AnaEE-ERIC (Environment), eLTer (Critical Zone) and Emphasis (Phenotype) research infrastructures. These experiences demonstrate how research infrastructures can benefit from the advanced AI tools consolidated within the AI4EOSC initiative. Specifically, through the ARENA and GenAI4Earth projects, this model goes one step further: new collections dedicated to agentic AI, large-scale language models (LLMs), multi-modal foundation models, and generative AI services will support communities across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Many real-world use cases covering fields as diverse as metagenomics, climate change, earth and environmental science, natural hazards, clinical oncology, cosmology, material science, food science, social sciences, and research data management have been selected to jointly design, implement, and evaluate the project's solutions.

FLUID-AI introduces the Data and Models Liquidity concept, extending FAIR principles to meet the specific demands of AI-readiness, so that datasets and models can move and be reused across disciplines and platforms rather than remaining locked within individual RI silos. This is delivered through three pillars: an EOSC AI/ML Competence Center providing coordinated training and support for researchers and RI operators, a unified data-and-models integration layer ensuring semantic and technical interoperability, and accessible platforms built on the AI4EOSC stack. FLUID-AI results are validated across 8 use cases spanning EU Research Infrastructures such as EuroBioImaging, SeaDataNet, ARIADNE and eLTER.

This side event will bring together representatives from research infrastructures and leaders from the scientific community for a discussion on how to responsibly integrate actionable AI solutions into research workflows. Participants will explore how research infrastructures can take advantage of services of EOSC-ARENA (to deploy custom AI agents) and of EOSC-GenAI4Earth (to deploy ESS AI-driven services) while ensuring data and model sovereignty, meeting compliance requirements and adhering to the FAIR principles.

Over several decades, Europe has developed a rich landscape of world-class research infrastructures offering coordinated access to facilities, data and expert knowledge across borders.

Research infrastructures are most international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral hubs, connecting users and research infrastructures experts in an inspiring ecosystem fostering the development of scientific breakthroughs and innovations benefitting society, and removing biases and distrust based on nationalities, ethnicities, religion or political systems.

However, at the same time, access to Research Infrastructures has become increasingly complex. Different RIs, projects and national systems often operate with different rules, procedures, funding models, application systems and user-support structures. For experienced RI users, this diversity may be manageable. For new users, users from less represented communities, SMEs, or researchers trying to combine services across domains, the landscape can feel fragmented and difficult to navigate. The central question is therefore not only how access is organised, but whether access management still starts sufficiently from the user perspective.

The Access2Access project funded from Horizon Europe tackles the challenge of designing a sustainable, cross-domain, equitable access framework as a “one-stop-shop” for access to RIs in Europe. The underlying motivation is inclusiveness, i.e. the aim to enable users from any research field, any research system, any geographical location, from academia or from industry, experienced in RI use or not, to get access to the most appropriate research infrastructure capable of advancing his or her research or development goals. The project does not aim to restart from zero or replace established access systems. Rather, it seeks to understand what already works and where users and RIs still face challenges and how future access frameworks could become more sustainable, inclusive and easier to navigate.

The side event will build on the ACCESS2ACCESS foundation document on lessons learned and best practices in access modalities, selection procedures, RI-user agreements, user support, funding principles and governance scenarios. This document results of a comprehensive analysis of the European RI access landscape and has been developed with the aim to provide an evidence-based starting point for an international discussion on RI access management.

The aim of the side event is to use the international setting of ICRI to invite RI stakeholders and user facility operators from Europe and beyond to challenge, complement and enrich the ACCESS2ACCESS findings. Participants will be invited to share their own experiences of what works, what does not, and where access systems may unintentionally lose sight of the user.

How can Europe's research infrastructures become more accessible technology infrastructures for industry? This question lies at the heart of the proposed side event and reflects an increasingly important dimension of the mission of research infrastructures (RIs). While RIs have traditionally been established to enable scientific excellence, they are now also expected to play a strategic role in strengthening Europe's innovation capacity by providing companies with access to world-class facilities, expertise, and services that can accelerate technology development and industrial competitiveness.

This evolution is closely aligned with the European strategy on Research and Technology Infrastructures (RTIs), which highlights the complementary roles of research infrastructures and technology infrastructures in supporting the entire research and innovation continuum. Many research infrastructures already host facilities that function as technology infrastructures for industrial users—including beamlines, specialised laboratories, clean rooms, test and validation facilities, high-performance computing resources, and advanced instrumentation. Making these assets more accessible to companies, particularly SMEs and start-ups, is essential to maximise the societal and economic impact of public investment in research infrastructures.

