eLTER RI in the European strategic context

In 2002 the European Commission created a coordinated mechanism for strategic planning of priority research infrastructures across European countries. This mechanism is called the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). 

For supporting the implementation and long-term operation of top infrastructures, ESFRI publishes and regularly updates a Roadmap, which reflects strategic European priorities. In 2018 eLTER was added to this ESFRI Roadmap. ESFRI provides a political framework for multilateral negotiations towards formalized RIs, where the European process and priorities are mirrored at the national scale by national ESFRI delegations and national ESFRI Roadmaps. 

After a long history of bottom-up networking and establishing 26 formal national LTER networks in Europe, the inclusion to the Roadmap marks a milestone towards the sustainable operation of a distributed network of excellent sites. Major challenges of loosely organized networks can now be systematically addressed, including the establishment of eLTER Standard Observations and a Service Portfolio for a wide range of internal and external users.

Q. How should I pronounce eLTER?

Listen to this audio file to see how we pronounce 'eLTER RI' (eLTER Research Infrastructure). The 'e' stands for 'European', not 'electronic':