We often explain and communicate the impact of work funded by, and through, ELIXIR using categories of impact.
Discover ELIXIR's impact categories
Literally any activity done under the umbrella of ELIXIR can be attached to one or more of these impact categories:
Research efficiency
We make infrastructure, bioinformatics resources and processes faster, easier to use, and more integrated.
Scientific legacy
We create and disseminate new knowledge on research infrastructure, bioinformatics resources and related guidelines.
Benefits derived from working together
We facilitate knowledge-sharing and cooperation
Public awareness
We raise awareness of socio-economic and societal benefits of bioinformatics and Open Science.
Policy influence
We shape policy in the area of Open Science.
Equal opportunity
We raise awareness of diversity and inclusiveness.
Skills development
We upskill resource users and service providers.
Research infrastructure sustainability
We work to increase ELIXIR’s visibility with, and appreciation by, its funders.
Bioinformatics resource uptake
We work to increase resource usage and appreciation by users.
Slides and icons are freely available for further use, and can be cited as Figure 1 in Martin et al. (2021). Martin et al. (2021) also provided (as Supporting Information) an initial list of indicators for monitoring the performance and impact of ELIXIR: an updated version is available.
If you are part of ELIXIR, you can access numerous resources related to performance and impact evaluation through the Documents area of the Impact Focus Group.
Search the examples of impact
This workshop built capacity of ELIXIR Nodes in better understanding, and communicating with, their key funder/policy-maker stakeholders, in support of their long-term sustainability.
Impact areas:Policy influence ~ Research infrastructure sustainability ~ Skills development
These Core Data Resources play a critical role in the long-term preservation of life science data, in line with the open science principles and in support of increased research efficiency.
Impact areas:Policy influence ~ Research infrastructure sustainability
ELIXIR is implementing technical solutions that make it easier for researchers to access the data they need for developing new therapies, together with ensuring safeguarding of sensitive datasets and the respect national-level regulations and laws.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research efficiency
Responding to needs on the ground, ELIXIR developed a technical solution to make it easier for data producers to upload their datasets to an international public-funded database, in line with the open science principles and in support of increased research efficiency.
Impact areas:Research efficiency
This podcast series focuses on the rapid growth of the bioinformatics industry and the crucial role played by open data and open science more generally.
Impact areas:Policy influence
ELIXIR is implementing technical solutions that make it easier for researchers to access the data they need, together with ensuring safeguarding of sensitive datasets and the respect national-level regulations and laws.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research efficiency
The role played by research infrastructures in providing essential services in support of COVID-19 research is increasingly recognised.
Impact areas:Public awareness
ELIXIR is implementing technical solutions that make it easier for researchers to access the data they need, together with ensuring safeguarding of sensitive datasets and the respect national-level regulations and laws.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research efficiency
Research infrastructures are increasingly asked to demonstrate their public value to funders and other influential stakeholder - this EU funded project was instrumental in empowering ELIXIR to progress on this journey via being one of four case studies.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research infrastructure sustainability ~ Skills development
ELIXIR works with partners in the private sector to help them make their datasets Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable from the onset, hence increasing research efficiency.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research efficiency
A real-life example of a key impact area of ELIXIR: relationship capital or... the benefits of working together
Impact areas:Benefits of working together
This memorandum of understanding aims to facilitate collaboration, knowledge-exchange between these two sister research infrastructures, and the co-design of best practices in support of open science.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research efficiency
By developing guidance to implement personalised medicine, this project will contribute to the development of more efficient national health systems, faster and more accurate diagnosis, as well as better health and quality of life.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Policy influence ~ Public awareness ~ Research efficiency
ELIXIR has collaboratively developed a set recommendations to make training material findable, (re)usable and adaptable, thereby contributing to equipping users of biological resources with the skills they need to practice Open Science.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research dissemination ~ Skills development
Countries tackling the COVID-19 pandemic were able to capitalise on existing public-funded research infrastructures and services in the biological domain, thereby increasing the speed and effectiveness of their response efforts.
Impact areas:Policy influence ~ Research efficiency
Progress towards outcomes of economic and societal benefits can be significantly slowed down by scientific practices that do not follow the Open Science principles.
Impact areas:Policy influence ~ Research dissemination
This EU funded project involves all ELIXIR member countries and aims to support the provision of data management across Europe, so that data practices are better aligned with the open science principles and hence foster increased research efficiency.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency ~ Research infrastructure sustainability ~ Skills development
This ELIXIR-funded project increased capacity at Node level to demonstrate and communicate public value to funders and other key stakeholders, thereby contributing to long-term sustainability of Node-led activities.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research infrastructure sustainability ~ Skills development
ELIXIR Platforms are technical domains of implementation with regards to bioinformatics services, and their leadership plays a key role in collaboratively driving developments in these domains
Impact areas:
By bringing together participants with a range of expertise, the Biohackathon Europe events accelerate progress towards outcomes for hacking projects that are collaboratively worked on, along with fostering professional and personal outcomes.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency ~ Skills development
This ELIXIR-funded project aims to unlock ‘cloud-native’ potential for Big Data in computational biology, enabling researchers developing tools and workflows to "think cloud” from the onset, moving away from lesser performing traditional approaches.
Impact areas:Research efficiency
ELIXIR SME and Innovation events increase the awareness/appreciation of public bioinformatics resources by private sector users (industry), along with better two-way cross-sectoral understanding. These events also offer networking opportunities for academia and industry (especially in the country hosting the event), which may lead to collaborations and projects.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Bioinformatics resource uptake
These ELIXIR-funded projects aim to make ELIXIR's bioinformatics services more relevant to their users, as well as further increasing the integration of services across the pan-European research infrastructure.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency ~ Research infrastructure sustainability
Through pan-European cooperation and using ELIXIR’s wide-ranging expertise, this ELIXIR-funded project will unlock ‘cloud-native’ potential for Big Data in computational biology. Researchers developing tools and workflows will be able to "think cloud” from the onset, moving away from traditional (often ineffective/under-performing) locally-installed and run approaches. Uptake of such state-of-the-art cloud-based research infrastructure will showcase ELIXIR’s leadership in the area of containerised applications and workloads.
Impact areas:Research efficiency
ELIXIR is implementing technical solutions that make it easier for researchers to access the data they need, together with ensuring safeguarding of sensitive datasets and the respect national-level regulations and laws.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research efficiency
This research publication presents solid evidence on how extensively these Core Data Resources are used by bioinformaticians and life scientists globally. Together, they represent an infrastructure that makes everyday research more efficient and hence cost-effective for those who fund it.
Impact areas:Policy influence ~ Research efficiency
ELIXIR works with partners in the private sector to help them make their datasets Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable from the onset, hence increasing research efficiency.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research efficiency
ELIXIR works to make Open Science a reality by equipping users of biological resources with the necessary data science skills, within and beyond Europe.
Impact areas:Skills development
ELIXIR is implementing technical solutions that make it easier for researchers to access the data they need, together with ensuring safeguarding of sensitive datasets and the respect national-level regulations and laws.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research efficiency
Open biological databases are behind the mere existence of a number Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), thereby creating employment and tax revenues for the areas where they are based.
Impact areas:Policy influence