Across Europe, several EIROforum organisations have developed innovative approaches to facilitate industrial access to these facilities. These include dedicated industrial liaison services, transparent access schemes, innovative policies, open calls for testing opportunities, remote access solutions, tailored contractual frameworks, and support mechanisms addressing intellectual property, confidentiality, and technical assistance. At the same time, important challenges remain, including suitable governance structures to verify eligibility and select requests, reducing administrative complexity, avoiding conflicts with the core scientific programme, improving the visibility of available services, ensuring sustainable access models, and lowering barriers for companies with limited experience of working with research infrastructures.

Organised by the EIROforum Working Group on Innovation Management and Knowledge/Technology Transfer (WG-IMKTT), this side event will bring together representatives from EIROforum organisations to share concrete examples of successful partnerships with industry. Through a series of short case studies, participants will illustrate examples of successful partnerships with industry, new access policies, and adaptations of facilities and services to better meet users’ needs, highlighting both effective practices and lessons learned from implementation. The discussion will place particular emphasis on approaches that facilitate access for SMEs and start-ups, recognising their critical role in Europe's innovation ecosystem.

Beyond presenting success stories, the session aims to stimulate a broader exchange on how research infrastructures can collectively strengthen their contribution to innovation. By comparing different operational models, identifying common obstacles, and discussing opportunities for greater coordination, participants will explore how good practices can be transferred across organisations and adapted to different institutional contexts.

The audience will play an active role in the discussion through an interactive exchange designed to capture experiences, identify unmet needs, and explore possible solutions from the perspectives of infrastructure operators, policymakers, innovation professionals, funding organisations, and industrial users. The session is expected to generate practical recommendations that can inform future initiatives to improve industrial access to research infrastructures and reinforce their role as technology infrastructures within the European RTI landscape.

By bringing together complementary experiences from across the EIROforum community, this side event directly supports the objectives of ICRI 2026 by demonstrating how research infrastructures can enhance their impact beyond scientific discovery, becoming strategic enablers of innovation, technology transfer, and industrial competitiveness. It will provide a timely forum to discuss how Europe's leading research infrastructures can work together to make advanced facilities more accessible, more user-oriented, and better connected to the needs of industry.

Access to Research Infrastructure services is a key challenge for European and international research communities. While Europe benefits from a rich and distributed landscape of advanced facilities, expertise, technologies, data resources and services, users often face a fragmented environment. Services may be difficult to identify, described in different ways, embedded in different national or institutional procedures, and connected to different access routes, funding schemes and eligibility rules.

For users, the central question is often not only what services exist, but also how to find them, combine them, request them and turn them into an actionable research or innovation project. For Research Infrastructures, the challenge is to make access more visible, understandable, coordinated, transparent and reliable across borders.

This side event proposes an informal, open and highly accessible “breakfast information hub” dedicated to ongoing European initiatives that are shaping the future of access to Research Infrastructure services. The session will be organised around IBISBA’s experience in developing a coordinated access pathway for biotechnology and biomanufacturing services, while opening the discussion to wider Life Science Research Infrastructure and cross-domain access initiatives.

The event will showcase several complementary building blocks:

• the IBISBA EU Service Catalogue, which structures and makes visible a distributed portfolio of service modules and providers;

• RISE-UP BIO, a Horizon Europe INFRA-SERV project dedicated to Transnational Access in biotechnology and biomanufacturing, bringing together services from IBISBA, MIRRI, EMBRC and Euro-BioImaging;

• ACCESS2ACCESS, which addresses the future of transnational access across European Research Infrastructures, with a strong focus on simplification, fairness, sustainability and user-centred access;

• and, if relevant depending on its evaluation status, AMPLIFY LSRI, a recently submitted initiative coordinated by ELIXIR and involving the Life Science Research Infrastructure landscape.

Rather than proposing a classical workshop format, the event will be designed as an open, low-threshold and interactive information space. Participants will be able to come and go, meet project representatives, discover access tools and catalogues, ask practical questions, collect information, and discuss how different initiatives can contribute to a more coherent European access ecosystem.

The preferred format would be a relaxed networking area located at the interface between side events, exhibition booths or coffee-break spaces. This would allow the session to reach a broad diversity of stakeholders: researchers, industry users, RI operators, access managers, service providers, funders, policy actors, project coordinators and international partners. If a booth-like or open networking space is not available, the session could be hosted in a meeting room with an open-door format and rotating information corners.

