The Strategy Group was set up on the initiative of the CERN Council to prepare a Draft Strategy Document aiming for unanimous approval by the CERN Council. This strategy should address the main lines of Particle Physics in Europe, accelerator-based and non-accelerator based, including R&D for novel accelerator and detector technologies.
The strategy should also address the visibility of the field, the collaboration between the European laboratories, the coordinated European participation in world projects and knowledge transfer beyond our field. The complete mandate is available here.

The Work of the Strategy Group was preceded by two reports. The European Committee on Future Accelerators (ECFA) approved in 2001 a document for accelerator-based research, and the Consultative Group on High Energy Physics reported to the OECD Global Science Forum in 2002. Both these reports are accessible  from this page, as is the OECD Science Ministers 2004-communique on these matters (see paragraph 21).

This group had the direct aim to propose a Strategy for approval by the CERN Council as an intergovernmental body. Since CERN is an international organization, its Council is composed of government representatives, so an approval in the CERN Council implies an agreement between governments. To use the CERN Council as an intergovernmental forum to agree on a Strategy for the European Research Area has indeed support in the CERN Convention, but this is the first time that it is acted on.

It is composed of representatives from each CERN member state, eight members from ECFA and the CERN Scientific Policy Committee (SPC), and the Directors of the major European laboratories. It is co-chaired by the ECFA and the SPC chairmen. It has also a scientific secretary.
The Strategy group met at a one-week Workshop in Zeuthen, outside Berlin, during which this strategy was worked out and agreed on with consensus.

The Zeuthen Workshop was arranged by the Preparatory Group.

The Preparatory Group consists of the eight Strategy Group members drawn from ECFA and SPC, the two co-chairmen, and the scientific secretary. This group has arranged the open symposium at Orsay, prepared structured background material for the Strategy Group, and was charged with convener-tasks at the Zeuthen workshop.

Two measures were taken to provide opportunity for the European researches to contribute to this process:

1. An open Symposium was held in Orsay-Paris on Jan 30 - Febr 1 2006, to give an overview of the future perspectives and to provide a forum for an open discussion;
2. Everyone was welcome, and encouraged to, submit their views on issues related to the strategy through the email link at the lower left corner of this web page. These contributions were discussed at the meetings of the Preparatory Group, and were made available to the full Strategy Group.

All information made available for the Strategy Group was assembled in Briefing Books that are accessible at this web-page.

The process was approved the 16th of June 2005 by the CERN Council. The Strategy Group composition, its mandate, and the plan for the Preparatory Group were approved the 15th of September 2005. The Symposium took place on Jan 30 - Feb 1 2006 in Orsay and the Zeuthen
workshop the 2-6 of May 2006. The Zeuthen workshop resulted in a Draft Strategy Document that was submitted to Council for discussion at a special CERN Council meeting the 14th of July 2006 in Lisbon, where Council unanimously approved the ensuing strategy. The Strategy Statement, and ancillary material, can be found here.

With the conclusion of the Council meeting in Lisbon, the process is now finished and the Strategy Group is dissolved.

We hope the material on this web page will be useful for you and again want to thank everyone who has contributed to this process through the discussions in Orsay and by having submitted opinions and other material in writing. 
 

Ken Peach and Torsten Åkesson