Association of European Space Research Establishments
ESRE
1.
ID: 228813591803-78
Lobbying Activity
Meeting with Apostolia Karamali (Cabinet of Commissioner Andrius Kubilius)
3 Jul 2025 ยท Space research infrastructure
Response to European strategy on research and technology infrastructures
22 May 2025
1. Do you agree with the identified main problems and needs? The Association of European Space Research Establishments (ESRE) appreciates the initiative and largely agrees with the identified issues and needs in the area of European research and technological infrastructures. Our response also draws on the recently prepared ESRE document "White Paper on Supporting Strategic Infrastructures for Applied Research" attached to this reply. A key aspect that, in our opinion, requires explicit emphasis and strategic resolution is the to increase the support to Technology Infrastructures (Tis) for the sake of the European competitiveness in the current context of increasing global competition. In this regard, we hail the inclusion as one of the two pillars of the forthcoming strategy of these TIs, which are essential for EU industrial competitiveness and strategic autonomy particularly in key sectors such as space and which often differ in nature from traditional research infrastructures. Typically, TIs are capital-intensive facilities, often operated by public non-profit entities, which directly support the development, testing, and validation of critical technologies. As properly addressed by the Commission, current frameworks, such as ESFRI, are primarily oriented towards fundamental and excellent science and do not adequately cover TIs. 2. Are there any additional challenges faced by research infrastructures and technology infrastructures that a European strategy should address, especially in relation to Europes main competitors? The outline of the proposed initiative appropriately addresses the key challenges that are fragmentation, digitalization, sustainability and autonomy, access by startups and scaleups. As for access by startups and scaleups, we would like to underline that the proposed strategy could be instrumental in securing the legal structure and capital of these EU startups and scaleups. A dedicated instrument could be envisaged to provide access vouchers for such entities under the eligibility condition of some screening and securing their capital structure by some national or European business intelligence authorities, hence reinforcing the EU strategic autonomy and competitiveness. 3. Does the proposed set of actions adequately address these issues? Would other actions be needed at EU level? As previously highlighted, TIs are most granted and operated by national entities to fulfil some national needs. Therefore, we believe that the initiative should be carefully elaborated in strong cooperation with Member States and with a strong consideration for the subsidiarity principle. If the EU needs some stronger cooperation to cope with the global competition, it must also acknowledge the existence of intra-European competition that concerns several European players. Therefore, as suggested by the consultation, screening and gap identification processes should be used for improving synergies and pooling & prioritization of financial support and not for overcoming national policies tackling TIs. If the European authorities would prefer, or if they will finally be led to test such an initiative at a pilot level, ESRE recommends considering space-related TIs in priority, regarding that space is a key sector which competitiveness depends upon many TIs and which is determining the European autonomy and competitiveness of many subsequent industries.
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