The side event is fully aligned with ICRI 2026 as a global forum for Research Infrastructure cooperation. It contributes to strategic discussions on how RIs can improve access to advanced facilities, services and data ecosystems, and how European projects can collectively reduce fragmentation, increase transparency and support societal and scientific impact.

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are among the largest and longest-term public investments in science worldwide. As shown by the UNESCO Open Science Outlook, investment in open research infrastructures is concentrated in Europe and North America but is expanding globally. RIs mobilise substantial resources over decades while providing essential capabilities for frontier research, innovation and international scientific collaboration.

Traditionally, decisions to establish, fund and evaluate RIs have been based primarily on scientific excellence, measured through research outputs and discoveries. While scientific excellence remains their core mission, it is no longer sufficient on its own to justify sustained public investment. In an era of fiscal constraints and increasing demands for accountability, governments and funding agencies increasingly ask what socio-economic benefits RIs generate beyond scientific production. This question has become more pressing as research and innovation have moved to the centre of the global competitiveness agenda. All major world powers are stepping up investment in big science as a lever of technological sovereignty and economic leadership: the United States, China, Japan and other advanced economies are committing unprecedented resources to large-scale facilities, from particle accelerators and space programmes to supercomputing and biodata infrastructures. Europe has also reinforced this agenda through its 2025 European Strategy on Research and Technology Infrastructures, recognising RIs as a cornerstone of its research and innovation ecosystem. The fiscal space is so constrained everywhere that every major commitment must now be defended with credible evidence of its socio economic gains.

Socio-economic impact assessment (SEIA) provides the evidence base to help answering this question. It can make visible the wider benefits of RIs that are not captured by scientific metrics alone, including positive spillovers from high-technology procurement, industrial collaborations, technology transfer and innovation, and human capital development. By pursuing scientific excellence, RIs also contribute to evidence-informed policymaking and regulation, improved health and environmental outcomes, and broader cultural, educational and inspirational value for society.

Although an increasing number of RIs have conducted socio-economic impact assessments, experience remains fragmented across scientific domains. This panel asks whether infrastructures with different scientific missions generate socio-economic impacts through common pathways and whether methodological lessons can be shared while respecting disciplinary differences.

The discussion brings together evidence from four Research Infrastructures of international standing representing different governance models, scientific domains and impact mechanisms: CERN (particle physics), ESA (space), ELIXIR/EMBL-EBI (life sciences) and ACTRIS (environmental sciences). By comparing concrete assessment experiences, the panel will explore common methodological challenges, including attribution, counterfactual analysis, radical uncertainty and the valuation of non-market impacts, and identify transferable lessons and good practices for future socio-economic impact assessments.

The session aims to contribute to the international debate on impact assessment by strengthening the evidence base for investment decisions, with lessons relevant to funders and policymakers worldwide, including the future development of socio-economic evaluation within ESFRI, Horizon Europe and FP10.

Draft Agenda

1. Welcome and framing (5 min)

Chair: Massimo Florio (CSIL and University of Milan)

Introduction to the policy context and the session's central question: Different missions, shared impact pathways?

2. Four domain perspectives (60 min)

CERN – Particle Physics (single-site RI) (15 min)

Evidence from the 2026 Assessment of the Socio-Economic Benefits of CERN Activities, focusing on technological spillovers, procurement, human capital formation and broader socio-economic contributions.

Speaker: Manuela Cirilli (CERN)

ESA – Space Infrastructure (15 min) – to be confirmed

Evidence on how investment in space infrastructure generates downstream economic value and the methods used to measure these effects.

Speaker: to be confirmed (ESA)

ELIXIR / EMBL-EBI – Life Sciences (distributed RI) (15 min)

Evidence from socio-economic assessments of EMBL-EBI resources, including UniProt case study, illustrating the value of open biological data infrastructures for research, and innovation.

Speaker: Despoina Sousoni (ELIXIR)

ACTRIS – Environmental Sciences (distributed RI) (15 min)

Evidence from the ACTRIS Socio-Economic Impact Assessment Framework, including indicators of knowledge transfer and a case study of RI–industry collaboration.

Speaker: Carmela Cornacchia (ACTRIS)

3. Moderated panel discussion (15min)

Guided by the Chair, speakers will compare experiences across infrastructures, addressing questions such as: Which socio-economic impact pathways are common across domains? Which impacts remain domain-specific? How can attribution and counterfactuals be addressed consistently? Where does monetisation add value and where does it become problematic?

4. Audience discussion and Q&A (5 min)

Interactive discussion with participants.

