ELIXIR took several important steps forward at its Interim Board meeting in Copenhagen on 22-23 April 2013.
Most notably, ELIXIR Member States agreed the final version of the ELIXIR Consortium Agreement (ECA), which is the permanent legal basis for ELIXIR. The ECA will now undergo a process of ratification and approval in the 15 countries that have signed the ELIXIR Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The ECA itself will come into effect when the first 5 countries and EMBL sign it. This is expected to take place in late 2013.
The ELIXIR Interim Board also gave its final recommendation on the ELIXIR Node applications that had been submitted by Member States in autumn 2012. Following a review by ELIXIR Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) in December 2012, several Member States made minor modifications to their applications, strengthening proposed services. The ELIXIR Interim Board was pleased with the overall quality of ELIXIR Nodes and made a recommendation to approve all of the ELIXIR Nodes that had been submitted.
A useful discussion on industry engagement took also place and this will shape the development of a programme on how ELIXIR will support industry across Europe. Updates were also presented by those ELIXIR Nodes involved in the first 5 ELIXIR Pilot Actions, which began in 2012 and are demonstrating excellent progress.