forskningsinfrastruktur

Forskningsinfrastruktur, or research infrastructure, refers to the facilities, resources, and services that enable systematic scientific inquiry. It encompasses physical assets such as laboratories, observatories, and research vessels; digital assets such as data centers, high-performance computing, and distributed networks; and the organizational capacity that supports access, standards, and governance.

Physical facilities include specialized laboratories, instrumented sites, and shared equipment that would be impractical for a single project to own. Digital infrastructure covers data collections, computing power, software platforms, cyber security, and data management tools that enable storage, processing, and re-use of research results.

Human and organizational components include skilled staff, governance models, access policies, training, and collaboration networks. A sustainable research infrastructure also requires interoperability standards, metadata schemas, and licensing regimes to enable data and tools to be used across disciplines and borders.

Governance and funding typically involve national and regional authorities, research-performing organizations, and international consortia. Lifecycle management covers planning, construction, operation, maintenance, and eventual decommissioning, with emphasis on long-term availability, cost-efficiency, and environmental impact. Examples of research infrastructures include national laboratories and data centers, large-scale facilities such as particle accelerators, telescopes, and research ships, as well as digital platforms like data repositories and HPC clusters.

Research infrastructures support a broad range of activities, from basic science to applied research and innovation. They enable large-scale collaborations, improve reproducibility, and help address societal challenges. As science becomes more data-intensive and cross-disciplinary, coordinated investment and shared access policies are increasingly central to national and international research ecosystems.