Research infrastructures are often operational for several decades. They represent long term strategic investments which are indispensable for enabling and developing research in all scientific domains and often have broader socio-economic impacts. They therefore require careful planning and continuous and stable support, which is not limited to financial considerations. Robust business models, adequate construction and operation management procedures, open data management policies and a favourable research policy environment are needed for the proper development and sustainability of research infrastructures.

Although research infrastructures are designed to support research needs, their impact goes beyond the production of scientific results and knowledge. Their conception, construction and operation can involve and require unique technological developments, data management systems and highly skilled staff. RIs offer opportunities for innovation and market development, can attract investments and contribute broadly to socio-economic development. In some cases, they can constitute a focal point for the development of an innovation ecosystem.

Recent crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have shown that RIs can contribute to solving complex challenges and provide critical support to decision-making. Robust and comprehensive impact assessment methodologies are essential to capture the breadth of RIs’ potential impact and support RI managers in optimising the value of their facilities.

The COVID-19 crisis demonstrated the capacity of RIs to work together in a complementary way to address complex challenges beyond their traditional scientific domain and to open up to new categories of users who require data and observations for complex interdisciplinary questions. New collaborative agreements between RIs of various types can support excellent science and inform decision-makers addressing grand societal challenges. 

However, while the development of integrated RI ecosystems holds promising potential, there are a number of practical challenges that have yet to be fully overcome. Most of these relate to the different models and funding contexts in which RIs operate. It is important to optimise frameworks for the development of these ecosystems so that their full added value can be realised.

In a context of limited research budgets, governments and funding agencies are confronted with the challenge of supporting increasingly large and complex RI portfolios. Potential users of RIs are also increasingly diverse and numerous, particularly as the data produced by RIs becomes progressively more complex and varied. The operation and use of RIs therefore requires careful balancing and optimisation: very large and international RIs, national RIs and smaller core institutional facilities each need specific strategies adapted to their characteristics.