UPDATE: Project details updated during the EPSA 2025-26 edition. Awarded Special Recognition for continuous improvement and long-term sustainability.
Context
In response to the growing need for collaboration and resource optimisation in research infrastructure development, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung – BMBWF) initiated a project to establish a public research infrastructure database. This project stemmed from the limitations of a previous internal database, which was not publicly accessible and hindered efficient information sharing among researchers, institutions and funding bodies.
Objectives
The ‘Public Research Infrastructure Database’ serves as an information platform that grants access to research infrastructures, and fosters their application in scientific research and industrial contexts. It pursues four key objectives. First, the database aims to enhance access to research infrastructure capabilities and encourage their utilisation. Second, it strives to inform strategic decision-making processes for infrastructure development. Third, it assists with both internal and external infrastructure tenders. Finally, it functions to create a visible portfolio of the research infrastructure within the Austrian research landscape.
Operating as a collaborative platform, the database aligns with the principles of open science, open innovation and knowledge valorisation by means of extracting economic value from knowledge by making it accessible to others.
Implementation
Developed collaboratively by the BMBWF, the Austrian Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich – WKO) and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labour and Economy (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Wirtschaft – BMAW), the public research infrastructure database was launched online in 2016. The project utilised traditional project management methods with a total budget of approximately €160 000 from 2015 to 2023. This budget covered technical development by an external IT company, while leveraging existing BMBWF resources such as staff expertise, software programs and server infrastructure.
With over 100 research institutions voluntarily contributing information on over 2 200 research infrastructures, the database has become a valuable resource for the Austrian research community. This data informs strategic decision-making for future investments, a contribution recognised by the Austrian Administration Award in 2021.
The project’s integration into the Austrian RTI Strategy 2030 (RTI – research, technology and innovation) and the Austrian Research Infrastructure Action Plan 2030 ensures its long-term sustainability. Furthermore, the database’s open access nature allows it to serve as a transferable model for other countries facing similar challenges in research infrastructure coordination.
Developments
The submission outlines the development of the Public Research Infrastructure Database from an initial project to an institutionalised process. The database serves as a public information platform that enables access to and the use of research infrastructures across science, research, and industry. Governance mechanisms have been established to promote stronger alignment and cooperation.
Most important developments are as follows.
When the idea of a Public Research Infrastructure Database first emerged, its future relevance for Austrian research, technology, and innovation within the European Research Area was not yet foreseeable. Research infrastructures (RI) – such as large-scale equipment and core facilities – are essential instruments for conducting R&D and ensuring long-term competitiveness.
Areas of R&D – for example quantum technology, life sciences, artificial intelligence, or climate research – require state-of-the-art RI. However, the costs for acquiring and operating such infrastructures, as well as basic equipment, have risen sharply with technological progress. Due to high investment costs, short reinvestment cycles, and increasing requirements for RI management, it is becoming increasingly difficult for R&D institutions to procure and operate RIs independently. This situation created a need for stronger coordination and collaboration in planning, financing, procurement, operation, and use of RI. The public database was established to address this need. RIs that are ‘open for collaboration’ can be found or offered through the database, which serves researchers, RI management, funding institutions, policymakers, and public administration.
As part of Austria’s Research, Technology, and Innovation (RTI) Strategy 2030, the road map Austrian Research Infrastructure Action Plan 2030 was developed in 2022/2023. Its guiding principle is the coordinated procurement and shared use of RI at national and European level, and the public database is the central instrument for implementing this action plan. It provides a publicly accessible inventory that already includes more than 2600 collaborative RIs. The growing number of visible infrastructures has also increased the demand for continuous data updates.
To ensure the long-term continuation of the database and meet the needs of its target groups, it has undergone continuous development since the EPSA submission in 2023. These developments have transformed the database from a project into an integrated operational and strategic process requiring structured process management. This process institutionalised the project by defining operational workflows (e.g. publication, updates, deletion of RI), integrating existing knowledge (strategies, monitoring/reporting, mapping), reallocating financial resources, and securing administrative capacities for sustainable implementation.
Based on lessons learned, process management further developed four existing objectives, including KPIs:
Objective 1: access and use: facilitating access to RI and enabling the use of infrastructure capacities;
Objective 2: strategy: supporting governance and strategic decision-making based on the Austrian Research Infrastructure Action Plan 2030;
Objective 3: monitoring: supporting RI tenders and documenting the RI inventory;
Objective 4: mapping: creating a visible Austrian RI portfolio, including the ESFRI Roadmap.
