What type of research infrastructure is eligible for funding?

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1 Attachment 1: National Financing Initiative for Research Infrastructure call for proposals for October 2012 deadline What type of research infrastructure is eligible for funding? The term research infrastructure refers to advanced scientific equipment and large-scale equipment facilities, electronic infrastructure (einfrastructure), and scientific databases and collections. Funding may only be sought for nationally-oriented research infrastructure with investment costs of more than NOK 2 million. The maximum amount of funding that may be sought from the Research Council is NOK 200 million over a period of maximum five years. Funding may be sought to cover investment, establishment and installation costs for new research infrastructure or costs for upgrading existing infrastructure. In certain cases, funding may be sought to cover operating costs. This attachment is divided into six sections: 1) What is meant by nationally-oriented research infrastructure? 2) Categories of research infrastructure 3) International infrastructures and ESFRI projects 4) Funding to cover operating costs special cases 5) Large-scale research facilities (investment costs over NOK 200 million) 6) The research infrastructure s building-related needs 7) Examples of infrastructure that are not eligible for funding 1) What is meant by nationally-oriented research infrastructure? The National Financing Initiative for Research Infrastructure only allocates funding for nationally-oriented research infrastructure. This refers to: Infrastructure that is of widespread national interest The establishment of the infrastructure must be of major interest to Norway as a whole. The Research Council will incorporate considerations relating to the priorities set out in the white paper on research. Infrastructure that will be available in only one or a few locations in Norway, as a general rule The Research Council encourages research institutions with common interests to implement task-sharing when appropriate and work together on grant applications. Infrastructure that lays a foundation for internationally cutting-edge research Allocations are intended to support the activities of research groups that are already at the international forefront or demonstrate good potential realistically speaking to achieve that position.

2 Infrastructure that will be made accessible to relevant researchers and industries Access must be given to any groups outside the applicant institution that will need to utilise the infrastructure. Grant applications must include plans for user access.

3 2) Categories of research infrastructure Advanced scientific equipment and large-scale equipment facilities Funding may be sought for advanced scientific equipment within all scientific disciplines as well as key equipment components that are part of larger-scale, complex research infrastructures. Funding may also be sought for large-scale national laboratories, equipment components and research installations. Electronic infrastructure (einfrastructure) encompasses high-performance computing resources, grid technology, advanced solutions for data storage and management, and high-speed networks. Funding may be sought for: o Installation and operation of hardware, including user support, as well as software required to run and utilise the einfrastructure components. o Software for use of einfrastructure, including adaptation of software for using extremely large-scale hardware systems. o Implementation of specialised solutions for research groups with distinctive needs in order to ensure that the user group can effectively utilise the einfrastructure. o Testing and development of new services, for example for experimental architectures, use of cloud computing technology, and the like. The grant proposal must describe how the project will be integrated with existing national einfrastructure. Scientific databases and collections o Scientific databases comprise structured, systematised, digitised data such as private or public registries, time series, survey data, digital photographs, text files and audio files from which information can be retrieved through the use of search criteria in a data system. o Scientific collections comprise compilations of physical objects, systematised and digitised for scientific purposes. Examples include biobanks and collections of fossils, species specimens and objects. Funding may be sought for coordination, development, compilation and adaptation of data for research purposes. This includes the development of shared central services, such as archives and data service institutions, adaptation of research services at libraries and museums, and development of search engines and data portals that give researchers knowledge about, and access to, data. 3) International infrastructures and projects on the ESFRI Roadmap Norwegian institutions or partnerships seeking to participate in future international infrastructures must apply for funding under the National Initiative for Financing of Research Infrastructure. This applies to funding for realisation of the Norwegian node of

4 internationally distributed infrastructure, required co-funding of shared pan-european infrastructure and shared services/installations, and/or membership of shared pan-european organisations operating research infrastructure, including research infrastructure on the ESFRI Roadmap. Grant proposals for realisation of Norwegian participation in ESFRI projects must be wellcoordinated with Preparatory Phase activities and include specific design plans for the Norwegian infrastructure for which funding is being sought as well as plans for organising international cooperation. The scientific and strategic review of the projects will take into consideration that final plans regarding the organisation of international cooperation and task distribution for Preparatory Phase projects may not yet be completed. 4) Funding to cover operating costs special cases As a general rule, expenses for operation of research infrastructure are covered by the projects that use the infrastructure. However, in special cases, support for operating costs for new or existing nationally-oriented research infrastructure may be provided under the National Financing Initiative for Research Infrastructure. The Research Council will take into account that different types of infrastructures will have varying ability to obtain co-funding from research projects and an external market. The operating costs for projects using the infrastructure must not be so high that they are no longer internationally competitive. Large-scale research facilities with operating expenses of a magnitude that ongoing projects or host institutions cannot reasonably be expected to cover may, after a separate assessment process, be allocated basic funding for operation and maintenance for part or all of the lifetime of the infrastructure. Support for operating costs may be sought for a period of up to five years and must be specified in the Spreadsheet for Cost Calculation which incorporates cost and funding plans related to operation. In cases where funding for salary costs for new personnel is being sought by institutions where a significant portion of the permanent salary costs are already being covered by basic allocations from the Research Council, the institution must clearly explain why the infrastructure will require additional personnel. Personnel in temporary (post-doctoral or doctoral) fellowship positions should normally not be included in the permanent staff needed to operate the infrastructure. 5) Large-scale research facilities (investments costs over NOK 200 million) Establishment of research infrastructure involving investments that exceed NOK 200 million will be dealt with at the ministerial or government level, in compliance with the

5 Tools for Research strategy document. Institutions seeking to establish research facilities with investment costs of over NOK 200 million are nevertheless encouraged to contact the Research Council directly. Recommendations for allocations of over NOK 200 million may be submitted by the Research Council to the relevant ministry for special consideration. Recommendations may be submitted for projects that have received high marks in relation to the assessment criteria stipulated by the Research Council. To the degree possible, the Research Council will work to incorporate assessment of grant proposals for large-scale research facilities into the review process for ordinary grant proposals for research infrastructure. Applicants seeking funding for such large-scale projects must also describe how far they have come in the process of establishing the research infrastructure. In exceptional cases, the Research Council, in consultation with the Ministry of Education and Research, may allocate funding for the planning phase of a project.

6 6) The research infrastructure s building-related needs Institutions must state in the grant proposal that suitable facilities for the research infrastructure will be provided. Funding may not be sought to cover expenses associated with this, with the exception of extra outlay for particularly costly technical installations essential to establishing the infrastructure. The project description must specify any building-relating needs and costs associated with the infrastructure, including those that extend beyond what is covered under this call for proposals, and explain how these costs are planned financed. 7) Examples of infrastructure that are not eligible for funding Funding may not be sought for basic equipment that a number of research institutions are expected to have. Equipment that is not nationally oriented may be financed partially, and in certain cases fully, through seeking funding for procurement of equipment or writing off depreciation costs in the budget for research projects funded under other programmes at the Research Council. Read more about Equipment costs and depreciation on the Research Council website. Funding may not be sought for collection of research data. The Research Council will facilitate access to research data (time series, registries and collections) in secure systems and in a form that can be used as a basis for national and international research cooperation. This will in turn promote Norwegian participation in international data networks. The data base itself will be developed (for example, via data collection or digitisation of collections) by the ministries and their subordinate agencies, as well as under research projects funded by the Research Council and activities funded by the R&D institutions themselves. Only funding for activities to further develop and prepare the data for use in research may be sought under the National Financing Initiative for Research Infrastructure.