Large-scale Research Infrastructure Research Articles

Does large-scale research infrastructure affect regional knowledge innovation, and how? A case study of the National Supercomputing Center in China

Large-scale research infrastructures (LSRIs) are widely acknowledged as a crucial instrument for venturing into the uncharted territories of science and technology, as well as contributing to the well-being of society. However, only a limited number of literature have scrutinized the impact of LSRIs, founded upon a causal inference framework. Moreover, the function of LSRIs in the advancement of innovation at the regional level remains inadequately identified. Drawing on the resource-based view, this study develops a conceptual framework that links the scientific effect of LSRIs to innovation resources in order to assess their impact on knowledge innovation (KI). Taking China’s National Supercomputing Center (NSC) as a case, three major mechanism hypotheses are proposed for the impact of NSC on KI, including basic effect, network effect, and technology effect. Using panel data from 283 cities in China from 2000 to 2020, we employ a spatial difference-in-differences estimation model to examine the impact of NSC on KI. The research finds that: (1) The construction of NSC stimulates KI in local and surrounding areas. (2) The main mechanisms by which NSC promotes KI include the increase in fiscal investment and talents in science, the improvement of digital infrastructure, as well as the enhancement of urban network centrality and innovation efficiency. (3) Geographical proximity, cooperation proximity, and digitization proximity constitute the main channels of policy spillover. (4) NSC has not shown significant promotion of regional innovation convergence, and its radiation influence needs further improvement. (5) The knowledge innovation effects of NSCs manifest heterogeneity based on the distinct knowledge orientation and innovation environment, with this impact being notably pronounced in application innovation-oriented cities such as Shenzhen. The results of this study reveal the positive yet limited impact of NSC on KI and provide a reference for other economies in the areas of LSRIs, digital infrastructure, and the formulation of place-based innovation policy.

A critical analysis of large scale research infrastructures’ performances

PurposeLarge scale research infrastructures (LSRIs) are rising in the competitive and globalized research environment, since they offer to external researchers-users, inputs and services for cutting-edge, large scale researches. Such researches would not be possible with usual infrastructures and budgets of single universities and research institutions. However, despite the strategic relevance acknowledged to LSRI by the nascent literature and by national policymakers, there is a lack of understanding of configurations and key performances of a LSRI. This paper aims to bridge this gap by identifying key morphologies of LSRIs and analysing their performances.Design/methodology/approachThe research is carried out adopting a mixed research methodology, merging a literature review with a survey conducted on a sample of 11 LSRIs; they provided the data set for the parametrization of a morphological matrix.FindingsThe research led to the identification of seven LSRIs morphologies, with different performance linked to their structure.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper originally proposes the data set needed to develop a morphological analysis of LSRIs.

The entrepreneurial university and development of large-scale research infrastructure: exploring the emerging university function of collaboration and leadership

AbstractThis paper aimed to explore the emerging university function of collaboration and leadership in developing large-scale research infrastructure (LRI). A qualitative approach, drawing from both primary and secondary data, was employed to delve deeper into the roles and aspects of the entrepreneurial university pertinent to LRI development. The study highlighted the need for the entrepreneurial university to establish a strategic direction for collaboration and leadership in LRIs. A conceptual model was crafted that delineated the central role of the entrepreneurial university, segmenting the findings into three research elements: (1) research and education (2) collaboration, and (3) utilization and impact. Actor perspectives from both academia and industry were included. The findings emphasized that entrepreneurial universities had to engage more robustly with external actors to foster practical research applications. Universities were found to require a more synergistic role. The model proposed that entrepreneurial universities should classify actors not only by their viewpoint but also by their potential role in LRI. Key actors were identified as belonging to LRI and multi-academic environments, with some being directly involved, while others were indirectly or peripherally engaged. Directly involved actors, including numerous academic and industrial users, had a clear understanding of LRI utility and engagement, whereas indirectly involved ones were curious yet unsure about LRI interaction.

