As we proceed towards the Pnrr calls for research and scientific infrastructures, today a clear and strong warning arrives from the Nobel Prize in Physics Giorgio Parisi and from the historic Accademia dei Lincei that in the tenders there are “antitrust measures” and above all with investments billionaires arriving for new labs “don’t build cathedrals in the desert”. The Research Commission of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, “in appreciation for the Government’s action to support and enhance the country’s research system with the investment of 6.9 billion euros in 4 years”, in fact asks that ” pay the utmost attention to the risk of widespread and unprofitable financing “. “We must be vigilant – he says – so that this great opportunity does not turn into an indiscriminate race for funding, especially as regards the calls for Extended Partnerships and Research Infrastructures, and that attention is paid to the choice of basic and applied research topics. truly innovative, far-sighted and aimed at developing the country “reads the document released today by the prestigious academy in via della Lungara. “The research infrastructures – laboratories, databases, equipment and large equipment – in addition to being set up for very specific scientific purposes, must be a scaffolding to support and available to the entire national scientific community even after the closure of the NRP: unfortunately not this is what is happening in many sectors “is the alarm raised by the Research Commission of the Accademia dei Lincei. Professor Giorgio Parisi, vice-president of the Accademia dei Lincei and Nobel Prize for Physics 2021, also takes the field, who believes that it is “fundamental that the choices” of the projects that will have to access the PNRR funds “are made by comparing different projects and selecting the best “. “By the end of the month the calls for partnerships will come out: it is absolutely necessary that the calls are written with extreme care so as not to be faced with a very limited number of maxi-projects for which the choice becomes obligatory” he warns. “I am confident that in the tenders there will be the appropriate ‘antitrust’ measures” says the scientist author of the “crazy intuition” that led him to the Nobel theory that allows us to understand the secrets of complexity. Therefore, in the face of 30 billion from the NRP for research and education, the president of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roberto Antonelli, also issued a precise warning: “A plan that provides for continuity of funding also at the end of the Pnrr. We cannot build cathedrals in the desert which are then abandoned when public funding is interrupted, it would be a losing strategy “. The Italian philologist and academic also believes that, in the face of billionaire investments, “we need to think about funds for the recruitment of short-term researchers, so that their number is put in line with that of PhDs, as also said Minister Messa in his speech to the CNR for the presentation of the report on research and innovation “. In the dry document released by the Research Commission of the National Academy of the Lincei it is also suggested that “the fixed-term staff who will be hired for the Pnrr projects” must “be carefully selected so that they can constitute a reservoir of female researchers who will be able to potentially enter universities and public research bodies, but also – through public-private synergies – in companies “. “Research funds are important, but the most important heritage to be created and preserved are researchers and their scientific skills and abilities” is the other strong warning that comes from the prestigious Italian scientific institution, one of the oldest in Europe. . (by Andreana d’Aquino)