5. Closing remarks (5 min)

The Chair will synthesise the main cross-cutting lessons, highlight implications for RI policy and evaluation.

As research becomes increasingly data-intensive and AI-driven, digital research infrastructures have evolved from supporting services into strategic infrastructures underpinning scientific excellence across all disciplines. Data, computing, software, and AI capabilities are now essential components of the research ecosystem, enabling researchers to tackle increasingly complex scientific challenges and accelerating innovation across society.

At the same time, Europe's digital research infrastructure landscape is rapidly evolving through the emergence of AI Factories, EuroHPC, EOSC, European Data Spaces, and the ESFRI DIGIT Research Infrastructures. While these initiatives provide unprecedented capabilities, they also reveal the need for stronger strategic coordination, interoperable governance, and coherent policies to ensure that researchers can seamlessly access and combine distributed digital resources across institutional, disciplinary, and national boundaries.

This side event will bring together leaders of research infrastructures, policymakers, funders, and representatives of the wider digital ecosystem to discuss the future evolution of the ESFRI DIGIT domain as the digital backbone of the European Research Area. Rather than focusing on individual infrastructures or projects, the session will explore how digital research infrastructures can maximise the socio-economic impact of research infrastructures across all scientific domains while strengthening Europe's capacity for international scientific collaboration.

The discussion will address strategic issues including governance models for an increasingly interconnected digital ecosystem, interoperability beyond technology—including organisational, legal and policy dimensions—digital sovereignty, sustainable investment, and the role of AI-enabled digital infrastructures in supporting scientific excellence and innovation. It will also examine how coordinated digital infrastructures can enhance the visibility, accessibility and long-term value of research infrastructures, contributing to evidence-informed investment and improved returns for research communities, industry and society.

The event directly addresses ICRI 2026 Theme 1 by exploring how digital research infrastructures amplify the socio-economic impact of research infrastructures through shared services, data, computing and AI capabilities, improved accessibility, increased efficiency, and greater cross-disciplinary collaboration. It will consider how this impact can be measured, communicated and sustained through coordinated governance and long-term strategic investment.

The event also aligns closely with ICRI 2026 Theme 2, recognising digital research infrastructures as essential instruments of science diplomacy. By enabling trusted cross-border access to data, computing and digital services, promoting interoperability and common standards, and fostering collaboration between European and international partners, the ESFRI DIGIT domain contributes to an open, resilient and globally connected research infrastructure ecosystem capable of addressing shared scientific and societal challenges.

Research infrastructures are widely recognised for the scientific services they provide and their impact on research excellence and technological innovations. Much less attention is paid to another equally important impact of RIs: developing highly skilled professionals whose expertise strengthens research, innovation, industry and public services both within and far beyond the infrastructures themselves.

Despite broad recognition that the expert workforce is as critical to research infrastructures as the technologies they operate, sustainable investment in workforce development, professional recognition and long-term career frameworks remains inconsistent across institutions, disciplines and countries. Successful approaches exist, but implementation has been fragmented, often constrained by governance structures, funding models, institutional incentives and the difficulty of demonstrating the long-term value of investing in people.

This side event addresses a fundamental question: how can research infrastructures better evidence, communicate and implement investment in their expert workforce as a driver of socio-economic impact? Rather than revisiting career path challenges for research infrastructure professionals, the discussion will focus on practical implementation. Participants will explore how research infrastructure communities across different domains and global regions have successfully developed, recognised and retained highly skilled professionals, what barriers continue to limit wider adoption, and which approaches can be transferred across disciplines, regions and institutional contexts.

The session builds on several years of international work by the Global BioImaging Working Groups on Career Paths and on Impact of Imaging Infrastructures, including community surveys, peer-reviewed studies, international workshops, and Global BioImaging's international training programme supporting workforce development within imaging infrastructures and communities. This evidence base will be complemented by implementation examples from other research infrastructure domains and regions, creating a unique opportunity to compare experiences, identify common challenges, and explore transferable solutions.

The format is designed to move beyond traditional panel discussions. Short implementation case studies from different research infrastructure communities will present concrete examples of successful initiatives, implementation challenges and lessons learned. These will provide the foundation for facilitated cross-domain roundtables, allowing participants to identify shared barriers, exchange practical approaches and develop recommendations for strengthening the expert workforce underpinning research infrastructures.

