The 1st ESFRI Stakeholders Forum Meetup will take place on December 8th, 2021, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, as a hybrid event.

The ESFRI Stakeholders Forum is a newly established platform, developed by ESFRI with the ambition to instigate an open dialogue among the different European research infrastructure stakeholders, in order to reinforce the position of Research Infrastructures (RIs) as an essential pillar of the European Research Area (ERA). This concept was presented in the ESFRI White Paper adopted in 2020.

As we move towards a renewed ERA the participatory element should be applied across the ERA, including ESFRI and RIs as to position them at the heart of the research and innovation ecosystem, and closely interlinking them with different actors, such as researchers, educators, policy makers, citizens, businesses and others. The Stakeholders Forum aims to engage these actors and facilitate regular discussion among them.

The Stakeholders Forum initiative reflects ESFRI’s intention to look beyond the traditional RI communities. The platform aims to attract stakeholders, raising their awareness across the whole research and innovation ecosystem. These stakeholders include, amongst others, decision and policymakers, municipalities, citizens, socio-economic actors, research organisations and higher education institutions with scientific communities participating in ERA activities, which are potential users of RIs.

Detailed information about how the platform will work and how stakeholders can participate in discussions will be available in due course.

The event is open to prospective stakeholders and is hosted by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, as part of the ESFRI days event.