India Commits 7 Million Euros to Elettra 2.0 Synchrotron, Italy

India has taken a larger share in one of Europe's working synchrotron laboratories. On 14 November 2026 the Ministry of Science and Technology said that India will join as a co-partner in rebuilding research beamlines at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste in Italy under the Elettra 2.0 programme, putting in more than 7 million Euros over five years beginning 2026-27. The announcement was made by Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, during his visit to the laboratory on 13 November 2026.

What a synchrotron does

A synchrotron drives electrons around a ring at very high speed and taps the intense light they shed. That light is led down channels called beamlines, where samples are examined far more finely than an ordinary laboratory allows. The rebuilt facility is expected to widen work in Chemistry, Physics, Advanced Materials and Structural Biology, and researchers from India and other countries will be able to use it.

The two new beamlines

Under Elettra 2.0 the two India-linked beamlines now in service, XRD2 and Xpress, will be taken out and replaced by a pair with greater reach. One is a microfocus beamline for macromolecular crystallography, to be named micro-XRD, and the other a high-pressure diffraction beamline, to be named Xpress Superbend. The Department of Science and Technology had earlier helped build XRD2 and XPRESS with about Rs 22 crore alongside the Italian side, and the two were inaugurated together on 20 October 2016.

How deep the partnership runs

Indian scientists have been running experiments at Elettra since 1998, so the tie is more than twenty-five years old. India is now the second-largest user of Elettra after Italy. The scale shows in the proposal count: Indian research groups have sent in more than 1,100 experimental proposals, which places India second behind Italy with 54,140 and ahead of France with 1,098. Roughly 50 to 60 Indian scientists travel to Trieste each year for experiments.

Support for Indian researchers

Access has also been paid for through the Indo-Italian Executive Programme of Cooperation. Under EPOC 2022-2024 the Department sanctioned Rs 2 crore over three years so that 50 Indian researchers a year, 25 in each semester, could work at the beamlines. EPOC 2025-2027 carries a proposal of about Rs 1.5 crore over three years for the same purpose. A Letter of Intent on the redevelopment had already been signed before this visit, and the figure of more than 7 million Euros is the firm commitment behind it.