The session aligns directly with ICRI 2026 Theme 1: Research Infrastructures as Drivers of Socio-Economic Impact by highlighting workforce development as a strategic outcome of research infrastructures and exploring how its impact can be better measured, communicated and embedded within long-term investment and sustainability strategies. By bringing together evidence, practical experience and diverse perspectives from across the global RI landscape, the session will help strengthen the case for investing not only in research infrastructure technologies, but also in the expert workforce whose expertise enables their long-term scientific, economic and societal impact. In doing so, the discussion will also highlight how investment in research infrastructure professionals, international communities of practice, and cross-border knowledge exchange strengthens the trusted relationships and expert networks that underpin research infrastructures as instruments of science diplomacy.

Social Sciences, Humanities and Heritage Research Infrastructures produce public, trustworthy, FAIR data about society and culture. This workshop asks how to turn that data into real, internationally comparable impact. The proposed 90 minute workshop: “Demonstrating the Impact of Research Infrastructures for Social Sciences and Humanities: an International Exchange” directly contributes to the ICRI 2026 conference theme of “Research Infrastructures as Drivers of Socio-Economic Impact” by providing an international discussion forum on data-driven, evidence-based, impact assessment frameworks for Research Infrastructures in the Social Sciences and Humanities. The workshop is open to all ICRI delegates including researchers, policymakers, RI directors and managers, funding organisations and industry experts.

Although organised by SSHOC, the Social Sciences and Humanities Open Cluster, which brings together five ESFRI Landmark Infrastructures (CESSDA, CLARIN, DARIAH, ESS and SHARE), two recently established ERICs (EHRI and E-RIHS) and the ESFRI projects, GGP, GUIDE, OPERAS and RESILIENCE and most recently MEDem, as one of six new project proposals approved for inclusion in the ESFRI Roadmap 2026, as well as other relevant actors in the SSH domain and beyond, the intention to stimulate truly international dialogue, which is why locating the event at the ICRI conference offers an ideal opportunity. The event builds on the successful SSHOC Impact Assessment Workshop organised in November 2025 and extends it to an international audience to collect feedback from exercises/assessments conducted outside Europe, to establish connections with SSH infrastructures around the globe striving in such an assessment and to offer the SSHOC experience as a model for further, context-driven, developments.

The overall aim of the workshop is to explore how we can work towards building shared impact assessment capacity, common indicators and validation mechanisms to demonstrate Social Sciences and Humanities Research Infrastructures contribution to global challenges. A key expected outcome of the workshop is a short set of recommendations for demonstrating the impact of Research Infrastructures for Social Science and Humanities.

To frame the discussion, we will start by looking back at the International Conference on the Impact of Research Infrastructures for Social Sciences and Humanities held in Bologna in January 2018. Through the conference proceedings, “Stay Tuned to the Future: Impact of the Research Infrastructures for Social Sciences and Humanities” we will examine how the challenge then was to define, measure, and increase the societal and scientific impact of SSH research infrastructures (RIs) where impact assessment frameworks did not provide a natural fit for the Social Sciences and Humanities. However, eight years on, the challenge has evolved.

In 2018, the question was whether SSH and heritage research had impact. Today, a growing share of data about society and culture is generated and held by a wide range of actors beyond the public research system — from national administrations to commercial and digital platforms. Against this backdrop, the FAIRification of SSH and heritage data becomes an enabling infrastructure in its own right: it is what allows publicly-funded, trustworthy research data to be made genuinely usable, comparable and connected at international scale — turning it into a shared resource that researchers, policymakers and communities worldwide can build on to address common challenges.

Following which, we review key resources for impact assessment, such as the "ESFRI Policy Brief on Assessment of Impact of Research Infrastructures", the "OECD Reference framework for assessing the scientific and socio-economic impact of research infrastructures", the RI Paths - Research Infrastructures’ Impact Assessment Toolkit and the Overton system for policy impact.

In a final session, we will invite SSH research infrastructures (RIs) from across Europe and beyond to share their experiences including practical examples of the current status of impact measurement; examples of existing quantitative and qualitative frameworks/methodologies used; specific challenges encountered; scope and purpose of their Impact Assessment framework and data sources used or planned.

To conclude, in addition to the expected outcomes of the event including a dedicated blog post documenting the workshop, a short set of recommendations for demonstrating the impact of SSH RIs and proposed next steps for building shared impact assessment capacity, we intend to measure the success of the event itself. As well as quantitative indicators related to workshop attendance such as geographical spread, domain and professional role, we will use analytics to monitor the post-conference use of the workshop materials. Finally, we measure the uptake and use of the recommendations for demonstrating the impact across SSH RIs within SSHOC and beyond.