Leading representatives of European institutions, from the European Commission to the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures ESFRI, as well as from research, industry and funding bodies, gathered on 23 April in Brussels, at the Foundation University headquarters, for the EuPRAXIA Showcase Event 2026, a high-level meeting aimed at strengthening collaboration, promoting innovation in accelerator technologies, and discussing new funding opportunities for one of the most ambitious research infrastructure projects at the European level.
“The vision of EuPRAXIA aims to bring together the best know-how available in European laboratories and universities, to collaborate and foster innovation and competitiveness around a research infrastructure dedicated to innovative acceleration technologies, while activating all possible synergies”, emphasised Pierluigi Campana, coordinator of the EuPRAXIA Preparatory Phase project.
During the meeting, EuPRAXIA’s mission was reaffirmed: to develop a new generation of compact accelerators based on plasma technologies, capable of opening new frontiers in scientific, medical and industrial applications. As illustrated in the opening session, EuPRAXIA is building a pan-European, distributed research infrastructure that integrates cutting-edge technologies with a strong focus on user needs.
The project, included in the ESFRI Roadmap, is designed to fill a critical gap in the European research infrastructure system, while fostering collaboration among more than 38 laboratories and hundreds of researchers in Europe and beyond.
A central theme of the Showcase was direct engagement with policymakers and funding agencies. High-level speakers from the European Commission and the Research Executive Agency took part in panels dedicated to opportunities for research infrastructures in future Horizon Europe programmes, also analysing strategies for innovation, technology transfer and industrial engagement. The discussion highlighted the importance of coordinated investment at the European level and long-term funding strategies to ensure the full realisation of major infrastructures such as EuPRAXIA.
The industrial perspective was presented by ScandiNova, Kyma and Instrumentation Technologies, leading companies in the sector, which highlighted the growing demand for advanced accelerator technologies, already underpinning a global market currently estimated at nearly 10 billion dollars. To date, the EuPRAXIA ecosystem has already mobilised around €150 million in funding and in-kind contributions, combining European, national and regional investments. The project aims to harness plasma acceleration technologies capable, over much shorter distances, of achieving energies up to 1,000 times higher than conventional methods, paving the way for more compact, efficient and cost-effective accelerators.
These advances promise a transformative impact in fields such as medical imaging and cancer therapy, materials science, industrial inspection, environmental monitoring and energy applications. With more than 30,000 accelerators already in use worldwide, mainly in the industrial and healthcare sectors, the potential socio-economic impact is significant.
By bringing together science, industry and policy, the EuPRAXIA Showcase Event 2026 demonstrated the project’s growing momentum and its strategic importance for Europe’s competitiveness, innovative capacity and scientific leadership.
“The future of scientific research depends on major research infrastructures, just as the future of technological innovation, regional development and, more broadly, society and Europe on the global stage does”, explained Roberto Cimino, official at the Office for the Internationalisation of Research of the Directorate-General for Internationalisation of the Ministry of University and Research. “Research infrastructures are in fact catalysts for innovation processes and, no less importantly, for collaborative relationships: a scientific, technological and diplomatic role that is more crucial than ever to promote. It is with this awareness that the Ministry of University and Research institutionally and financially supports the EuPRAXIA project, also thanks to PNRR funds”, Cimino concluded.
“EuPRAXIA is a virtuous example of international cooperation that highlights how research today is increasingly a collective effort by women and men who believe in the possibility of building a more prosperous future, especially in these difficult times”, commented Paola Gianotti, Director of the INFN National Laboratories of Frascati.
The Frascati National Laboratories of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics play a central coordinating role within the project. Activities related to EuPRAXIA will have impacts in the aforementioned sectors of medicine, cultural heritage, aerospace and new materials, as well as in advanced training. This will be achieved through the creation of a centre of excellence, EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB, for research, science communication and technology transfer. Estimates indicate an economic impact of approximately double the expenditure incurred, with benefits for 21 industrial sectors and significant employment effects in the region.
The Lazio Region has supported the EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB project since 2018 through joint programmes that have strengthened key infrastructures at the National Laboratories of Frascati. This is because EuPRAXIA represents a strategic project for Lazio, with a total investment of around €120 million by 2030, of which €10 million comes from PR FESR 2021–2027 funds, to be used for the construction, at EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB, of a VUV-FEL beamline called ARIA, intended for academic and industrial users.
“The EuPRAXIA project is the most tangible and representative example of the evolution of the Lazio system aimed at connecting the sphere of research with businesses and citizens”, underlined Roberta Angelilli, Vice-President of the Lazio Region and Regional Minister for Economic Development, Trade, Crafts, Industry and Internationalisation. “The Lazio Region – Angelilli continued – is investing significant and targeted resources in technology transfer and advanced innovation, such as the €10 million allocated to EuPRAXIA, with the aim of making the discoveries and solutions offered by highly qualified expertise useful and applicable to the production and services sectors, developing the critical technologies on which the EU’s competitiveness and industrial autonomy depend. The commitment to EuPRAXIA, together with the Ministry of University and Research and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics, has the dual objective of enhancing professional skills and research activities and increasing the competitiveness and international standing of Italian and Lazio business sectors. The investment forms part of a broader strategic plan focused on deep-tech innovation through contributions and incentives made available by European and regional funding programmes”.
