Portugal and Spain will host the headquarters of the pan-European Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure - MIRRI
On 26 April 2018, during a meeting in Brussels, the Assembly of Prospective Members of MIRRI (www.mirri.org) accepted the Portuguese-Spanish proposal to host the Central Coordination Unit (CCU). The approval from the seven prospective countries (Belgium, France, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Portugal and Spain), which have previously signed the MIRRI Memorandum of Understanding is, as of May 9, confirmed.
MIRRI will be established as a not-for-profit legal entity following a distributed model with a CCU accommodating the operational headquarters and the national nodes bringing together the partners and stakeholders in each member country. MIRRI will facilitate the access to a broad range of high quality bioresources and data in a legal compliant way. By offering access to human expertise and providing a collaborative platform MIRRI will support research and development in the field of biotechnology and generate solutions to societal challenges by stimulating interaction between academia and bioindustry.
MIRRI CCU will consist of two distributed sections:
- Statutory Seat located in Portugal (University of Minho, Braga)
- Collaborative Working Environment hub operated from Spain (University of Valencia, Paterna) and supported by LifeWatch-Spain, a closely related e-infraestructure.
The accepted proposal was prepared by Dr Nelson Lima, Professor and Head of the Micoteca da Universidade do Minho (MUM) from the Biological Engineering Centre, and Dr Rosa Aznar, Professor and Head of the Colección Española de Cultivos Tipo (CECT) from the University of Valencia. In addition, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) from the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, and the Secretary of State for Research and Innovation from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO), supported the proposal.
After the preparatory phase (2012-2016), funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no. 312251, MIRRI is now entering in a construction phase. The 1st step submission for the MIRRI-European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) application is scheduled for September 2018, in view of having MIRRI legally established by the end of 2019.