High-quality bioscience research and innovative bioindustries are key contributors to tackle global societal challenges, today and in the future, towards a green, healthy and sustainable world.

MIRRI strives to achieve these goals, and by matching the resources, capabilities and expertise of all its partner organisations with the global and European strategic agendas – such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the EU Horizon Europe, its Clusters, Missions and Partnerships, and the ESFRI Roadmap, Strategy Report and Landscape Analysis –, as well as with national/regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) of its participating countries, MIRRI is placing its strategic focus, for the decade ahead, over a selected group of socioeconomically very relevant areas.

MIRRI continuously analyses the landscape and scans the horizon in these areas, in order to systematically anticipate gaps and opportunities, aiming at better addressing the effective needs of its user communities, and helping them deliver the maximum value and impacts from their projects, technologies and products.

These are the bases for MIRRI’s Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda 2021-2030, a “living document” to be revised and updated at the rhythm that the global challenges, the research and innovation landscape and the users’ needs will dynamically change and evolve.

Download the Agenda here.

MIRRI, the Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure, has entered the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) Roadmap in 2010. The Preparatory Phase started with the EU-FP7-funded project “Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure – MIRRI”, under grant agreement no: 312251, and coordinated by the Leibniz-Institute DSMZ Culture Collection. The project kick¬off meeting was held in Braunschweig (Germany), from 27 to 30 November 2012. The consortium brought together 16 renowned partners and 20 collaborative parties, representing 19 countries across Europe.

The Preparatory Phase ended in April 2016, but the consortium has continued working on the preparation of the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) submission, governed by an Assembly of prospective Members (ApM) and an Interim National Coordinators Forum (INCF).

In April 2018, the ApM accepted the Portuguese-Spanish proposal to host the Central Coordination Unit (CCU), with the approval from the seven prospective country members (Belgium, France, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Portugal and Spain), which have previously signed the MIRRI Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MIRRI CCU is shared by Portugal (statutory seat) and Spain (hosting the Collaborative Working Environment hub).

The 1st step submission for the MIRRI-ERIC application was completed at the end of 2018. More recently, the implementation of the RI has been strongly supported by the EU H2020 project “IS_MIRRI21 – Implementation and Sustainability of Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure for 21st Century” – grant agreement no: 871129, coordinated by the University of Minho MUM Culture Collection, and comprising 14 partners, distributed by 10 countries that have signed the MIRRI MoU. This 36-month project started on 1 February 2020.

Currently, the MIRRI statutes, the technical and scientific description, the business plan and the strategic research and innovation agenda are ready to be sent to the European Commission, via Portuguese Permanent Representation to the EU, as the final step towards becoming MIRRI-ERIC.

The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) is a strategic instrument to develop the scientific integration of Europe and strengthen its international outreach. The competitive and open access to high-quality Research Infrastructures supports and benchmarks the quality of the activities of European scientists and attracts the best researchers from around the world.

Research Infrastructures are fundamental pillars for the European Research Area (ERA) and key contributors to the EU’s industrial competitiveness and strategic autonomy. They are decisive for the EU’s capacity to deliver scientific breakthroughs and to foster innovation. They play a critical role in addressing global (societal, environmental, economic) challenges and the Sustainable Development Goals. They are essential to deliver the goals and impacts of EU’s priorities, policies and programmes – including Horizon Europe, its Clusters, Missions and Partnerships –, as well as of the national/regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). Research Infrastructures “make science and innovation happen”, towards a “green, digital and more resilient Europe”.

To learn more about ESFRI Research Infrastructures, please visit http://roadmap2018.esfri.eu/projects-and-landmarks/