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Romania requests funds from EC for most intense laser in the world

Romania will send the funding request for the project of the most intense laser in the world, the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI), to the European Commission (EC) either in September or October 2011, Minister of Education, Research, Youth and Sport Daniel Funeriu told an international conference organised by professional services company KPMG Romania.

According to the feasibility study conducted in August 2010, the total cost of the project amounts to 280 million euros (without VAT).

'The project would be financed by structural funds from the European Union and any major project covered by structural funding exceeding 50 million euros needs a preliminary approval from the European Commission. As usual with the structural funds, 85 percent of it will be offered by the EU while 15 will be co-financed. After the funding application is sent, the reply is expected within 90 days, a period that can be extended if extra explanations are necessary,' president of National Authority for Scientific Research Dragos Ciuparu told Agerpres.

He said the project is backed by the Directorate-General for Research & Innovation (DG Research) of the EC, whereas the Directorate General for Regional Policy (DG Regio), the one to decide on the funding, supports the project in principle.

'DG Regio raised several issues related to the project's impact on a higher competitiveness of the Romanian economy and we are currently working on providing them with the requested information,' Ciupariu said.

DG Research general director Robert-Jan Smits, who attended the KPMG conference in Bucharest, assured the Romanian authorities and the attending experts of his department's support for the ELI project and said such large scale projects could make thousands of jobs available in the region.

According to experts, ELI ranks in the top 5 Romanian investments and the sums granted could rise to as high as a billion euros, although the cost of the project is estimated at 280 million euros.

Wolfgang Sandner of the Max Born Institute said that ELI is a world breakthrough, being the first infrastructure of international research in the world, the result of the joint effort of the international community of researchers in the field.

The complex is to be placed at Magurele, near Bucharest, at the Atomic Physics Institute.

The ELI project goes back in 2005 and aims the construction of the most powerful laser ever and its usage for ground-breaking applications in science, but also in industry and social life, on account of its unprecedented power and intensity.

Sursa: http://www.actmedia.eu

Tags: project research romania world laser funds kpmg

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