State Secretary for Higher Education, Innovation and Vocational Training József Bódis and the Czech Republic’s Deputy Minister for the European Union and European Structural and Investment Funds Václav Velčovský held a meeting in Budapest on 27 August to discuss tasks relating to the establishment of the European Research and Infrastructure Consortium (ELI ERIC).

The ELI-ALPS laser research centre is one of Hungary’s most highly developed research infrastructures of globally outstanding quality. The ELI-Beamlines was constructed in the Czech Republic as part of the ELI project. In addition to laser science, the facilities also provide an extremely high-level technological background for researchers working within the fields of material, medical, natural and environmental sciences.

In May of this year, the Czech Republic submitted a package of documents initiating the establishment of a European Research and Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) to the European Commission in which, in addition to the Czech Republic and Hungary, Italy and Lithuania would also be founding members, and Germany and the United Kingdom would take part as founding observers. The goal of the Czech Deputy Minister’s visit to Hungary is to discuss tasks relating to the establishment of the ELI ERIC, and to view the work being performed at the ELI-ALPS research centre in Szeged. The Czech Republic’s Ambassador to Hungary Tibor Bial, Managing Director of ELI-HU Non-profit Limited Gábor Szabó, and Managing Director of the ELI-DC (ELI Delivery Consortium) Allen Weeks also attended the inter-ministerial meeting.

Physics World, the international magazine of the British Institute of Physics, has classified the ELI project as one of the world’s ten most important research infrastructures in addition to, amongst others, the James Web Space Telescope, the European Neutron Research Centre and the American Electron-Ion Collider. In addition to operating the research infrastructures, the fundamental goal of the soon to be established ERIC will be to ensure that the ELI pillars continue to maintain their leading role within the field of laser research in the long term.

(Ministry for Innovation and Technology / MTI)