DAPHNE4NFDI and PUNCH4NFDI Consortia in the NFDI

The DAPHNE4NFDI and PUNCH4NFDI consortia represent the large scale facilities in the German physical sciences community. Work in DAPHNE4NFDI and PUNCH4NFDI is characterised by the use of large-scale research infrastructures – reactors, light sources, accelerators, telescopes, observatories, satellites – that serve international research communities of up to several thousand users and produce data in the terrabyte, often petabyte and in future exabyte range. The communities will have to master massive challenges in data management, building on and extending their leadership in “big data” management, distributed computing, multi-user management, and data loss / data irreversibility issues.

Remaking the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Under pressure to reinvent itself, the CAS should concentrate on managing large-scale research infrastructures.

7.Q. Workshop: What population health researchers’ need and how PHIRI federated research infrastructure can help

Abstract What population health researchers’ need? The population health research community has a vast experience in the reuse of data for health monitoring and surveillance or healthcare performance assessment. However, there is a gap in the extensive reuse of individual sensitive data, particularly when mobilising these data requires the linkage of multiple data sources curated in different sites. The gap is greater when it comes to using sensitive data in cross-national research. The usual arguments to explain the scarce extensive and continuous mobilisation of sensitive data are data privacy and safety issues, the difficulty to discover data sources of value, complex accessing rules, uneven data quality (particularly, non-harmonized data), and limited capacity (personnel and dedicated resources). In InfAct Joint Action, Information for Action, we demonstrated at a very small scale that mobilising individual sensitive data is possible, it is compliant with the legal and ethical requirements, and it yields the expected outputs. The instrument used for such an achievement was the design, implementation and deployment of a very small-scale federated infrastructure, where we could pilot all the legal, organisational, data quality and technological issues related to the mobilisation of individual sensitive data. (https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00731-z). Building on those achievements In PHIRI (see here https://www.phiri.eu/wp7) we are paving the way for a large-scale research infrastructure where multiple population health researchers with multiple research questions will need the mobilisation of multiple data sources from multiple sites across Europe. The PHIRI enhanced infrastructure will have to be prepared to provide a variety of services for data discovery, data access, data analysis and research outputs FAIR publication, while improving the capacity of population health researchers community in the use of advanced computing tools. In this workshop we will start describing the PHIRI federated research infrastructure achievements, the governance step-wise approach and the technological solutions provided. The workshop will discuss how an enhanced PHIRI could improve its services for the community of population health researchers; in particular improving the analytical capacity and the associated technological solutions. Finally, the workshop will touch ground on the future developments, in particular, the interaction of the PHIRI infrastructure with existen European-wide services providers, as EGI, and research infrastructures. Key messages • In the domain of population health sciences, the reuse of individual sensitive data for research purposes is very limited. • The PHIRI federated research infrastructure is paving the way for population health researchers to enhance their research when reusing individual sensitive data.

Developing a knowledge ecosystem for large-scale research infrastructure

Large-scale research infrastructures (RIs), such as MAX IV and European Spallation Source in Lund, Sweden, are considered critical for advancing science and addressing social challenges. These research facilities are central to research, innovation, and education; in playing a key role in developing and disseminating knowledge and technology. In this study, we develop a conceptual framework of a knowledge ecosystem for large-scale RIs. The study is explorative, with primary data from 13 interviews with key informants from different stakeholders in academia, industry, and policy. Secondary data were obtained from reports from national agencies that develop and operate research facilities and from industrial and regional governmental reports, internal reports, newsletters, and information from the facilities’ websites. We find that academia, industry, and policy, together with four themes, have an effect on the value proposition of these facilities, on geographical distances (nodes), catalysts, platforms, and hubs. Therefore, they will affect the structure and design of a knowledge ecosystem. Our framework explains knowledge ecosystem structure and design.

