On October 22 and 23, the Research and Technology Infrastructures (RTI) Summit 2025 took place in Copenhagen. Organised under the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the event brought together European and international stakeholders involved in RTIs to discuss scientific excellence and innovation transfer towards industrial applications. GÉANT participated and was represented as part of a joint exhibition booth together with the European e-Infrastructures Assembly.
Copenhagen, Denmark: Last week, over 300 attendees gathered in the Danish capital to discuss the role of Europe’s Research and Technology Infrastructures, and the new European strategy for them. After opening words by Christina Egelund, the Danish Minister of Higher Education and Science, and a keynote by José Luis Martinez, Chair of the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), the conference was kicked off with a thought-provoking presentation by Nobel Prize laureate Morten Meldal.
Meldal, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2022, highlighted the beauty of curiosity-driven research outside big institutions and outlined a distinction between three types of infrastructures: (1) large-scale (e.g. the European Spallation Source ERIC), (2) intermediate (e.g. the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Centre at his home university DTU), and (3) the distributed small-scale infrastructure that are the bread and butter for every researcher. At GÉANT, we understand well that some infrastructures stay hidden – those that are By Nature Invisible – but whose essential contribution keeps the wheels of research turning, or in our case, the cross-border research data flowing.
Over the remaining two day, the conference touched on the societal impact of RTIs, the need for sustainable financing in the next EU long-term budget, and offered a deep-dive into the new RTI strategy with a Q&A of the pen-holding Directors in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. The European RTI Strategy sets out policy priorities for Research Infrastructures and Technology Infrastructures, the latter a newly created group of existing actors. The strategy contributes to the crystallisation process in the European R&I ecosystem, while at the same time raising questions about complementarity. At the RTI Summit 2025 it became clear that many infrastructures do not fit neatly into one category. Rather, their service portfolio covers the spectrum from RI to TI, complementary by default. This ensures agility towards a variety of clients who operate on different Technology Readiness Levels. Here, flexibility is a key policy aspect to holistically build up these functions, rather than draw arbitrary fault lines.
Key take-aways for GÉANT and NRENs from the RTI Summit 2025:
- Europe’s R&I ecosystem depends on Research & Technology Infrastructures of all shapes and sizes, from small-scale and distributed to large-scale, each essential for scientific excellence.
- Pan-European collaboration models built on a firm trust basis are key to meeting future challenges.
- The secure connectivity infrastructure provided by GÉANT and our NREN community is indispensable for research and education.
A unified front for European e-Infrastructures
GÉANT co-hosted a joint exhibition booth at the RTI Summit 2025 alongside members of the European e-Infrastructures Assembly, the collaboration of leading providers EGI, EUDAT, GÉANT, OpenAIRE, and PRACE. This shared format – already implemented at numerous events – continues to prove successful to showcase not only the fundamental role and impact of each organisation but also the combined value of European e-Infrastructures.
The event offered an excellent platform to connect with European policymakers, RTI leaders and experts, and industry stakeholders. Conversations at the booth reflected a high level of interest in stronger alignment and coordination across e-Infrastructures and led to engaging discussions on the future of European research and open science. We look forward to attending the next iteration of the conference in 2026.
Read more about the European e-Infrastructures Assembly at: https://about.geant.org/european-e-infrastructures/
