Welcome to The Insider, a podcast about the key issues on Research & Innovation made by the INESC Brussels HUB team.

In this week’s episode, we are going to address head on the critical questions being asked about Technology Infrastructures.

How distinct and specific are TIs in relation to other research and innovation support infrastructures? What specific challenges do they face over their lifecycle and how can their capacity be further leveraged? What is their role in a regional, national or transnational R&I ecosystem? Are TIs mostly local or is there a pan-european relevance and action rationale? What kind of governance and funding model should we develop to take the most out of their potential to help us build bridges between science and the market?

The Joint Research Centre, in partnership with EARTO – European Association of Research and Technology Organisations, recently published a report where most of these questions are further explored.

And that is why my guest today is Sophie Viscido, one of the authors of the report and certainly someone who is always very interesting and good fun to talk to. Stick around to the end of this longer than usual episode and you will get a critical overview of the past, present and future of the discussion on TIs. 

We’re also giving you a brief rundown of this week’s top headlines from our Morning Brief newsletter, focusing on the entrance of Tunisia into Horizon Europe under association status, the Swiss government’s replacing the grant and equity funding 24 Swiss start-ups were set to receive from EU funds. Also, the Data Governance Act and the Trans-European energy infrastructure at a glance, and fantastic news for the INESC universe.

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