Governance processes have been established to support synergies and strategies. Today, the public database functions as an interministerial tool that supports the development of RI in Austria. It was awarded the Austrian Administration Award in 2021 and received a Good Practice Certificate from the European Public Sector Award (EPSA 2023–24).
Long-term impact
RI are essential instruments for R&D, and the database makes it possible to find and offer RI for collaborations. The voluntary participation of more than 140 R&D institutions and the visibility of over 2600 infrastructures demonstrate strong national demand and the platform’s strategic relevance. The database has become an indispensable governance and monitoring tool for performance agreements with universities, the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Science and Technology Austria.
In 2024, the project was transformed into an institutionalised process, ensuring long‑term continuity. Four objectives, measured through KPIs, document progress from 2015–2023 (project phase) and from 2024 onwards (process phase).
Objective 1 – access and use:
Access expanded significantly, with infrastructures rising from 799 (2016) to 2671 (2025) and annual users from 16 167 (2016) to 168 654 (2025). The database recorded 556 500 users from 178 countries worldwide (2016–2025). All federal performance targets (impact orientation, indicator 31.2.5, number of RIs published on the public database) per year were exceeded, demonstrating sustained impact.
Link 1, overview: https://forschungsinfrastruktur.bmfwf.gv.at/downloads/Facts_Figures-2026-01_EN.png
Link 2, impact: https://wirkungsmonitoring.gv.at/kennzahl-detail/veroeffentlichte-forschungsinfrastrukturen-auf-der-bmbwf-forschungsinfrastrukturdatenbank-19581-623/
Link 3: https://forschungsinfrastruktur.bmfwf.gv.at/en/fi
Objective 2 – strategy:
The database supports the implementation of the Austrian Research Infrastructure Action Plan 2030 and strengthens evidence‑based decision‑making. The Austrian RTI Strategy mid‑term evaluation confirmed its long‑term strategic value.
Link 1, plan: https://www.bmfwf.gv.at/dam/jcr:7684e7e0-1540-4084-aefb-643f90c56859/FI-Aktionsplan%202030_BF.pdf
Link 2, evaluation, p. 42: https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at/dam/jcr:d3ebf2d5-5a00-463d-b084-768144f47c8b/halbzeitevaluierung_fti-strategie_2030.pdf
Objective 3 – monitoring:
Seven monitoring processes documented EUR 184.5 million in funded tenders and over EUR 1 billion in infrastructure investments. Annual tender monitoring, infrastructure inventories, and reporting strengthen transparency and long‑term investment governance.
Link 1, monitoring: https://forschungsinfrastruktur.bmfwf.gv.at/en/monitoring
Link 2, inventory, p. 14: https://www.bmfwf.gv.at/dam/jcr:7684e7e0-1540-4084-aefb-643f90c56859/FI-Aktionsplan%202030_BF.pdf
Objective 4 – mapping:
An overview (2671 RI), six research clusters (516 infrastructures), and 24 ESFRI participations were mapped, creating a visible national portfolio and strategic orientation.
Link 1, overview: https://forschungsinfrastruktur.bmfwf.gv.at/en/mapping
Link 2, cluster: https://forschungsinfrastruktur.bmfwf.gv.at/en/cluster
Link 3, ESFRI-AT-MAPPING: https://forschungsinfrastruktur.bmfwf.gv.at/en/eufi
External evaluations (OECD 2017; Eidenberger 2023) confirm the database as an international best practice model for visibility, collaboration, and governance.
Adjustment in the objectives
The institutionalisation of the public database transformed its original objectives into continuous processes. The 2024 shift from project to process management required adjustments in workflows, governance, and scope to ensure long‑term sustainability. Annual updates, monitoring, and mapping activities were integrated into permanent structures, improving coordination across institutions. Financial needs dropped significantly: while EUR 150 000 per year was required during the project phase (2015–2023), the institutionalised process has operated with EUR 30 000 annually (since 2024); efficiency gains and internal solutions reduced costs. Staffing requirements have been reduced from 1.5 FTE to 1.25 FTE.
Lessons learned: Continuous communication proved essential for data quality. Maintaining up‑to‑date entries required active outreach – calls and presence at events – rather than passive communication. This ongoing interaction became a core success factor.
Spillover effects emerged across policy areas, including strategic planning, investment governance, and evidence‑based reporting. The database also strengthened European alignment through ESFRI mapping. Future development will integrate technology infrastructure views by 2027, improving national–European coherence and user access to emerging technologies. The database now functions as a long‑term governance and monitoring instrument for coordination, transparency, and collaboration.
In summary: Collect and bundle knowledge, make it easily accessible to everyone, and promote the flow of collaboration.