PRINS · Pan-European Reseach Infrastructure for Nano-Structures

The project focuses on all needed preparatory actions to enable in the following phase the construction of a Research Infrastructure (RI) called Pan-European Research Infrastructure for Nano-Structures (PRINS), with the aim of enabling European innovative research for the ultimate scaling of electronics component and circuits. The platform will be truly interdisciplinary by allowing the convergence of “top-down” technology, which is today the main enabler of Moore’s law (i.e. transistor scaling), with “bottom-up” methods derived from fundamental disciplines such as material physics, chemistry, biotechnology and particle electronics. The open access of this infrastructure provided to the Scientific Community will enable the cross-disciplinary fertilization of academic and industrial competences in the areas of nanoelectronics, nanosystems, nanobiology, nanophotonics, etc. The consortium consists of European leading Research Centres, industrial partners and Public Authorities and Funding Agencies. Key activities include 1) setting up a legal framework for the operation of the RI, 2) defining the required management structures for the daily operation of the RI, for screening and evaluating the incoming access requests, and for technical and financial aspects related to the strategy of the RI and its long term sustainability, including the role of the different stakeholders and possible funding schemes, 3) defining the legal and practical issues related to the different operation modes for giving access ad hosting researchers, and 4) defining the timeline of the RI, its different areas, and its associated business plan (operational costs, resources, funding possibilities, costs for giving access, etc).