ELIXIR

Title: European life-science infrastructure for biological information

Summary: The objective of the ELIXIR preparatory phase is to produce a memorandum or memoranda of understanding between organisations (government agencies, research councils, funding bodies and scientific organisations) within the member states, with the purpose of constructing a world class and globally positioned European infrastructure for the management and integration of information in the life sciences.

To achieve this, we will address the following tasks and issues:

• Define the scope of the infrastructure, its role and benefits;
• Define an appropriate governance and legal structure;
• Define a long term funding structure to provide a sustainable infrastructure;
• Define the requirements for the European Data Centre in the next 5-10 years and makes plans to meet these needs;
• Involve all relevant stakeholders, including users, data providers, tools providers to ensure that the infrastructure meets their needs;
• Explore integration and interoperability between core and specialised data resources and the development of standards in newly emerging fields;
• Define the critical interdisciplinary links that need to be forged between the biological and related scientific disciplines, including medicine, agriculture and the environment;
• Define the needs of related European industries.

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