On Technology Infrastructures: the critical questions - with Sophie Viscido

Welcome back to The Insider! In this week’s episode, we are going to address head on the critical questions being asked about Technology Infrastructures.

How distinct and specific are TIs in relation to other research and innovation support infrastructures? What specific challenges do they face over their lifecycle and how can their capacity be further leveraged? What is their role in a regional, national or transnational R&I ecosystem? Are TIs mostly local or is there a pan-european relevance and action rationale? What kind of governance and funding model should we develop to take the most out of their potential to help us build bridges between science and the market?

The Joint Research Centre, in partnership with EARTO – European Association of Research and Technology Organisations, recently published a report where most of these questions are further explored.

And that is why my guest today is Sophie Viscido, one of the authors of the report and certainly someone who is always very interesting and good fun to talk to. Stick around to the end of this longer than usual episode and you will get a critical overview of the past, present and future of the discussion on TIs. 

We’re also giving you a brief rundown of this week’s top headlines from our Morning Brief newsletter, focusing on the entrance of Tunisia into Horizon Europe under association status, the Swiss government’s replacing the grant and equity funding 24 Swiss start-ups were set to receive from EU funds. Also, the Data Governance Act and the Trans-European energy infrastructure at a glance, and fantastic news for the INESC universe.

Here are some of the events coming up that you should keep an eye out for:

·       Don't miss the i3S Workshop on Cancer Research, Biological and Molecular Basis taking place between 26 and 29 September this year. Find out more information here.

·       Don't miss this webinar, taking place April 21st, providing detailed information on personnel costs on Horizon Europe projects for Legal and Financial NCPs. Register here.

·       Vision Understanding and Machine Intelligence – VISUM 2022 – is the tenth edition of a summer school focused on Computer Vision and Machine Learning. This edition is organised by INESC TEC, and will be an on-site event in Porto, Portugal. Find more information here.

·       Science Europe is organising its first conference on Open Science, on 18 and 19 October 2022. Click here to find out more.

·       Don't miss the EU Green Week 2022 taking place from 30 May to 5 June 2022. Discover more about the event here.