LifeWatch ERIC is a European Research Infrastructure Consortium providing e-Science research facilities to scientists investigating biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services in order to support society in addressing key planetary challenges.
LifeWatch ERIC was established as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium by the European Commission in 2017.
Click here to read about Research Infrastructures and here to learn more about ERICs.
See all the other members of the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC Landscape) here.
Vision
The vision behind LifeWatch ERIC is to become the Research Infrastructure providing access to the world’s biodiversity content, services and communities in one click.
Mission
LifeWatch ERIC aims to accelerate the research efforts of the scientific community by delivering a European state-of-the-art e-Science Research Infrastructure on biodiversity and ecosystem research: a Digital Twin which
- provides access to, and support for, key scientific services by applying cutting-edge ICT technology,
- enables reproducible analytics,
- is co-designed and co-created with the user communities and
- is tuned with the needs for research that provides key insights for society, in particular science-based policy.
Core Business
The core business of the LifeWatch ERIC infrastructure is the construction of virtual “workbenches” with e-services that allow its user communities to analyse patterns and trends in biodiversity in space and time, its (natural or man-made) drivers and the impacts on ecosystems.
Value proposition
LifeWatch ERIC provides scientists and other users with access to biodiversity and ecosystem data, services and other research products by using and contributing to its advanced infrastructure to derive evidence-based knowledge for scientific and policy purposes.
Impacts & perspectives
As a provider of e-Science facilities for the European Research Area, LifeWatch ERIC represents a significant step forward, empowering users and stakeholders as they seek to address societal challenges linked to climate change and resource efficiency, food security and agriculture, sustainable development and energy supply, security and health.
LifeWatch ERIC is committed to:
- Reaching the computers of all scientists, ecosystem managers & decision makers, and involving citizens in science
- Providing VREs, vLabs & Big Data paradigm-based tools to conduct cutting-edge research
- Boosting technological innovation, continuously improving the performance of our VREs, opening up new fields for socio-economic development
- Establishing synergies with various national and regional stakeholders, particularly in respect to RIS3
- Promoting democracy and creativity in science.