Socio-Economic Impact of the Creation and Operation of Mega-Science Projects

Challenges of development facing society and states require efforts consolidation, in the research field in particular. Therefore, to organize international cooperation and to conduct basic and applied research, mega-science infrastructures are being created and implemented all over the world. Currently, research facilities of the mega-science class are being created in the Russian Federation. They play an important role in the development of science and the innovation process. The competitiveness of Russian science is a determining factor for ensuring the safety and technological independence of Russia. Therefore, the Federal program for the development of Synchrotron and Neutron research and research infrastructure for 2019-2027 was approved in March 2020. In the present article, the concept of the socio-economic impact of the operation of large-scale research infrastructure is revealed. The authors refer to the materials on the socio-economic impact analysis, which was based on the data on the Swedish neutron source (European Spallation Source). The article provides a generalized idea of the main indicators for assessing the potential of the research infrastructure as well as their application to characterize the research facilities in the Russian Federation. It is worth highlighting that each large research facility is unique and it is not possible to unify the analysis of the socio-economic impact. However, the obtained results can be used for a similar analysis of research infrastructures, based on the same physical principles and created to solve general scientific problems.

Digital Dutch Archaeology: Future perspectives

Digital archaeology in the Netherlands is connected with investments in a new large-scale and innovative Dutch research infrastructure for the next 10 years. Priorities are set to combine forces at a national level in order to contribute to the international position of the Netherlands as a 'knowledge country'. Researchers need to coordinate and collaborate even more to set up a FAIR enabling data infrastructure with limited resources. Regarding the archaeological discipline, the use of formal quality standards and legislation that certifies archaeological organisations to carry out archaeological work improves national collaboration and stimulates the digital workflow. DANS is the dedicated national repository for archaeology in the Netherlands and is launching the Data Station Archaeology, a repository meeting the latest technological standards. Finding and sharing data of high quality facilitates knowledge of archaeological discoveries; a flourishing open access trend in Dutch archaeology stimulates a strong growth in the use of data. To keep up with innovative developments, a growing community of archaeologists and other specialists are working together in international projects to secure the future of European Archaeology.

Financial and Legal Relations and Key Legal Categories in the Field of Megasience

The paper is devoted to the examination of some legal aspects of the legislative regulation of public relations in the field of large-scale international research infrastructures. The author identifies the features of public relations in the field of Megasience, examines various approaches to the definition of this category. In particular, it is determined that it is the rules of financial law that regulate the complex of public relations within which public financial activities are carried out in the field under consideration, namely: relations concerning financing at the expense of centralized funds (budgets) as well as using extrabudgetary sources for creating large-scale research infrastructures — unique scientific Mega-science installations; relations associated with the application of various tax incentives and preferences, investment tax credits by scientific and other organizations involved in the implementation of Megascience projects; financial control and supervision relations in the process of creation and operation of global research infrastructure facilities. The author makes proposals concerning the need to develop and adopt a special federal law of the Russian Federation regulating public relations in the field under consideration, as well as public relations in the field of international collaboration related to the implementation of international research activities based on Megascience facilities by the States Parties to such activities. The author gives possible definitions of key concepts applied in the field of Megasience.

Financial and Legal Relations and Key Legal Categories in the Field of Megasience

The paper is devoted to the examination of some legal aspects of the legislative regulation of public relations in the field of large-scale international research infrastructures. The author identifies the features of public relations in the field of Megasience, examines various approaches to the definition of this category. In particular, it is determined that it is the rules of financial law that regulate the complex of public relations within which public financial activities are carried out in the field under consideration, namely: relations concerning financing at the expense of centralized funds (budgets) as well as using extrabudgetary sources for creating large-scale research infrastructures — unique scientific Mega-science installations; relations associated with the application of various tax incentives and preferences, investment tax credits by scientific and other organizations involved in the implementation of Megascience projects; financial control and supervision relations in the process of creation and operation of global research infrastructure facilities. The author makes proposals concerning the need to develop and adopt a special federal law of the Russian Federation regulating public relations in the field under consideration, as well as public relations in the field of international collaboration related to the implementation of international research activities based on Megascience facilities by the States Parties to such activities. The author gives possible definitions of key concepts applied in the field of Megasience.

