CONSORTIA

INFN participates in numerous consortia. The majority of funding is concentrated in the grants disbursed to the EGO (European Gravitational Observatory) consortium, which houses and manages the international experiment for researching gravitational waves (Virgo), the GARR (Expansion Management Research Network) Consortium Association, and, to a lesser degree, the RFX consortium, in the sector of nuclear fusion.

Some consortia, like COMETA, have specific goals in the field of space physics (LISA – Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) or computing infrastructure (EGI – European Grid Initiative) with transfers to third countries (el4Africa – teaming-up for exploiting e-infrastructures’ potential to boost RTDI in Africa, EarthServer – European Scalable Earth Science Service Environment). In the energy sector, the RFX Consortium plays a leading role, with its involvement in ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) and IFMIF (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility) nuclear fusion projects. In January 2021, as part of the European Fusion Roadmap, INFN also joined the consortium company called “Consorzio per l’attuazione del progetto Divertor Tokamak Test DTT S.c.a.r.l.”. This aims to build a divertor looking ahead to the construction of a nuclear fusion plant able to provide electricity to the network around 2050.