« An
open access distributed facility with the legal status of a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (
ERIC), made up of 3 to 6 centers characterized by specific scientific embedding and local synergies with nearby Large Scale Facilities (LSFs) but providing a
unique access portal so as to be an integrated laboratory environment for the development of advanced nanoscience with atomic precision fabrication and metrology.
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« Maximum
exploitation of Large Scale Facilities (LSFs) by nano-oriented scientific communities by (a) providing a strategic access for Fine Analysis to a wider community of users and (b)
raising the standards in sample preparation, definition and characterization for the most advanced fine analysis tools including nanobeams and ultra short pulses of X-ray and UV as well as neutron pulses.
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« A
common metrology and a
widespread technological platform for advanced nanofabrication, synthesis and characterization of nanostructures, available to all scientific and technological communities so as to (a) provide a push forward in the challenge of
atomic precision manufacturing and (b) shift the scientific competition towards ideas and intellectual skills rather than among different technological and financial capabilities of research groups around Europe.
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« The first
Nanoscience Repository of molecular data for functional and complex materials and protocols for synthesis and metrology of nanostructured systems so as to make the results of nanoscience centers more directly suitable for specific applications developed by technology districts as well as for next generation products manufactured by industries and SMEs. Full exploitation of
emerging e-infrastructures to achieve high impact and capillarity in
making nanoscience outcome promptly available to society.
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highlights
Merry Seasonal Holydays and a Most Successful New Year to all of you and your dears.
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We recently submitted a good proposal that, if successful in the FP7 competition for I3, could contribute in shaping the European Research Area in the domain of nanoscience. This will involve our laboratories and institutions in an exciting activity that includes networking on some key issues for the development of nanoscience and of the best practices ruling our daily work, joint research on key issues of nanoscience and on the full understanding and exploitation of fine analysis methods at the large scale facilities, training and mobility of our colleagues and students through the consortium, open access to the co-located facilities.
I really look forward to starting this activity and I would like to invite the whole consortium to be active in the next few months by manifesting its high expectations of the NFFA-Integrating Activity within the scientific community, to the national authorities and to the representatives in the FP7 Committees.
Best wishes of peace and happiness to all.
Giorgio Rossi
NFFA-IA Co-ordinator
Proposal reference number: FP7-312508
NFFA - 2011
The NFFA summary booklet
The NFFA Design Study has been accomplished and its conclusions are condensed in the booklet.
The need for a NFFA research infrastructure has been analyzed. The layout of such an infrastructure has been defined in order to accomplish the mission of creating a truly integrated environment for performing research on nanosystems with state-of-the-art instrumentation and methods, and with the direct access to synchrotron, FEL and neutron based imaging, scattering and spectroscopies.
The roadmap towards the implementation of the NFFA research infrastructure is based on the identification of all relevant sites where co-location of NFFA centres and Large Scale Facilities can be realized.
A demonstrator phase is planned to start in 2012. We are therefore competing for an I3 FP7 proposal under the call INFRA-2012-1.1.21 that explicitly addresses the topic of nanoscience and fine analysis integration at European level. Work along this line is in progress and all relevant contributions are welcome and will be evaluated in order to provide European researchers in nanoscience a substantial open-access to most relevant laboratories in close connection with neutron and photon sources.
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