Umeå University’s definition
Currently, there is no uniform definition of research infrastructure that is used in Sweden. At Umeå University, however, a research infrastructure is defined as:
- a facility (equipment, installation, database, knowledge base, virtual resource or other resource) with associated human competence necessary to carry out research of the highest quality;
and which
- can be used by more than one research group at Umeå University or other higher education institution/external partners;
- is available to all researchers at Umeå University on the same terms;
- can offer user support or training at different levels linked to the research infrastructure;
- has a responsible host department or faculty, and a clear management and organisational structure; and
- has a long-term plan for usage, development, evaluation and decommissioning.
Infrastructures meeting these criteria are to be displayed on the university-wide webpage for research infrastructure at umu.se. Which infrastructures fulfil the criteria is determined by the Council for Research Infrastructure (RIS) in Umeå University’s annual research infrastructure inventory. This means that research infrastructures that are not yet listed on the webpage, but that meet these criteria, should be registered in the next inventory.
Go to the list of Umeå University’s research infrastructures (umu.se)
Read more about the inventory and how you can register your infrastructure
EU Commission’s definition
Umeå University’s definition is based on the somewhat broader definition that the European Commission uses and which can be used in other contexts. It reads:
“‘research infrastructure’ means facilities, resources and related services that are used by the scientific community to conduct research in their respective fields.”
The definition includes scientific equipment or sets of instruments, knowledge-based resources such as collections, archives or structured scientific information, enabling information and communication technology-based infrastructures such as grid, computing, software and communication, or any other entity of a unique nature essential to conduct research. Such infrastructures can be located in a single location (single-sited) or distributed to form an organised network of resources.
Read more about the EU Commission’s definition in Regulation 651/201, Article 2, item 91 (eur-lex.europa.eu)
