After the success of the H2020 ESSνSB Design Study proving the feasibility of the upgrade of the European Spallation Source to become, in addition to a neutron facility, also a very competitive neutrino facility, we propose here a study to reinforce and develop complementary features to this proposal in order to improve and widen the scientific and technological scope. The key objective of the H2020 ESSνSB Design Study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using the European Spallation Source (ESS) proton linac to produce the world's most intense neutrino beam concurrently with the 5 MW proton beam to be used for the production of spallation neutrons. After accomplishing all deliverables and the publication of the ESSνSB CDR, this is now fully demonstrated. With the present Design Study, it is proposed to take further steps towards its realization by introducing complementary studies and enlarging its scope by making studies on synergetic aspects of the project. The ESSνSB+ high-level objectives are to: • Study the civil engineering needed for the facility implementation at the ESS site as well as those needed for the ESSνSB far detector site. • Study the feasibility and implementation of a special target station for pion production and extraction for injection to a low energy nuSTORM decay ring and to a low energy Monitored Neutrino Beam decay tunnel, for neutrino cross-section measurements. • Study the low energy nuSTORM decay ring and the injection of the pions and muons from the special target station. • Study the low energy ENUBET-like Monitored Neutrino Beam decay tunnel and the injection of the pions and muons from the special target station. • Study the capabilities of the proposed setup for sterile neutrino searches and astroparticle physics. • Promote the ESSνSB project proposal to its stakeholders, including scientists, politicians, funders, industrialists and the general public in order to pave the way to include this facility in the ESFRI list.

Two facility concepts have been considered as potential pathways to the future of particle physics at the energy frontier in Europe: FCC-hh, a 100 TeV circular hadron collider and CLIC, a 3 TeV linear lepton (i.e. electron-positron) collider. The recent European Accelerator R&D Roadmap includes a novel option, a 10 or more TeV muon collider, which expands the lepton collider energy reach and promises compact dimensions, high efficiency and limited cost. Muons are point-like particles, in contrast to hadrons; a 10 TeV muon collider would have a comparable physics case, for a number of physics processes, to a 100 TeV hadron collider. The muon collider promises high benefit but also faces a significant risk, as it is the first of its kind and uses novel advanced technologies. The MuCol design study will address the core challenges identified in the Roadmap, develop the concept and technologies and demonstrate: • the physics case of the muon collider is sound and detector systems can yield sufficient resolution and rejection of backgrounds; • no principle technological issues will prevent the achievement of a satisfactory performance of the accelerator or the detectors; • the muon collider provides a highly sustainable energy frontier facility compared to other equivalent colliders; and • exploiting synergies with other scientific and industrial R&D projects, can provide Europe a leading edge in discovery potential and development of associated technologies. The final report will include a thorough assessment of benefits and risks of the accelerator and detector complex, including an evaluation of the scientific, industrial and societal return beyond high-energy physics, the cost scale and sustainability of the complex and the impact arising from an implementation on the CERN site. This will allow the next European Strategy for Particle Physics Update (ESPPU) process to make informed choices for the selection of the next large collider to be built in Europe.

The FlexRICAN project brings together three landmark ESFRI infrastructures that have, or will have, when in operation different usages of energy: the European Spallation Source ERIC (ESS) in Sweden, the Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC (ELI), with two running facilities (Czech Republic and Hungary) and the European Magnetic Field Laboratory AISBL (EMFL), with facilities in Grenoble and Nijmegen for DC fields and Dresden and Toulouse for pulsed fields (CNRS, SRU, HZDR). The RI’s and partners involved in FlexRICAN will unite their strength to optimize their ongoing (and/or future) energy projects. They will demonstrate that the RIs, as electro-intensive actors, are at the good scale to develop a global energetic approach delivering services to the European electrical grid through optimized energy flexibility and to local heating networks by developing Waste Heat Recovery projects. Developing renewable energy capacity production and managing these developments in an integrated way thanks to energy oriented modelization integrating RIs user communities and the new stakeholders appears like a promising solution. Through the development of a multi-energy approach integrating academic knowledge and two key actors of the energy sector, Alfa Laval (AL) and Energy Pool (EP), FlexRICAN will propose new technologies and solutions to increase resource use efficiency and reduce environmental impacts of European Research Infrastructures (RIs). The project will focus on assessing and validating the implementation of new solutions and technologies at the three ESFRI infrastructures involved. Prototypes and solutions will be developed and tested to identify solutions at the real scale of the infrastructures. It will contribute to quantify energy services and carbon print gain the RIs can performed throughout their full life cycle in order to increase the long-term sustainability of European Research Infrastructures and to contribute to the resilience of the energetical European system.

The ERICs (European Research Infrastructure Consortia), under the umbrella of the ERIC Forum, represent one of the leading science policy voices in Europe and play a key role in structuring the research infrastructure landscape. Following the successful set-up and implementation of the ERIC Forum (2019-2022), further efforts are needed to consolidate its achievements and expand the coordination and monitoring of the ERICs. This project aims to structure the cooperation between ERICs, support the implementation of the ERIC Regulation and ERICs services, and consolidate the integration of the ERICs in the European Research Area by deepening the ERIC Forum’s contribution to research policies. To reach its objectives, the project relies on a multi-disciplinary consortium involving all identified ERICs, both multi- and single-sited, and representing the five science clusters of the ERICs. The project is structured in four thematic pillars: 1) Monitoring and Reporting, 2) Reinforcing European research infrastructure policy and international cooperation; 3) Implementing the ERIC Regulation, strengthening capacities and identifying possible shared resources; 4) Coordinating the project, ERIC Forum Executive Board secretariat and communication. The activities carried out within the project will ensure the implementation of specific results on three key target groups: the ERICs and ERICs-to-be, in order to increase their knowledge and propose solutions for key aspects of the ERIC Regulation implementation; the policy-makers and stakeholders by setting-up and managing the new ERIC Forum monitoring and reporting platform, thus ensuring an easy access to updated and consolidated data and information about the ERICs, as well a further strengthened role in the European science policy; and finally the users, as the project will investigate the sustainability and open access of its services, as well as address the challenges related to the commercial aspects of service provision.

Research Infrastructures (RIs) and Technology Infrastructures (TIs) are both essential and complementary elements for functional and efficient R&I ecosystems in Europe. They play a crucial role in strengthening European R&I capacities, from exploratory research to the development, validation and integration of innovative knowledge-based solutions into new products, processes and services. The RITIFI consortium, composed of RI and TI stakeholders from 19 European countries, aims to improve the integration and structure of the European R&I landscape. It will do so by developing a functional framework for the integration of RI and TI services tailored to the needs of end-users, by providing guidelines and methods to improve the visibility and access conditions of RI and TI to end-users, by developing an agile and TI-friendly governance model at European level; provide a comprehensive and multi-level analysis of the RI and TI policy landscape and propose an action plan to ensure alignment and synergies of access policies; develop a process for prioritisation and synergies of investment plans for RI and TI sustainability; raise awareness and stimulate the inclusive engagement of managers, users and policy makers in the development of an integrated RI and TI landscape The project will follow a 4-phase methodology: based on the validation of RI and TI concepts to ensure a common understanding, development of a strategic analysis of the TI landscape and a strategic analysis of the integrated RI and TI landscape in 5 selected areas. Based on the information gathered and extended beyond the selected areas, recommendations to policy makers and the RI-TI community will be drafted. In parallel, the project will engage with the community from the beginning, creating awareness, promoting knowledge sharing, validating results and encouraging adoption. Thus an R&I ecosystem with interconnected and sustainable RI and TI will accelerate the digital and green transition in Europe.