Assessing The Importance of Global Research Infrastructures: European Perspective

Research infrastructures that are globally accessible, with a diverse set of challenges and opportunities that emerge when multiple international partners from around the world collaborate as equal (or nearly equal) partners, are emerging as global infrastructure (GRIs). In some cases, the facilities’ complexity, high construction and operating costs, and the global nature of the scientific challenge addressed, make it impossible for a single country or region to build and operate them. The importance of GRIs can be viewed through the lens of three concepts: economics of network theory, common pool resources approach and the concept of critical mass. The results of the CATI/CAWI survey, made in November 2016 on the sample of N=150 European Union Infrastructures coordinators indicate, that these entities mostly serve as integration platforms for European researchers from academia and industry, ensuring their optimal use and joint development, increased efficiency and productivity of researchers, and defining workflows and ensuring coordination, harmonization, integration, and interoperability.