2020 roadmap on plasma accelerators

Plasma-based accelerators use the strong electromagnetic fields that can be supported by plasmas to accelerate charged particles to high energies. Accelerating field structures in plasma can be generated by powerful laser pulses or charged particle beams. This research field has recently transitioned from involving a few small-scale efforts to the development of national and international networks of scientists supported by substantial investment in large-scale research infrastructure. In this New Journal of Physics 2020 Plasma Accelerator Roadmap, perspectives from experts in this field provide a summary overview of the field and insights into the research needs and developments for an international audience of scientists, including graduate students and researchers entering the field.

Price Effects in the Evaluation of Investment Projects

In the context of globalisation, there is a need to assess the difference between domestic and world price effects as an im- portant component of the economic analysis of investment projects. We developed an integrated approach to measuring the differences between commercial and public efficien cy (indicati ng pri ce effec ts) and substantiat ing the applicat ion of specific mechanisms for implementing relevant projects based on the principles of public-private partnership. We propose to estimate price effects using three interrelated models: financial and economic model, input-output multi-regional model, and econometric model. The combination of these models allows analysing large investment projects considering their influence on the develop- ment trends of the global, national and regional economy. This methodology was tested on the example of a real regional project for the construction of the Eastern Siberia — Pacific Ocean (ESPO-2) oil pipeline. The results show that the share of price effects amounted to more than 35 % of net present value within the framework of public efficiency, confirming their high significance. Tax price effects have the largest share in the structure of the price effects. Indirect price effects of the considered project are less significant. The research results have confirmed that the identification of indicators of public efficiency and in-depth analysis of price effects increase the validity of the assessment of regional infrastructure projects. In the future, we plan to use the proposed methods as an integral part of a comprehensive assessment of large-scale production, transport and research infrastructure projects.

Large Scale Research Infrastructures and Innovation: A Survival Analysis on Cern Data

Large Scale Research Infrastructures and Innovation: A Survival Analysis on Cern Data

How (not) to design and implement a large-scale, interdisciplinary research infrastructure

Abstract Research is increasingly carried out in large-scale, interdisciplinary research programs that aim to tackle complex, multidimensional, and future-oriented challenges. We explore the case of the Swiss Initiative in Systems Biology (SystemsX.ch), the largest ever Swiss research program, and more specifically the partial failure of the program’s IT-project SyBIT. Apart from providing IT and data science support, SyBIT aimed to establish a common data repository. The establishment of this common data repository failed. Based on an interdisciplinary analytical framework, we propose that five explanatory factors account for this failure: a lack of demand from researchers, technological complexity of heterogeneous data formats, absence of governance decisions in favor of the data repository, interpersonal problems, and political difficulties. We conclude that for large-scale research infrastructure, the policy design is crucial for success, given that it can result in positive or negative after effects, such as user resistance versus acceptance and technological complexity versus coherence.

National experience in funding scientific megascience projects: legal modeling

The research presents the current models of financing mega science projects in the Russian Federation. The work describes the existing in the Russian Federation the system of financing projects megascience. Legal relations in the sphere of financial activities of the states-participants of the projects of the megascience class occupy one of the central places in the system of public social relations arising in the process of construction and operation of large-scale research infrastructures. Emphasizes that Megascience projects are implemented in the public interest. Thus, the main goal of their development is to conduct comprehensive scientific research and breakthrough knowledge and innovative technologies for the benefit of all mankind. Megascience projects solve quite specific problems, and in this concern there is no need for their mass construction, and the high cost makes international cooperation economically feasible in the area under consideration. Legal relations in the sphere of financial activities of the states-participants of the projects of the megascience class occupy one of the central places in the system of public social relations arising in the process of construction and operation of large-scale research infrastructures.

