"Hardware" for top-level research: EUR 18 million for laboratory equipment

10 projects approved – important investments in Austria as a research location

Modern laboratories and research infrastructure are essential to competitive research and an innovative economy. In the third Call of the Research Infrastructure programme, funding of EUR 18.1 million has been approved for ten projects. They include electron microscopy and atom probe tomography for biomedical research and the development of new materials, as well as the expansion of the earth observation data centre used in climate research, and testing infrastructure for quantum communications.

"Modern laboratory equipment and suitable facilities are essential for Austria as a research and innovation location," explained the FFG Managing Directors Henrietta Egerth and Klaus Pseiner. "They also function as hubs for cooperation between science and business."

Through the programme, which started in 2016, the FFG supports the acquisition, expansion and initial operation of high-value infrastructure used in basic and applied research. A total of around EUR 23 million was approved for 16 projects in the first two Calls. The programme receives funding from the National Foundation, with support from the Federal Ministry of Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK).

"Research infrastructures promote top quality research and strengthen the ability of universities to establish a name for themselves," said FFG Managing Directors Egerth and Pseiner. "At the same time, they encourage the development of innovative products and processes, such as new functional materials and in medicine." There is large demand for modern research infrastructure: in the current third Call, a total of 68 project proposals requesting total funding of EUR 110 million have been submitted.