1. INAF and E-ELT Filippo Maria Zerbi DS-USC-II

2. Italy (INAF) and ESO Italy joined ESO on may 24 th 1982 as the 8 th member of the organization. About 20 years after ESO foundation and about 20 years ahead of INAF formation. In the last decade INAF coordinated the activities of the Italian Astronomical community (staff and associates) In the 30+ years of membership ESO became the central and preferred data source for Italian OPT- IR astronomers.

3. Italy (later INAF) to ESO Italy Provided ESO with: – People (incorporated in the Organization) – Fundamental industrial contributions in the construction of telescopes and infrastructures, – Development of instrument components and subsystems – Science programs and ideas

4. ESO to Italy (later INAF) ESO provided Italy with: – Access to State-of-the-Art OPT-NIR Observing Facilities – Stimulating Scientific International Environment – “Organization” in Instrumental project (e.g. standards, project monitoring, etc.) – Transfer of know-how (scientific and technological) – Industrial growth opportunities

5. Italy (INAF) in The VLT Italy (before and after INAF) contributed to – 1 st Generation – UVES GIRAFFE VIMOS – 2 nd Generation - X-shooter Sphere – 3 rd Generation (introducing “cash versus GTO”) - ESPRESSO MOONS ERIS

6. The E-ELT as seen from INAF Natural evolution of the commitment and interest of the OPT-NIR Italian Astronomical community in ESO. The OPT-NIR Community is the second largest community in INAF (after High-Energy Aphys.) so it has a central role in INAF HQ activities. Renewed Challenges for Italian Industries to which INAF provide support.

7. INAF and E-ELT – early phases Participation to the design studies – MAORY (lead) – MICADO (minor) – CODEX (major) – SIMPLE (lead) – OPTIMOS (EVE/DIORAMAS) (considerable) – EPICS (minor) Seconding People at ESO For the Design Studies

8. INAF in E-ELT Now Italy (INAF) joined the E-ELT in the December 2012 council (ad referendum – then confirmed) Italy (INAF) approved the kick-off of the 2 phases approach in the December 2014 Council The Extraordinary contribution by Italy amounts to 52 M€ over 10 years Italy has regularly paid the quotas.

9. Financial Issues (I) Extraordinary contribution for E-ELT – The “regular” contribution of Italy to ESO is handled by MAECI (Min. Foreign Affairs) and is automatic. – The E-ELT extraordinary contribution is under the direct responsibility of INAF with money flown by MIUR (Min. of University and Research) – This is a contribution about the same size of what INAF foresees to allocate for CTA and SKA (with which E-ELT competes for resources). – Pure fee…. Non instruments or other voices

10. Financial Issue (II) Implication of Budget on INAF-MIUR – It is not “granted by law”. We have to fight in every yearly budget to get it. – If we are left without money (by our government) we will have to negotiate a bailout. – If we are dissolved (as INAF) continued participation is not guaranteed. – It is important to keep the appeal of the initiative and the engagement of the community as high as possible.

11. E-ELT activities support In recent years MIUR introduced the concept of “Progetto Premiale”. – A fraction of the budget of the Italian Research Institutions is retained to form a plafond for specially relevant projects (about 100 M€ per year). – These funds are re-distributed (via calls or other means) in proportion of the scientific ranking of the Institution (ANVUR). – INAF is high-ranked and gets an important quota of these funds (about 13 M€ per year)

12. Premiali and ESO About 9 M€ of “premiali” have been distributed over the last 3 years to ESO related activities – About 6 M€ for E-ELT (T-REX 1 and T-REX 2) – About 3 M€ for ALMA Other “premiali” with specific scientific targets (e.g. WOW on extrasolar planets) have direct interactions with ESO science programs. Other “special assignments” have been given by MIUR to INAF to be spent in E-ELT related programmes

13. INAF and EELT now M4 Mirror – INAF part AdOptica in the concluded PDR Contract and in the recently signed contract to construction. MAORY – INAF will lead the Consortium to procure MAORY – Agreement in final revision – Signature expected in fall MICADO – Same time-scale of MAORY – Italy part of the MICADO Consortium HIRES – Recent “Request of Information” issued – Phase A call coming soon (very controversial and not well perceived initiative). – INAF leads a (currently the) Consortium answering to the RfI and potentially to the call. MOS – Same Considerations as per HIRES – INAF part of the answering Consortium

14. THANKS