RIANA – Research Infrastructure Access in Nanoscience & Nanotechnology

RIANA is a project funded under Horizon Europe to provide interdisciplinary and coordinated access to the vast and diversified set of tools available at European research infrastructures for research and development in nanosciences and nanotechnologies.

The project is coordinated by Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY and includes a consortium of 56 beneficiaries, grouped in 7 European networks of high-level research infrastructures, which will offer highly personalised and efficient access to 69 infrastructures in 22 European countries.

A team of young scientists in close contact with senior experts will provide users with comprehensive support, from assistance in drafting proposals to practical support in experiments and data analysis.

RIANA aims at involving both academic and industrial users via an open call system and will promote experiments that combine various frameworks and techniques. This combination of scientific tools will make it possible to explore new approaches and expand the user community, accelerating technological innovation in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Over a four-year time period, RIANA will contribute to implementing the nanoscience and nanotechnology roadmap and strengthening the essential role of European research infrastructures in this area of research.

RIANA offers:

• A complete service for the implementation of competitive research projects in the field of nanosciences and nanotechnologies, from simulation of nanomaterials ab initio to synthesis and implementation, to detailed and advanced characterisation and ex post analysis
• A single point of access to the catalogue of instruments and services made available by high-level research infrastructures in the European panorama
• Constant support for users who access research infrastructures throughout the project implementation phase, from drafting proposals to carrying out experiments, to analysing data, to circulating results, maximizing the impact deriving from access to the research infrastructures involved in the consortium.

What is the role of Area Science Park?

Area Science Park is a project partner and coordinates the WP2 “Customised access to science service” with the aim of creating a strategic organisational structure made up of a team that will guarantee efficient access to the large and diversified set of interdisciplinary techniques available in RIANA, beyond merely providing access.

The organisational structure will be designed in such a way as to encourage interdisciplinary experiments and to make the most of the installations present in the RIANA catalogue, with the following well-defined tasks:

• Coordination of the scientific service and management of user support
• Innovative support for a flexible adaptation of scientific services to respond to the needs and urgencies of users operating in the field of nanosciences and nanotechnologies.

Furthermore, through the specific involvement of the Area Science Park’s Electron Microscopy Laboratory, access to the electron microscopy facilities of Area Science Park will be guaranteed as an integral part of the e-DREAM infrastructure involved in the RIANA consortium within the WP3 “Customised access to research infrastructure”.

Finally, Area Science Park contributes to WP4’s “Customised access to innovation services”, which provides access to industrial users with a package of dedicated, personalized services geared to the specific needs of the industrial world. Through WP4, a Platform of Industrial Contact Officers (PICO) will be created, a network of experts with consolidated interconnections between research infrastructures and industry with the aim of facilitating industrial companies’ access to the instrumentation available in RIANA.