Final Report Summary - FAIR (Facility for antiproton and ion research)
The primary goal of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) project 'FAIR preparatory phase' project presented here was the implementation of the project. The work plan aimed at strategic, legal, and financial matters, at governance and management structures, and at research and accelerator coordination. No research and development (R&D) work was included in the 'FAIR preparatory phase'. One of its most important milestones was the incorporation of FAIR GmbH, the project owner entity, a limited liability company under German law with international shareholders. This incorporation took place on 4 October 2010, the date when the FAIR convention was signed in Wiesbaden, Germany, by nine states (contracting parties).
For reaching this goal, important preparations for the successful construction and the future operation of the facility were carried out. FAIR GmbH was incorporated during this European Union (EU) project in October 2010. And the most important milestone, the signing of the FAIR final act and the FAIR convention, the intergovernmental agreement was achieved. With the funding of the personnel of the FAIR joint core team by the European Commission (EC), it was possible to build up promptly the international project team which pushed forward all these activities. This included also important activities within the start-up phase of the FAIR GmbH, such as completion of basic legal documents of FAIR GmbH and follow-up (financial statutes, general conditions), implementation of by-laws, development of the contract management for FAIR GmbH, and the business management contract with the host lab GSI, support to FAIR council, international in-kind management, project financial planning, implementation of line-management structure of FAIR GmbH, implementation of FAIR project management, financial management and controlling, and the coordination of experiments and accelerator projects.
No technical work packages were included in this project. At its focus was rather the management and administration aspect of research. Science is a societal venture, organised around scientists, ideas, universities, research infrastructures, journals, conferences, peer-review processes, and - last but not least - funding agencies. Within this project, EC supported organisational, governance, managerial, and strategic aspects that play an important role in setting up an international single-sited research infrastructure like FAIR. While the construction of the facility is financed jointly by the signatories of the FAIR convention, the European supported the antecedent FAIR preparatory phase within this FP7 project.
For reaching this goal, important preparations for the successful construction and the future operation of the facility were carried out. FAIR GmbH was incorporated during this European Union (EU) project in October 2010. And the most important milestone, the signing of the FAIR final act and the FAIR convention, the intergovernmental agreement was achieved. With the funding of the personnel of the FAIR joint core team by the European Commission (EC), it was possible to build up promptly the international project team which pushed forward all these activities. This included also important activities within the start-up phase of the FAIR GmbH, such as completion of basic legal documents of FAIR GmbH and follow-up (financial statutes, general conditions), implementation of by-laws, development of the contract management for FAIR GmbH, and the business management contract with the host lab GSI, support to FAIR council, international in-kind management, project financial planning, implementation of line-management structure of FAIR GmbH, implementation of FAIR project management, financial management and controlling, and the coordination of experiments and accelerator projects.
No technical work packages were included in this project. At its focus was rather the management and administration aspect of research. Science is a societal venture, organised around scientists, ideas, universities, research infrastructures, journals, conferences, peer-review processes, and - last but not least - funding agencies. Within this project, EC supported organisational, governance, managerial, and strategic aspects that play an important role in setting up an international single-sited research infrastructure like FAIR. While the construction of the facility is financed jointly by the signatories of the FAIR convention, the European supported the antecedent FAIR preparatory phase within this FP7 project.