The European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC-ERIC) is established

On the 20th of February 2018, The European Commission adopted the Implementing Decision to establish the European Marine Biological Resource Centre, as the 18th European Research Infrastructure Consortium, with the name of “EMBRC-ERIC”.

Hosted by France and based in Paris, EMBRC-ERIC is a pan-European Research Infrastructure (RI) for marine biology and ecology research. With its services, it aims to answer fundamental questions regarding the health of oceanic ecosystems in a changing environment, enable new technologies to further our investigation capabilities, support life-science breakthrough discoveries with the use of marine biological models, and continue long-term marine monitoring efforts. EMBRC-ERIC is a driver in the development of blue biotechnologies, supporting both fundamental and applied research activities for sustainable solutions in the food, health and environmental sectors.

EMBRC-ERIC has nine founding Members: the Kingdom of Belgium, the French Republic, the Hellenic Republic, the State of Israel, the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Norway, the Portuguese Republic, the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Since 2008, these entities invested national resources for the completion of the preparatory phase of EMBRC-ERIC, also supported by funding from the EU 7th and 8th (H2020) Framework Research Programmes.

EMBRC-ERIC is part of an ecosystem of 48 European research infrastructures selected by the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) based on their pan-European interest and ability to answer the long-term needs of the European research community. As such, EMBRC-ERIC is a crucial element in developing the European Research Area (ERA).

With this decision, the European Commission enables the onset of the Operational Phase of EMBRC-ERIC.

Publication of the Decision is on the EU Official Journal:
OJ L 51, 23.2.2018, p. 17–22
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32018D0272

EMBRC-ERIC Website:
www.embrc.eu