GUIDE Collaboration with "X-officio"

The first European comparative cohort study on the well-being of children and young people from birth to 24 years, GUIDE  (Growing Up In Digital Europe: EuroCohort) is included in the ESFRI roadmap: the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures. Successful implementation of the GUIDE data archiving, storage and dissemination functions requires the involvement of transnational scientific institutions and project associations. The European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) is a special legal form that promotes the establishment and operation of research infrastructures of European importance. The ERIC allows the establishment and maintenance of new or existing research infrastructures on a non-profit basis. The decision to grant ERIC status to a project is made by the European Commission, and this status provides several advantages: legal capacity recognized in all EU Member States, the ability to adapt to specific infrastructure requirements, it is a faster process than the establishment of an international organization, and provides exemption from VAT and excise duty.

GUIDE meets the requirements for ERIC status: it is a European consortium, it has access to the necessary infrastructure for research, it will provide added value to the development of the European Research Area and will significantly improve scientific performance, as well as will promote the mobility of knowledge and researchers within the European Research Area. Obtaining ERIC status will mark a significant milestone in the development of GUIDE since joining ESFRI. The ERIC status will strengthen GUIDE's position as a key player in promoting excellent science in child and young people's well-being research, providing modern research infrastructure and integrated knowledge for sustainable child and young people's policies and protection of their well-being. GUIDE's collaboration with other research infrastructures, programmes and initiatives will allow for the exploration and exploitation of synergies, the inclusion of different research perspectives, the sharing of infrastructures and the avoidance of duplication.

In order to obtain the ERIC status, the GUIDE consortium has started cooperation with “X-officio” (https://www.xofficio.eu/services ), which specializes in supporting research and technology infrastructures and their business partners in legal, management, financial planning and procurement issues. Currently, the founder of “X-officio”, Dr. Ohad Graber-Soudry, an international lawyer with experience in the administration and management of research infrastructures, provides advice to the GUIDE consortium. He has gained significant experience in legal, procurement and management functions, including the establishment and organization of ERICs and EDIC (The European Digital Infrastructure Consortium) (https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/edic ). “X-officio” specializes in the legal structure of ERICs, and currently it offers the GUIDE consortium support in submitting the application for the establishment of ERIC. The knowledge and experience of “X-officio” employees are very useful in GUIDE's path to ERIC status, as they continuously expand the range of services provided to meet the needs and challenges of the entire research and innovation community.

On the 1st December, 2025, during a meeting with all members of the GUIDE consortium, Dr. Ohad Graber-Soudry confirmed that “X-officio” had received sufficient information and expressed his readiness to support GUIDE on its path to ERIC status. He stressed that research infrastructure initiatives usually emerge from long-standing scientific collaborations, where communication is easy due to shared disciplinary expertise. However, when moving to European structures such as ERICs, new stakeholders, in particular national ministries, funding agencies and the European Commission, play a crucial role. These stakeholders operate with different motivations and communication styles, often political rather than scientific. Dr. Ohad Graber-Soudry stressed that long-term funding depends on successful collaboration with ministries or funding agencies. The establishment of ERIC is a political process that requires the early and active involvement of these national stakeholders. Direct involvement of a central coordination team is usually ineffective; instead, national scientific representatives should act as “local advocates” to build support from the bottom up. In his view, ministries should take ownership of the proposal, as they are responsible for sending the ERIC application, approving the statutes and signing the financial commitments. Early identification of the relevant ministry or agency, as well as the relevant responsible persons, is essential to move the ERIC creation process forward.