Tailoring Leadership to the Phase-Specific Needs of Large Scale Research Infrastructures

'Large Scale Research Infrastructures' (LSRIs), a subcategory of megaprojects which incorporate a characteristic of a high or ‘super high’ level of technological uncertainty, are often undertaken as cooperative projects with long lead times by one or more national governments. A lack of research into the effect of the LSRI project’s lifecycle on the research organisation is apparent, particularly when scientists and engineers exercise freedom to organise the project directly. Two case studies used senior leadership selection as proxy for the LSRI project lifecycle using a contingency theory framework. These were the Tevatron (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, USA) and the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN). This LSRI lifecycle is mapped onto lifecycles used in theory and in policy. Previous research did not detect that these projects become institutionalised, so influencing the selection of new research organisation senior leadership according to its needs at that stage of its lifecycle. This represents something of a novelty as most contingency theory work is theoretical with few attempts to use it as a conceptual framework for empirical evidence. The findings indicate a second new understanding, that while the literature characterises a leadership style transition from democratic to authoritarian as the project progresses, LSRIs exhibit a reverse transformation, probably as a product of the characteristically high level of organisational technical competence. The construction of LSRIs maps better onto the traditional project lifecycle and the National Science Foundation’s large facility lifecycle than onto other lifecycles. There is a policy opportunity to commission a ‘generational survey’ upon the completion of an LSRI, to understand the characteristics of the ‘next big machine’.

Fifty Years of Atmospheric Boundary-Layer Research at Cabauw Serving Weather, Air Quality and Climate

An overview is given of 50-year Cabauw observations and research on the structure and dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer. It is shown that over time this research site with its 200-m meteorological tower has grown into an atmospheric observatory with a comprehensive observational program encompassing almost all aspects of the atmospheric column including its boundary conditions. This is accomplished by the Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research (CESAR) a consortium of research institutes. CESAR plays an important role in the educational programs of the CESAR universities. The current boundary-layer observational program is described in detail, and other parts of the CESAR observational program discussed more briefly. Due to an open data policy the CESAR datasets are used by researchers all over the world. Examples are given of the use of the long time series for model evaluation, satellite validation, and process studies. The role of tall towers is discussed in relation to the development of more and better ground-based remote sensing techniques. CESAR is now incorporated into the Ruisdael observatory, the large-scale atmospheric research infrastructure in the Netherlands. With Ruisdael the embedding of the Dutch atmospheric community in national policy landscape, and in the European atmospheric research infrastructures is assured for the coming decade.

Legal Regulation of Financing Mega Science Projects

The paper is devoted to the investigation of the issues related to the legal regulation of financing the development, construction and operation of large-scale research infrastructures. During the study, the author has highlighted the peculiarities of Mega Science projects, examined various approaches to the definition of this category, analyzed organizational and legal forms of international cooperation in the field of implementation of Mega Science projects and the mechanisms of financing the large research infrastructures implemented both in the Russian Federation and abroad. It is determined that the rules of financial law regulate a whole range of public relations related to the financing in the area under consideration, including budgetary financing and allocation of other sources for the establishment of large-scale research infrastructures, the use of tax incentives for scientific and other organizations involved in the creation and operation of global research facilities, financial control in the implementation of Mega Science projects. It is concluded that the approach based on the creation of international governmental organizations or national legal entities incorporated in the territory of the state where a global research infrastructure will be located, is more effective than the Russian approach, under which Mega Science projects are in most cases implemented on the basis of the existing budgetary scientific institutions.

Perceptions of fundamental science: Evidence from a classroom experiment

Abstract Large-scale research infrastructures such as particle colliders, radio telescopes, the International Space Station, are often funded through general taxation and taxpayers are called to contribute to scientific discovery. How much are people actually willing to pay for investments in science? What does drive such a giving behaviour? This paper explores the attitudes of young science-outsiders (the taxpayers of tomorrow) by a pilot experiment involving 230 undergraduate students in economics at University of Milan. The experiment takes the form of a Contingent Valuation Referendum-like interview aimed at eliciting the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the discovery potential of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator worldwide. Our results point to the attitudes of students about fundamental science measured through their WTP. Building on this pilot experiment, we put forward recommendations for future research.