The EVOLVE project: Shaping the future of imaging

On Wednesday, April 10, Euro-BioImaging rolled out the European Union-funded EVOLVE project in an online kick-off meeting. The EVOLVE project aims to significantly strengthen Euro-BioImaging to reach the next level of excellence as a pan-European organisation, and to live up to the needs and expectations of its continuously expanding communities of users, academic and industry partners, ERIC members, and other relevant stakeholders. The EVOLVE project comprises six central, highly collaborative areas of development (see Figure 1) that resonate with Euro-BioImaging's strategic goals.

During the EVOLVE project, Euro-BioImaging will significantly strengthen its operation, administration, capacities for building strategic partnerships and supporting innovation and excellent science. Furthermore, it will foster the family of Euro-BioImaging Nodes and Hub at the personal, institutional, national and European level. The ERIC will implement a sustainable strategy for external relations with policy makers and funders, as well as boost its outreach and communication activities with new user communities and set up the next generation of its user access portal. An increased service offer, in particular for training and FAIR image data services will underpin excellence-driven user access and Open Science. Finally, EVOLVE will empower Euro-BioImaging facilities across Europe to underpin the Green and Digital Transition and promote remote access. With successful project conclusion, Euro-BioImaging ERIC will have demonstrated the impact of this globally unique research infrastructure for European life sciences and beyond.

EVOLVE aims to reinforce Euro-BioImaging's capacity as an ESFRI Landmark Research Infrastructure, and is crucial for bolstering Euro-BioImaging's development and maintaining its position as a cutting-edge research infrastructure.

Here are a few key initiatives supported by the EVOLVE project:

• Cross-Node job shadowing program to increase collaboration

• Training courses for Node staff

• FAIR Image Data stewardship and new image data services 

• Outreach, communication, and dissemination efforts to different stakeholder groups

• Increasing commercial user access and supporting collaboration between academic and corporate partners on innovation and tech-transfer

• Streamlined legal and contractual practices for strategic partnering in the international and European landscape

• Development of ethics governance framework

• Increased offer of remote access services and common guidelines for systematic greening of imaging platforms

Overall, the EVOLVE project will significantly strengthen Euro-BioImaging ERIC and comprehensively optimise its operation, build solid internal and external connections and allow us to facilitate innovation and excellent science.

EVOLVE - (Euro-BioImaging – Vision – Open Science – Landscape – Visibility – Excellence)

• Duration: 42 months

• Project start: March 1, 2024

EVOLVE is funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement Number 101130986.