EBRAINS makes bid to enter the European Research Infrastructure Roadmap with ten-country strong coalition and France as lead country

"This is a major step", underlined Pawel Swieboda, EBRAINS CEO and Director General of the Human Brain Project. "Seeking recognition as part of the ESFRI Roadmap is an important milestone in transitioning to an enduring, sustainable European research infrastructure beyond 2023, making EBRAINS a permanent part of the European Science landscape."

European Research Infrastructures are central to foster stronger cohesion and collaboration between scientists in the European Research Area (ERA). They enable Science that needs facilities too large for individual institutions - or even single member states - to maintain. The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) helps to shape and stimulate their creation, and has contributed to the establishment of over 50 European Research Infrastructures during the last 18 years.

The influential ESFRI Roadmap regularly identifies the most impactful proposals for the next generation of entries into the EU's infrastructure ecosystem. EBRAINS, the novel European distributed research infrastructure for brain science and brain-inspired technology, has now officially applied to join the list. The recently founded EBRAINS AISBL and Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, coordinator of the French lead country role in the project, have submitted an application, including the written support of a broad range of representatives from research institutions, medical professional organisations and industry, highlighting the opportunities and impact EBRAINS offers to their field.

"The impressive support we have received from ten countries and over 90 leading scientific institutions shows that the momentum is now clearly growing behind EBRAINS", Pawel Swieboda stated.