Brussels, 18/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - The project for setting up a research centre in Romania will receive EU funding of up to €180 million, according to a European Commission announcement made on Tuesday 18 September. This centre will be the first ever European research infrastructure hub and will involve the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary. One of its branches of activity will be cutting-edge technology research.
The future centre, known as the “Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics” (ELI-NP), will serve as a pan European laboratory. It will be open to specialists from the academic and private scientific sphere, as well as the business sector. It will host a broad range of scientific disciplines, including fundamental and nuclear physics. The financial contribution from the EU would come from the Structural Funds with an investment of almost €180 million up until 2015 (European and Regional Development Funds). The total cost of the project amounts to € 356.2 million.
Although it is a European project, almost 40 research bodies and university institutes from 13 member states are participating in it and Romania is particularly expected to benefit from the positive spin-off effects of such an investment. As explained by Commissioner Johannes Hahn, in charge of regional policy, “We have very high hopes for the ELI-NP project. Through it, Romania has a chance to put itself firmly on the map of European research, to retain highly-specialised workers - reversing the 'brain drain' and attracting new companies to the region”. (JK/trans/fl)