International Consortium Agreement between countries and EMBL on which EMBL will provide the legal entity and offer some of its services to ELIXIR. ELIXIR will radically enhance Europe’s data infrastructure and make it more accessible. That means presenting users with a single, transparent interface to a world of resources. It also means fully integrating the growing variety of data so that we can make the most of our expanding informatics capacity. Research projects look at biological problems from many perspectives, using several different technologies. It should be simple for large, distributed groups to draw on a number of powerful data resources to answer complex questions, and to move from one to the other seamlessly. But there are hundreds of biological databases in Europe, ranging from major core datasets – such as the vertebrate genomes in Ensembl – to very small specialist collections overseen on a part-time basis by individual researchers. This is confusing to the majority of potential An effective data infrastructure will encompass all of these resources, and tie them in rationally to the tools used to access and interpret the data they contain. Importantly, it will be sustainably funded so that the data do not disappear. day, scientists and doctors are finding out more about genes, proteins and the complex networks at play in living things. This information provides valuable insights into how we and other life forms grow and change, and how diseases progress. It can help us understand a patient’s family history better, and discover substances that can be used to make new medicines to treat disease. It can also inform the way we plant crops, or how we might use them differently. The results of these experiments – the data – are a goldmine for life scientists, both in academia and in industry. They are not only essential for research, but are in themselves the bedrock for developments in: healthcare food production and security environmental protection energy and a host of other industries that innovate on the infinite potential of life. In terms of stimulating industry and innovation, ELIXIR will be a key foundation in the European life sciences innovation chain. Approximately Distributed Research Infrastructure which is at the same time an
20% of EMBL-EBI usage comes from industry, and this equates to over a 1 million users a day. ELIXIR will build on this, providing an industry standard infrastructure that will enable SMEs and multinationals, from pharma through to food and agri companies, can make new discoveries and develop new products. Host Country/Key Partner Countries Key Stakeholders Key Users Prep Phase coordinated by EMBL Hub located in UK As of November 2012 Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland Israel Italy Netherlands Norway Portugal Slovenia Sweden Spain Switzerland UK Plus EMBL Funding bodies, ministries, charities, industry, academia Life scientist researchers all over the There are estimated to be 3 million life science researchers alone in Europe, and the role that bioinformatics plays in research means that a huge number of these will be ELIXIR users. Estimated Project Investment Cost (years) Annual Project Operational Cost Overall Annual Contribution Overall In-Kind Contributions €470 million for total construction costs €100 million per year for operating costs The contributions received so far relate to the construction of the Hub, the operating costs of Nodes and the operating costs of the Hub. Detailed information is provided on these in section 1 All contributions received so far have been cash contributions. In kind contributions have not been included.
Directorate and Administrative Expenditure € 123,978 Expenditure € 217,412 Surplus/(Deficit) € 340,112 General Reserve Opening Balance € 0 Movement in Year € 340,112 Transfer to Depreciation Reserve € 0 Closing Balance € 340,112 Depreciation Reserve Opening Balance € 0 Transfer from General Reserve € 0 Closing Balance € 0 Agreed and approved 2013 ELIXIR Hub Budget Income 2013 Member State Contributions Ordinary Contributions € 1,369,993 Income € 1,369,993 Expenditure Technological Activities Elixir Pilot Projects Salaries € 415,563 Running Costs € 123,928 Equipment € 20,029 Total Technological Costs € 559,520 Directorate and Administrative Costs
Salaries € 330,302 Running Costs € 119,422 Equipment € 20,780 Overheads € 339,969 Directorate and Administrative Expenditure € 810,473 Expenditure € 1,369,993 Surplus/(Deficit) € 0 General Reserve Opening Balance € 433,545 Movement in Year € 0 Transfer to Depreciation Reserve € 0 Closing Balance € 433,545