RITIFI – Research Infrastructure Technology Infrastructure For Impact

Research Infrastructures (RIs) and Technology Infrastructures (TIs) are essential and complementary elements for functional and efficient Research and Innovation (R&I) ecosystems in Europe. They play a crucial role to boost European’s R&I capacity, from exploratory research to the development, testing, validation and integration of knowledge-based innovative solutions into new products, processes, and services. Acknowledging the diversity of the R&I infrastructure landscape, we can directly tackle the need for a more efficient translation of knowledge to market uptake, and thus the full R&I cycle. To address these challenges, the RITIFI project will contribute to better structure and strengthen the integration of the European landscape of RIs and TIs.  

It will stimulate co-creation and knowledge-sharing interactions between the RI and TI communities to leverage their respective strengths and deliver impact for fully functional and competitive ecosystems, covering the full R&I lifecycle. It will focus on five thematic areas, strategically selected for their relevance in the R&I policy agenda and for the level of maturity of the RIs and TIs’ landscape: biomedical, clean hydrogen, circular materials, particle accelerators and superconducting magnets, and microelectronics (semiconductors).  

The project will ultimately contribute to strengthen Europe’s R&I capacity and the global competitiveness of the ERA, accelerate the green and digital transitions, while reducing the innovation divide. 

RITIFI consortium  

The RITIFI consortium is representative of the entire research and technology infrastructure value chain (including academia, RTO and industry) and brings a solid RI-TI network in their individual countries and across Europe. It is composed of RI and TI stakeholders from 19 European countries, and aims to improve the integration and structure of the European R&I landscape. It will do so by developing a functional framework for the integration of RI and TI services tailored to the needs of end-users, by providing guidelines and methods to improve the visibility and access conditions of RI and TI to end-users, by developing an agile and TI-friendly governance model at European level. 

EATRIS’ role in the project 

EATRIS will contribute to the development of case studies on RI-TI collaboration models (WP2). In particular, the RI-driven ISIDORe project in which EATRIS is partner (Horizon Europe, €21M), will provide a catalogue of pandemic response services. Its analysis will include fitness-to-task, TI involvement, evaluation of gaps in the services offering, and conclusions for future integration of RIs and TIs in pandemic response services and similar mission-driven initiatives. .