PRE-EST

The EST Preparatory Phase (PRE-EST) started in April 2017 and is funded for 4 years under the H2020 Framework Programme as one of 3 European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) projects in the field of Physical Sciences and Engineering. 

The consortium consists of 23 research institutions from 16 member states and its primary goal is to provide both the EST international consortium and the funding agencies with a detailed plan regarding the implementation of EST. This will provide the information necessary for them to make decisions, addressing both organisational and technical issues as well as costs and risks analysis. Moreover, PRE-EST will lead the detailed design of EST key elements to the required level of definition and validation for their final implementation.

Interactive communication with all stakeholder (scientific, political, industrial and financial) is key to the success of the preparatory phase. By interacting with the broad scientific community, the scientific goals and scientific instrumental requirements will be updated and revised. The user interfaces and user services that would allow the best scientific exploitation of EST will also be defined. Additionally, the EST’s status will be presented to key stakeholders at national level (governmental authorities, funding agencies, industry, etc.) in order to let them know the opportunities offered by EST as singular infrastructure and its future needs.