Current Objectives
A relevant part of the scientific communities of both old and new European Member States decided to accept the great challenges launched by the new policy of the European Research Governance. Scientist and experts involved in X-ray Diffraction are exercising big efforts to extend the knowledge over the limit to-day available and to contribute to the modification of the European societal services and product development by facilitating the transition from the exploitation to the knowledge based society.
In particular the partners are focusing the target to create knowledge communities in “production technologies for the investigation and the exploitation surface and interface properties of materials”. In this new deal they are offering their expertises.
The proposal of establishing the European Institute of Diffraction stems from a previous expression of interest (EoI) named XRD PERFORMANCE ENET. The transformation of the EoI into actions to be carried on in compliance with aims and objectives of the VI fp of E.U. has been decided at the meeting of Pisa February 10-11, 2003. This meeting was called jointly to the meeting of the group WG10 of CEN/TC138, who collects the representatives of European National Standardisation Bodies involved in X-Ray Diffraction Standardisation process. The above mentioned EoI was formulated on the base of documents circulated since July 2001 among experts of X-ray diffraction and other methods in order to foster the structuring and/or strengthening the links between research and standardisation processes. X-ray Diffraction experts demonstrated their readiness to be taken as an example possibly to other methods of investigation.
This transformation from EoI to European Project should include the following not necessarily consequential actions:
i) the formulation of a number of Research projects (RTD) in the frame of the seven priority defined by the VIFp. The interest to exploit the deep potential novelty of X-ray Diffraction to detect the characteristics of surfaces and interfaces properties of materials and their qualification for a specified purposes should have been clearly stated in such projects.
ii) the formulation of a Coordinated Action in view of the establishment of a network of Excellence with the name “EID-XRD Nanometrology”, which collects results (and triggers new tasks) from (and to) he above mentioned projects of action i). Connection to and from other already existing networks possibly are expected.
iii) The formulation of a Coordinated Action in view of triggering a positive process of transformation of the research results into positive and societal exploitable actions which includes technical and legislative aspects. This Co-ordinated Action has to be applicable in the frame of ERA-net scheme by the name “EID-XRD Hypernet”.
iv) the formulation of a project in the frame of New Emerging Science and Technologies (NEST) by aiming at producing experimental evidences to obtain neutron diffraction from equipments with relative low neutron flux and with reliable safety for health and environmnet.