Expression of Interest: Infrastructure Support

The ELLIIT steering group and program management group have identified infrastructure as a critical part for further development of the research activities within ELLIIT, and we are therefore investigating the needs for infrastructure support in our research environment. In order to get a broad view for further strategic discussions within the steering group and program management group, we hereby invite researchers from the ELLIIT environment to suggest infrastructure support initiatives.

We solicit pre-proposals for infrastructure support for platforms that

  • will make the ELLIIT research environment stronger and more attractive,
  • further support inter-site and interdisciplinary cooperation within ELLIIT,
  • enable platform-driven research,
  • provide arenas for demonstration and validation.

The one-page pre-proposals should contain

  • a clear plan for how the infrastructure can support collaboration and be used by researchers from the entire ELLIIT environment,
  • a budget and a long-term plan for the use of the funding,
  • a description how the infrastructure supports novel research ideas, and how it fits into the host department and its strategic plan,
  • a description of how the infrastructure connects to the ELLIIT technology foresight, current projects, and if relevant, to ELLIIT faculty,
  • an estimate of the equipment lifespan, and a continuity plan beyond the funding period.

Please also indicate whether the proposal has been discussed with any member in the program management group, and if so with whom.

The infrastructure support can cover both staff (e.g., research engineers) and equipment but not rent. The research engineers can support development of the infrastructure as well as facilitating access to it.

An overall budget of up to 10 MSEK annually may be allocated for infrastructure support. Proposals for equipment investments of interest to broader parts of ELLIIT are expected to be in the range 500 kSEK-10 MSEK (as a one-time cost). Staff and operating costs, e.g., for research engineers, are expected to range from 300 kSEK to 2 MSEK annually.  This infrastructure initiative may support activities for up to five years.

The deadline for the pre-proposals is April 21, 2021. They should be provided in pdf format as a single A4 page. Proposals are to be sent to ELLIIT Operations Team at elliit-info@liu.se