Community Roadmaps for large research infrastructures

SCNAT publishes the Swiss community needs for future large research infrastructures on a mandate by the Confederation. Eight updates of the thematic community roadmaps of 2021-2022 were released on 18 December 2024. They serve as basis for the process leading to the Swiss Roadmap for Research Infrastructures 2027 for the ERI Dispatch 2029–2032.

The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) prepares every four years the Swiss Roadmap for Research Infrastructures. This provides a basis for decision-making on the investment of federal funds in research facilities of national interest. The Roadmap is integrated into the ERI Dispatch, which the Federal Council then submits to Parliament for approval.

On a new mandate by SERI, SCNAT updated in 2024 the eight thematic roadmaps:

• Biology
• Chemistry
• Geosciences
• Particle Physics
• Astronomy
• Space Research
• Photon Science
• Neutron Science

From Round Tables to Community Roadmaps

The biologists, chemists, and geoscientists update their community roadmaps in a bottom-up process coordinated by SCNAT via disciplinary round tables inspired by the round table that the Platform Mathematics, Astronomy and Physics (MAP) of SCNAT. The four community roadmaps in physics are elaborated more independently by specialised societies or commissions.

The thematic community roadmaps offer a vision for the future of the scientific disciplines in Switzerland. They identify research infrastructures that will be of importance in the coming years in order to achieve the goals of Swiss researchers. They serve the identification, selection and evaluation of the national and international infrastructures to be included in the Swiss Roadmap for Research Infrastructures 2027 in view of the ERI Dispatch 2029–2032.

Community Roadmaps