JRC PROVIDE OPEN ACCESS TO ITS RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE
The Joint Research Center (JRC) is scientific-professional component of the European Commission, whose scope of its activities through scientific and professional base of scientists provide independent scientific advice and support European Union policy-making. In addition to strategically support of science-based development of EU policy, the JRC provides open access to its world-class facilities and laboratories to leading researchers from across Europe and beyond, with the aim to conduct state-of-the-art experimental research, establish cooperation and capacity building with the European scientific and professional community.
The JRC includes seven (7) scientific research institutes:
- IRMM (Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements), Geel, Belgian
- IE (Institute for Energy), Petten, Netherland
- ITU (Institute for Transuranium Elements), Karlsruhe, Germany
- IPSC (Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen), Ispra, Italy
- IHCP (Institute for Health and Consumer Protection), Ispra, Italy
- IES (Institute for Environment and Sustainability), Ispra, Italy
- IPTS (Institute for Prospective Technological Studies), Seville, Spain
The JRC hosts 56 high-value research infrastructures, most of which are unique at European and international level. Of these, 39 can open access to external users in various fields of science: nuclear and radiological; chemistry; biosciences and life sciences; physical sciences and ICT. JRC’s research infrastructures are located in Ispra (Italy), Geel (Belgium), Karlsruhe (Germany) and Petten (The Netherlands). These infrastructures (i.e. laboratories) are fit for experimental work generating data for users’ analyses. The main objectives of opening access to JRC research infrastructures are to:
- Establish a fair, clear and transparent procedure for giving access to external users of the JRC’s physical research infrastructures;
- Maximize the use to the full potential of JRC physical research infrastructures in collaboration with researchers and industry
Benefits of JRC open access to research infrastructure
- Access to European users who are not traditionally engaged in the work of the JRC, based on competitive open calls;
- Improving competitiveness, attracting talent, fostering innovation and development, and bridging the gap between research and industry;
- Distribution and dissemination of knowledge, improvement of related methods and skills, education, training and encouragement of cooperation at the European level;
- Maximize utilization of infrastructure investments making it available to external users, given the currently limited resources in Europe.
Modes of access to JRC research infrastructures
The JRC provides access to its research infrastructure to users from academia, and research institutions, industry, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as to the public and private sector from institutions from EU Member States and countries associated with the EU research program. There are two access options:
- relevance-driven mode, mainly open to academia and SMEs, through an open call.Users pay additional access costs, and the generated data can be open access and shared for free after 18 months.
The procedure for submission and evaluation of proposals is published on the JRC web page.
- market-driven mode, is mainly industry-oriented. Calls are continuously opened and proposals are evaluated and selected by the JRC. Users pay the full cost of access and the data is not distributed on an open basis.