EuPRAXIA Preparatory Phase presents its key results at the Final Meeting on the Island of Elba
The EuPRAXIA Preparatory Phase (EuPRAXIA-PP) project held its Final Meeting from 20 to 25 September 2026 at the Hotel Hermitage, La Biodola Bay, on the Isola d’Elba in Italy, as part of a joint event with the EuPRAXIA Doctoral Network (EuPRAXIA-DN) Final Conference. The meeting brought together 95 delegates from the project’s laboratories, universities, research infrastructures and industrial partners to review what the Preparatory Phase has achieved and to look at the road towards the EuPRAXIA facilities. During the week, the final reports of the Preparatory Phase work packages alternated with the sessions of the Doctoral Network.
"The Elba meeting marked an important milestone in the EuPRAXIA journey. Over the past years, we have succeeded in bringing together a strong European scientific community and transforming an ambitious vision into a concrete roadmap for a new generation of plasma-based accelerator facilities.
The results of the Preparatory Phase provide a solid foundation for the next challenge, moving from design and planning toconstruction and operation. I was particularly pleased to see the enthusiasm and scientific achievements of the young researchers from the EuPRAXIA Doctoral Network, who will play a key role in shaping the future of our field.
With the ongoing R&D driven by the PACRI project and the imminent launch of the Early Implementation Phase, we are now entering an exciting new chapter, bringing us closer to making plasmaaccelerators a powerful tool for science and society," said Dr. Massimo Ferrario.
The meeting opened with a welcome by EuPRAXIA-PP Deputy Coordinator Massimo Ferrario (INFN) and status updates on the Preparatory Phase, the Doctoral Network, the Plasma Accelerator systems for Compact Research Infrastructures (PACRI) project and the brand-new EuPRAXIA Early Implementation Phase (EuPRAXIA-EIP) project.
This was followed by the first Work Package (WP) reports, which focused on the project’s communication activities and organisational structure. WP 2 summarised the dissemination and public relations activities, from newsletters and outreach events to industry booths and the EuPRAXIA Showcase in Brussels, while WP 3 described the governing bodies that have kept the project running.
The next day turned to the foundations needed to move EuPRAXIA from a collaborative project to a permanent European research infrastructure. Work packages on the legal framework, financial model and socio-economic impact, on the service catalogue and terms of service for future users, and on the strategy to extend the membership reported their final outcomes.
They were followed by the work packages reporting on the data policy for the future EuPRAXIA data ecosystem, based on FAIR principles, and by reports on theory and simulation, undulators, magnets and beamline components, and plasma sources.
Thursday focused on applications and on the laser technology needed to drive the laser-based facility. WP 11 presented the status of plasma-accelerated electron beams as drivers of compact X-ray and gamma-ray sources and of secondary beams such as positrons and muons, while WP 12 outlined a roadmap for the EuPRAXIA laser driver, with contributions from research institutes and from industrial partners.
The same afternoon, the Collaboration Board of the Preparatory Phase met, with an agenda covering the status of the project and the EuPRAXIA Memorandum of Understanding.
The last day covered beam diagnostics, advanced concepts such as hybrid laser-plasma and beam-driven acceleration, and the design of EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB, the first pillar of the project, including its beam dynamics, RF system and the AQUA soft X-ray free-electron laser for the “water window” spectral range.
The updates concluded with an update of WP 16, which presented the site selection and the preparation of the Technical Design Report for the laser-driven pillar. ELI Beamlines (ELI ERIC, Czech Republic) was designated as its host in March 2025, with EPAC (UK) as the EuPRAXIA Centre for R&D for the 5 GeV beam and CNR-INO (Italy) as the National Node for Laser R&D, and a schedule of milestones through 2031 was presented.
The conference concluded with closing remarks from Carsten P. Welsch, Massimo Ferrario and Antonio Falone, Coordinator of the newly launched EuPRAXIA-EIP project, which will officially kick off on 23–24 November 2026 at INFN in Italy.The Final Meeting marks the end of the Preparatory Phase, but not the completion of the EuPRAXIA journey. There is a long road toward the implementation of the EuPRAXIA Research Infrastructure, with two sites (at INFN-Frascati and at ELI-ERIC beamlines).
The EuPRAXIA Early Implementation Phase Project aims to further develop the idea of a European research infrastructure based on advanced plasma accelerator technology, building on the work carried out during the Preparatory Phase Project.
Building on this strong foundation, the Early Implementation Phase will move the project from planning towards practical implementation, preparing for the creation of a well-coordinated, sustainable research infrastructure across Europe.
All presentations are available at https://agenda.infn.it/event/51478/.