The ESFRI Roadmap is Europe’s strategic plan that identifies and supports the most important research infrastructures needed for future scientific and technological development. Of the approved projects, of special interest to ICMAB are NFFA2050 and Microscopy Europe.

NFFA2050 will enrich the European Research Infrastructure (RI) portfolio by offering a new infrastructure that provides integrated access to a combination of unique resources (from large-scale facility methods to highly specialized instruments in academic laboratories and theoretical modelling), enabling multi-technique experiments on quantum matter, advanced energy materials and biomaterials. 

 

Building on 11 years of successful operation of the NFFA-Europe RI, which has offered access to 180 methods and 600 instruments to more than 3000 users, the NFFA2050 ESFRI RI will advance the state of the art by further integrating digital services into its offer. These include tools such as an orchestration layer, Digital Twins, and FAIR-by-design data management, allowing users to select optimized research workflows tailored to their research needs.

 

By combining the most advanced instrumentation with AI-based solutions for access optimization and new user services (building a so-called “hybrid research workflow”), NFFA2050 will create an “augmented” research environment supporting both curiosity-driven research and innovation-driven projects, including deep-tech validation and co-creation of prototypes in collaboration with industry at intermediate technology readiness levels.

 

A key feature of NFFA2050 is that the user will be in the driving seat, steering the research strategy through real-time, continuously updated workflow options that are refined as data are acquired, maximising instrument efficiency and reducing time to results.

 

Beyond its impact on academic research, NFFA2050 is expected to become an important reference point for industry, including innovative companies and deep-tech startups. By providing access to advanced instrumentation, specialised expertise, and integrated research services, it can support the co-development of new technologies and help translate scientific results into real-world applications.

 

The initiative is coordinated by the Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM) of the National Research Council and was presented by five European countries and participated in, or supported  by, twenty-seven European scientific institutions.

 

Its ESFRI RI status brings high visibility as well as responsibility supporting the establishment of the European governance model, the identification of the resources needed, and the development of synergies with other initiatives across the Physical Sciences and Engineering (PSE) domain and beyond.

 

Based on a broad European collaboration involving partner institutions and user communities, NFFA2050 invites researchers and innovators to follow its development and consider it a key opportunity for future research on physics of matter and related innovation projects.

Microscopy Europe is a key player in the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), recognized as a strategic European research infrastructure. It aims to establish a distributed research infrastructure that connects 26 leading electron microscopy facilities across 15 European countries, providing coordinated open access to researchers from both academia and industry.

The initiative combines state-of-the-art instrumentation with AI-driven automation, data management, and computational modeling, building on more than 17 years of European collaboration.

The inclusion of Microscopy Europe in the ESFRI Roadmap 2026 reinforces its position within Europe's emerging network of large-scale research infrastructures. It also provides a strategic framework for the future development of JEMCA, aligning the centre's advanced microscopy capabilities with a coordinated European ecosystem that will drive innovation, open access, and technological excellence.

After a year-and-a-half period of hard work and a rigorous evaluation process, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) proudly announces the approval of six new Project proposals for inclusion in the ESFRI Roadmap 2026. ESFRI reached this milestone decision during its 96th plenary meeting held in Nicosia, Cyprus, on the 22-23 June 2026

 

The selection followed a scientific and strategic evaluation process carried out by ESFRI’s Strategy Working Groups and the Implementation Group in accordance with the ESFRI Roadmap 2026 Guide. More than 80 expert scientists and key RI figures were involved in this exercise that examined the plans and merits of proposals prepared by consortia including some of the most important Universities and Research Organisations in Europe. The seleceted proposals demonstrated scientific excellence, a convincing path towards implementation, and strategic relevance for strengthening the evolving European Research Infrastructure landscape.