FYI

Dear ELIXIR Stakeholders

I am writing to present the new European biological information research structure – ELIXIR and to inform you that the competent national authorities in the European member states have been invited to consider joining it.

ELIXIR’s mission is to construct and operate a sustainable structure for biological information in Europe to support life science research and its translation to medicine and the environment, the bio-industries and society. This mission reflects the fact that biological information is vital for life science research and innovation, and for tackling the challenges of healthcare for an ageing population, food security, energy diversification and environmental protection. Today biomolecular research is generating massive amounts of data and there is a pressing need to provide infrastructure that will handle this and also be able to integrate new types of data in a meaningful way. This requires coordination and effort on the European level.

ELIXIR was identified as a priority by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) in its 2006 Roadmap for Research Infrastructures. Under the Seventh Framework Programme the European Commission has funded a preparatory phase, which will end by the end of 2011.

During the preparation phase hundreds of data providers and users from academia and the private sector were consulted, based on the results the ELIXIR’s steering committee concluded that ELIXIR should be built as a structure that is distributed across several sites hosted by centres of excellence distributed throughout Europe (the ‘ELIXIR Nodes’). These sites should be connected to a central hub (the ‘ELIXIR Hub’) located at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) at Hinxton, UK. I am pleased to inform you that on 9 February 2011 UK has earmarked considerable funding for the construction of the Elixir hub which is subject to approval of the ELIXIR Business Case by the UK government. Also Denmark, Finland, Spain and Sweden have already committed funds towards developing ELIXIR, and have thus shown their commitment to ELIXIR’s mission.

In the attached ELIXIR Business Case you will find a detailed presentation of the rational for ELIXIR, the proposed hub and spokes structure, the legal and governance organisation, funding requirements, and the Action Plan for the period 2011- 2013. Attached is also a catalogue of “Frequently Asked Questions” that serves for clarification of ELIXIR’s legal and governance structure.

Governments have been invited to sign the attached non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which is the first step towards negotiations for the construction of ELIXIR. Negotiations will begin when there are six signatories to the MoU. Following the signing of the MoU the negotiation of an International Consortium Agreement will begin in the autumn 2011. Countries subscribing to ELIXIR by signing the MoU will be represented in the Interim Board which will drive ELIXIR to its operational phase. Inter alia, the Interim Board will appoint the Scientific Advisory Board which will be closely involved in the selection of national nodes.

Your support is highly appreciated and we encourage you to be proactive in expressing your support for ELIXIR to your government.

Should you need more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

--
Nicola Slater
ELIXIR Scientific Administrator
European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 492670
Email: nslater@ebi.ac.uk

On behalf of ELIXIR Project Coordinator, Prof Janet Thornton