The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) met in Copenhagen under the Danish Presidency to chart the course for Europe’s research infrastructure landscape. Delegates focused on preparing the ESFRI Roadmap 2026, which will map existing world-class facilities, propose new projects, and set priorities for future investments. Discussions also addressed ESFRI’s role in the European Research and Technology Infrastructure Strategy and the connection between research infrastructures and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), highlighting their essential role in advancing open science and cross-border data sharing.
“EOSC is about providing data services, and the role of research infrastructures in this area is indispensable. Very few institutions have users as well organized and can represent the scientific community in the same way as research infrastructures. They occupy a central position within EOSC and should play a greater role in its decision-making processes and governance,” said Jan Hrušák, member of the ESFRI Executive Board from the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Research infrastructures generate enormous amounts of scientific data and provide services that are essential for open science. ESFRI plans to continue this discussion next year. At the beginning of 2026, a workshop will be held focusing on the practical aspects of linking infrastructures with EOSC. “The aim is to better understand the needs of research infrastructures in relation to EOSC, to demonstrate the experience and services they can offer, and to enable more effective advocacy of their interests from the position of the ESFRI–EOSC Taskforce,” added Jan Hrušák.
The idea of creating a systematic overview of Europe’s major research infrastructures dates back to 2000. The first ESFRI Roadmap was published in 2006 and provided the scientific community with a clear reference point, showing which infrastructures were priorities and laying the foundation for investment planning and cross-border collaboration.
The update, scheduled for 2026, will be the seventh version of the Roadmap, continuing its strategic role while reflecting new scientific challenges and opportunities in European research. The release is planned for December 2026 in Rome, following the ICRI conference (2–4 December 2026). The Roadmap will provide an overview of existing world-class European research infrastructures, propose new projects, and serve as a strategic guide for coordinating investments by member states and the EU, while addressing current scientific and societal challenges.
The European Commission has also prepared a European Strategy for Research and Technological Infrastructures, aimed at improving the coordination of large-scale research and technological facilities across Europe. With more than twenty years of experience in coordinating diverse research infrastructures, ESFRI is ideally positioned to support this process by providing recommendations on priorities, criteria, and governance models for the future strategy.
Research infrastructures remain a clear priority for the European Commission. EC representatives at the ESFRI Forum provided an update on the budget for the next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10), which is expected to be twice the size of the current programme, with a proposed total of €175 billion for 2028–2034.
In FP10, research infrastructures will gain a transversal priority, enabling stronger links with innovation, digital technologies, and artificial intelligence in science. The EU aims to ensure that investments in infrastructures have a broader impact and become a key catalyst for achieving the strategic goals of the programme.
In September, the EOSC EU Node announced the launch of its new Learning Center on OpenPlato. The platform currently offers training materials designed to help researchers understand and make better use of the EOSC EU Node — an online portal providing access to digital resources, tools, and services that support research and collaboration across Europe in line with the principles of Open Science and FAIR data.
In September 2025, Brno hosted the official kick-off of the EOSC United and EOSC Gravity projects. The joint launch brought together representatives of European institutions and national initiatives focused on research data and open science. Among the participants were Bob Jones, the project coordinator, and Luděk Matyska from the EOSC CZ Initiative, whom we asked about the EOSC United project's direction and the EOSC Federation's future.
