The closing session of ELI Preparatory Phase International Steering Committee took place on the 22nd of October in Paris. The main topic of this meeting was interpretation of the previous work for the Preparatory Phase of the international project ELI which will be financed by the Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation. The whole press release written by MEYS is translated here.
Prague, 25th of October 2010
The world’s most efficient laser Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) will become unique facility for research in physics, material science, optics and nanotechnologies. It is the only pan-European project, within 40 major research centers in the continent, which will materialize in our country. It is the first time in the EU history to provide new state member with the opportunity to deliver EU’s first major research infrastructure. ELI will be built in Dolni Brezany and aims to attract top scientists from around the world who can help Czech science in its development. Scope of research is not only focused on physical discoveries, but also on practical application projects to be used in medicine, material science and molecular chemistry. Project commissioning is planned for 2015. ELI will be financed from the Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation under Priority Axis 1, the European Centre of Excellence.
Meeting organized by consortium was attended by the representatives of Ministry of Education led by Prof. Vlastimil Ruzicka and representatives of the Institute of Physics, which is a coordinator of the project.
The consortium consists of the 13 EU member countries and includes three countries, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, which in 2009 obtained the mandate from the Steering Committee to build research facilities on its territories. The main theme of the Paris meeting was to evaluate the current development work on the preparatory phase of ELI project in each country and handing over the mandate for further management and realization called the Consortiums for the implementation of the ELI. Czech Republic with its high level of readiness holds leadership role. Representative of European Commission, Maria Duka from DG Research, repeatedly expressed full support for the ELI project.
Trustee for the Czech’s part of ELI project, prof. Vlastimil Ruzicka, informed Steering Committee about the current status of negotiations with European Commission and the progress of preparatory tasks. It was also mentioned that final building permits have been granted to ELI project. He also indicated that, based on recent negotiations with the European Commission project’s final approval shall be provided within upcoming few weeks. Formal approval is expected by European Commission at the beginning of December 2010.
“I am pleased that the Steering Committee expressed satisfaction over the progress of work in the Czech Republic. I am also delighted that support from the international community for this important project was expressed so widely” said Minister Dobes. He also highlighted that “ELI project is a great chance to build unique, unexampled and exclusive research center and enhance the infrastructure for basic and applied research in physics and material engineering at the European level. The Ministry will do its best to make sure this opportunity is properly and efficiently used. Support for ELI project, as well as other projects from center of excellence from the Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation is a key priority for me.”
