Over EUR 8 million of EU support for research infrastructure investments
Ljubljana, 3 December 2019 – Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, the Managing Authority for ERDF, ESF and Cohesion Fund, issued a grant decision for three projects in the field of developing research infrastructure for enhancing the international competitiveness of the Slovenian RDI field, namely SI-LifeWatch, RI-SI-EATRIS and RI-SI-ELIXIR. European Regional Development Fund contribution for all three projects amounts to EUR 8.4 million.
The project LifeWatch will enable purchasing equipment that will support the implementation of international research projects of monitoring and predicting the impacts of global changes on biodiversity. This research infrastructure will support collecting, managing and saving biodiversity data. For such research the following is required: establishing a tissue sample bank, analytical centre, molecular laboratory with the relevant software for analysing genetic diversity and instruments in the field of genomics and biotechnology.
European Regional Development Fund contribution for the project LifeWatch, which is worth EUR 3.3 million, amounts to EUR 2.6 million.
The project RI-SI-EATRIS aims to modernise research infrastructure that serves early stages of medicinal drug development and the development of state-of-the-art diagnostic methods and therapeutic approaches. These include genomic and metabolomic technologies which are also referred to as transfer or translational research due to their application-oriented nature. This will improve Slovenia’s competitiveness within the European Research Area and European research infrastructures.
European Regional Development Fund contribution for the project RI-SI-EATRIS, which is worth EUR 2.4 million, amounts to EUR 1.6 million.
The project RI-SI-ELIXIR focuses on enhancing national research capacities in the field of life sciences. This pertains to infrastructure enabling efficient transfer of new knowledge in healthcare and the economy related to biological processes. The infrastructure enables efficient consortium partners to be connected with their counterparts in other national infrastructures in natural sciences, life sciences and advanced computer technologies, as well as the fruitful integration of the ELIXIR-SI hub with other national hubs in the ELIXIR network. It is thus crucial to establish a research, development and study environment that will preserve the knowledge and innovation of researchers at the highest international level.
European Regional Development Fund contribution for the project SI-SI-ELIXIR, which is worth EUR 5.3 million, amounts to EUR 4.2 million.
The abovementioned projects relate to Research Infrastructure Development Plan priorities as the priorities defined under Slovenia’s Smart Specialisation Strategy (S4) which adds to the realisation of the objectives defined under the Research and Innovation Strategy of Slovenia 2011-2020.
For more information, please refer to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.