flanders and esfri marc luwel hercules foundation may 2014
TRANSCRIPT
Flanders and ESFRI
Marc LUWEL Hercules Foundation
May 2014
Overview
• Why are EU RIs important• Background information• 1st ESFRI evaluation round• Flemish participation at 6 ESFRI-projects• 2nd ESFRI evaluation round and funding• The road ahead ...
Why are EU RIs important ?
• Access to very expensive and/or decentralised top RIs necessary to remain or become a member of the top league in many disciplines
• Membership of a consortium facilitates partnership in other consortia (EU-FP, industry, ...)
• Training of Ma and PhD-students
Background
• No large scale Flemish plan with a roadmap
• Step by step approach with a learning curve but based on the strengths of Flanders’ R&I landscape
• Bottom up meets top down
• Interplay between EU decision making, Flemish science and innovation policy and research management
• Under difficult financial circumstances ►additional funding
1st ESFRI evaluation round in Flanders (1)
• First ESFRI roadmap was published in 2006
• Dept. EWI and FWO made in 2006-2007 a small survey among universities about potential interest in ESFRI-RIs
• In 2008 the Flemish Minister of Science and Innovation preselected 8 ESFRI projects based on the outcome of survey and the emerging priorities in Flemish S&T policy to check the available scientific potential to participate
1st ESFRI evaluation round in Flanders (2)• Methodology:
– For each project – a Flemish consortium– Proposal for a Flemish participation (explaining
added value for Flanders)– Review similar to the scientific evaluation of
proposals for large scale RIs under calls form the Hercules Foundation
• Written review reports • Evaluation by Co Hercules-Science, the Hercules
Foundation’s evaluation commission but with criteria taking ESFRI context into account
• Advise to the Flemish Minister
1st ESFRI evaluation round in Flanders (3)
• Outcome– Decision by the Flemish Government to
participate at 5 projects : ESSurvey (KU Leuven), ICOS (UAntwerpen), LifeWatch (VLIZ), SHARE (UAntwerpen), PRACE (TIER1 - UGent)
– + INSTRUCT (VIB-VUB)
– Outstanding Flemish consortia – 3 participate at RI central unit (ESSurvey, ICOS & LifeWatch)
+ 1 reference lab (INSTRUCT)
Decision at EU level to set up an ESFRI RI
• ESFRI – member states and associated countries
• EU regulation on ESFRI (ERIC) – only countries
• For each ESFRI RI – a consortium of countries– Agrees to fund the construction and
exploitation– Creates a legal entity (mostly an ERIC)– (Often possibility to become member at a
later stage)
Decision at the Belgian level to participate at an EFRI RI
• In Belgium all competent authorities agreed on a framework for participating in an ESFRI infrastructure
– Only 1 entity ► notification
– 2 or more entities: collaboration agreement• Membership fee• Contributions (€ and in-kind)• Delegates sitting at the board and advisory
committees
Funding 1st round ESFRI projects• Federal Government: membership fees
• Flanders:– In-kind: ICOS, LifeWatch, INSTRUCT, PRACE
– Since 2012: Hercules Foundation gets funding to support participation at ESFRI projects (dedicated funding):• Annual grant to ESSurvey, ICOS, LifeWatch
and SHARE (in 2014: total 4 mio euro)• Objective: long-term contracts (3 to 5 years)
2nd ESFRI evaluation round
• In 2011 the Flemish Minister asked the Hercules Foundation and the dept. EWI to set up a 2nd ESFRI evaluation round
• Survey among universities and SOCs with 2 questions re RIs on the 2010 update of the ESFRI roadmap:– RIs: Flanders has scientific capacity and interest
to participate in their construction and exploitation
– RIs: Flemish researchers want access (access fee)
2nd ESFRI evaluation round – 1st list (1)
• 1st list: 12 RIs
• For 9 RIs a Flemish PI was identified and asked– to form a Flemish consortium– to draft a proposal for a Flemish
participation
• 8 proposals were submitted (not for ELIXIR)
• Evaluation similar to 1st round
2nd ESFRI evaluation round – 1st list (2)• Advice of the Commission Hercules-Science
– All 8 proposals could potentially contribute to ESFRI RI and they were ranked
– Different degree of maturity (partly explained by the early stage of preparatory phase at EU level)
– Top ranked: INSTRUCT, EMBRC, ANAEE and DARIAH (major review)
2nd ESFRI evaluation round – 1st list (3)• BBMRI, EATRIS & ECRIN: the Flemish minister asked to
postpone the preparation of a proposal till the decision making process re CMI was finalised
• May 2013 CMI was asked to take the lead in drafting a proposal for a Flemish participation at these 3 projects
► Only for BBMRI a full proposal► For ELIXIR and ECRIN a roadmap to prepare a proposal
• Hercules Foundation set up an Ad-hoc panel of experts to give an advice (December 2013)
2nd ESFRI evaluation round – 1st list (4)ELIXIR
– Since 1st round increasing awareness of importance of ELIXIR for Flemish research
– Interest of other Belgian entities– Hercules Foundation asked VIB to take the
lead in drafting a proposal– Proposal submitted April 28, 2014– Review in progress
2nd ESFRI evaluation round – 2nd list
• 12 ESFRI projects – demand for access on a user fee base
• Monitoring the creation of the legal entities because information about user fees and access policy (for non-members) in the statutes or documents in annex
• Important work in progress
Funding 2nd ESFRI-round (1)
• A proposal submitted under the 3rd call for large scale RIs for an ECOTRON (potentially in-kind contribution to ANAEE) (with excellent review but no funding) (UHasselt)
► the Flemish Government provided in 2013 additional funding
• In 2014 the Flemish Government provided 10 mio € additional funding for RI (a fraction earmarked for ESFRI)
Funding 2nd ESFRI-round (2)
March 19, 2014 the Hercules Foundation Board decided to allocate:
– 3 mio euro for an upgrade of INSTRUCT-Flanders (project operational)
– To prepare the Flemish participation at: • EurobioImaging (2.5 mio euro)• EMBRC (1 mio euro)• DARIAH (300.000 euro)(3 decentralised RIs – investments in Flanders)
Road ahead .... (1)
Next Flemish Government:
Hercules Foundation will provide an integrated advice on the participation in the period 2015- 2020 in ESFRI RIs (status of Flemish participation, proposals for additional participations)
Input →Input →– Thematic decisions– Allocation of additional funding
Road ahead ... (2)
Hercules Foundation together with the Europa Platform of Dept. EWI:
► Contact with firms – ESFRI possibilities for high tech companies
► Informing universities, SOCs, ...
► Evaluation of the Flemish participation at ESFRI RIs (in lock step with evaluation at EU level)
www.herculesstichting.be
http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=esfri
Thank you
2nd round – ESFRI RIs - 1st list• INSTRUCT• EMBRC• ANAEE• DARIAH• INFRAFRONTIER• EUROBIOIMAGING• EU-OPENSCREEN• CLARIN
• BBMRI• EATRIS *• ECRIN *
• ELIXIR **
2nd round – ESFRI RIs – 2nd list ‘user fee’
• CESSDA - Council of Europe Social Science Data Archives• EURO-ARGO: Global Ocean Observing Infrastructure• EMSO - European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory• SIOS - The Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing
System• ERINHA - European High Security BSL4 Laboratories• European XFEL (X-ray Free Electron Laser)• EMFL : European Magnetic Field Laboratory• EuroFEL (ex-IRUVX-FEL)• ELI - Extreme Light Infrastructure• SKA - Square Kilometre Array