ELIXIR

Abstract

ELIXIR is a federated infrastructure that connects life science resources across Europe to support biological data management and analysis. It integrates national bioinformatics resources, including databases, tools, compute facilities, and training programs, into a coordinated system accessible to researchers.

It operates as a federation of national nodes across its 23 member countries, each contributing specific services and expertise. These nodes are supported by a central hub that provides coordination and governance. It offers a range of interoperable services for life sciences, including data repositories (e.g., EMBL-EBI resources), analysis tools and workflows, and training platforms for data stewardship and bioinformatics.

ELIXIR's Compute Platform is creating a network of supercomputer services that is making it easier for researchers to manage huge amounts of data. It enables researchers across Europe to use existing facilities to access, store, transfer and analyse large and complex datasets, in the cloud.

The Data Platform is establishing quality criteria for data resources, so researchers can more easily choose the best suited to their needs. The Platform also works to better link data and related literature.

Overview

Country	Regional (Europe)
Start date	2014
Annual Budget	n/a
Responsible organisation(s)	Academic cooperation
Target group(s)	Researchers and Research organisations (public or private) working on in Bioinformaticians and life sciences.
Policy instrument type	Federated digital ecosystem.

Background

ELIXIR was officially established in 2014 as a European intergovernmental organization to support the life sciences with a coordinated and sustainable infrastructure for biological data. Its creation was driven by advances in technologies like genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics that were generating vast amounts of data. Before ELIXIR, bioinformatics resources (e.g., data repositories, tools, and computational infrastructure) were scattered across Europe, often without coordination. There was a growing need for robust, interoperable platforms to store, manage, and analyze this data across Europe. The creation of ELIXIR aligned with the broader goals of the European Research Area (ERA) to harmonize and integrate research infrastructures across Europe. The preparatory phase was coordinated by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory – European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and funded under the EU’s Framework Programme 7 (FP7).

ELIXIR is listed as an ESFRI Landmark (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures)

The ELIXIR Hub is like a headquarters and coordinates the work across ELIXIR. The Hub is based at the Wellcome Genome Campus, near Cambridge, UK. Each member state of ELIXIR establishes a ‘Node’. A Node is a network of organisations that work within a member state. Each Node has a lead organisation that coordinates the local ELIXIR activities e.g. the Dutch Techcentre for Life Sciences (DTL) in Utrecht oversees the work of ELIXIR Netherlands, the Dutch Node.

ELIXIR drives initiatives such as GA4GH (Global Alliance for Genomics and Health) to promote international standards for data sharing.

Objective(s)

To to drive the use, re-use and value of life science data.

To promote collaboration across disciplines and countries, fostering innovation and efficiency in biological research.

Public access URL

https://elixir-europe.org/

All tags

• International Co-operation
• Regional (Europe)
• 2014
• Academic cooperation
• Established researchers
• Higher education institutes
• Public research institutes
• Research support staff
• Private R&D
• Academic societies academics
• Information services and access to datasets
• International coordinated data infrastructures

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