Second Extreme light infrastructure pillars workshop

About

The JASPERS networking platform hosted the Second workshop on extreme light infrastructure (ELI) pillars in Brussels on 11 and 12 September 2017.

Target audience

The target group of the event were project managers and experts from transport authorities, in particular authorities managing transport networks.

Objectives

The purpose of this workshop was to bring together the main stakeholders from the three ELI-pillar countries for a joint event focused on the current status of the ELI project. It created the opportunity for the different national authorities, the ELI Delivery Consortium, as well as representatives from the European Commission concerned by the projects to share experience as well as potential issues ahead of the start of operations of the ELI facilities.

This was the second ELI workshop organized by the JASPERS Networking platform. The first workshop took place in May 2015 , as the first phases of the construction of the ELI facilities were ongoing.

The 2017 workshop focused on the preparation for operational activities of the ELIs, as several important topics are currently under discussion: the institutional organisation of the ELI (access on a national level, European level and open access), the set-up the ELI ERIC, the financing of operational expenditure, the handling of IP rights, as well as of spin-offs and secondary undertakings, like science parks.

For the different ELI pillars and respective national authorities the workshop was the occasion to present and exchange information on the progress towards the final stages of implementation, preparation for the start of research activities, as well as to present the planned approach for financing of operations and challenges facing the start-up of this large pan-European research infrastructure.

As a key participant in the workshop, the ELI DC had the opportunity to present the roadmap towards the ELI ERIC, including strategies for common open access policies, technology transfer and organisational activities.

The workshop was organized in cooperation with the European Commission, who actively participated with speakers from DG REGIO, DG RESEARCH and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in the second day of the proceedings. The EIB also presented opportunities, instruments and examples for financing research and innovation.

The workshop concluded with a lively plenary discussion among the participants, who also confirmed their interest in organize future meetings of the ELI stakeholders group with the support of the JASPERS Networking Platform, the next one possibly in mid 2018.