Part 2
Landscape analysis

The Landscape Analysis that provides the current context of the most relevant Research Infrastructures that are available to European scientists and to technology developers typically through peer review of competitive proposals. The unique contribution played by the ESFRI RIs in all scientific domains is analysed along with the interconnections and cross-cutting aspects of the whole European RIs ecosystem.

The Landscape Analysis is an indicative reference document central to ESFRI Methodology and does not represent, in any way, the view and prioritisation of ESFRI, nor any national financial and political commitment.

The Landscape Analysis is organised in three sections.

Section 1 consists of six chapters – one per scientific domain – and describes the state of play of all Research Infrastructures in the corresponding thematic area, their contributions to support frontier research and to provide key data necessary to address the Grand Challenges.

Section 2 is an all-new analysis effort to render explicit the relevant connections that already exist among different thematic areas by means of the ESFRI RIs, and to identify the critical needs and opportunities for new links and new research practices.

Section3 describes the state of play of Research Infrastructures in addressing transversal issues like education and training, needs for digital infrastructure, contribution to innovation along with the horizontal analyses like socio-economic impact, territorial impact, pan-European and global dimensions that are carried out by all RIs.

The Landscape Analysis has been realized by the Strategy Working Groups in the Energy (ENE), Environment (ENV), Health & Food (H&F), Physical Sciences & Engineering (PSE), and Social & Cultural Innovation (SCI) for the respective domains. The e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG) and the Strategy Working Group on Data, Computing and Digital Research Infrastructures (DIGIT) contributed to the relevant Landscape Analysis.