Why are Flanders and rival Saxony cooperating on the Einstein Telescope?

rival candidate region cooperating with Flanders around the Einstein Telescope

Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of 18,450 square kilometres (7,124 sq mi), and the seventh most populous, with more than 4 million inhabitants.

official candidate location in Saxony for the Einstein Telescope

Lusatia, otherwise known as Sorbia, is a region in Central Europe, territorially split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the east to the Pulsnitz and Black Elster rivers in the west, and is located within the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg and the Polish voivodeships of Lower Silesia and Lubusz.

Italian contender location for the Einstein Telescope

Sardinia, officially the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, and one of the twenty regions of Italy. It is located 200 kilometres west of the Italian Peninsula, 200 km (110 nmi) north of Tunisia, and 16.5 km (9 nmi) south of the French island of Corsica. Sardinia is one of five Italian regions with statutory domestic autonomy. It is divided into six provinces and two metropolitan cities.

country of the Sardinia contender location

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. It consists of a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land border, as well as nearly 800 islands, notably Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares land borders with France to the west; Switzerland and Austria to the north; Slovenia to the east; and the two enclaves of Vatican City and San Marino.

named Belgian player in the project ecosystem

The Flemish Government is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Parliament, and the public administration divided into 13 policy areas, each with an executive department and multiple agencies.

named Belgian infrastructure player in the project ecosystem

Infrabel is a Belgian government-owned public limited company. It builds, owns, maintains and upgrades the Belgian railway network, makes its capacity available to railway operator companies, and handles train traffic control. The stations are still owned by SNCB/NMBS.

named Belgian rail player in the project ecosystem

The M7 cars are a series of bilevel rail cars of the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB). Developed from the M6 cars, they are built by Bombardier Transportation and Alstom. The first car was delivered in September 2018. The M7 coaches are mainly intended as intercity stock, they will completely replace the M4 and partly replace the M5.

local authority named as part of the Belgian project ecosystem

Plombières-les-Bains is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in eastern France. It was the seat of the former canton of Plombières-les-Bains.

city around the Euregio Meuse-Rhine bid area

Maastricht is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the Meuse, at the point where the river is joined by the Jeker. Mount Saint Peter (Sint-Pietersberg) is largely situated within the city's municipal borders.

city around the Euregio Meuse-Rhine bid area

Liège is a city and municipality in the Belgian region of Wallonia, and the capital of the eponymous province. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from borders with the Netherlands and Germany. In Liège, the Meuse meets the river Ourthe. The city is part of the sillon industriel, the former industrial backbone of Wallonia. It is still the principal economic and cultural centre of the region.

city around the Euregio Meuse-Rhine bid area

Aachen is the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. It is the western-most major city in Germany, lying approximately 61 km (38 mi) west of Cologne and Bonn, directly bordering Belgium in the southwest, and the Netherlands in the northwest. The city lies in the Meuse–Rhine Euroregion and is the seat of the district of Aachen (Städteregion Aachen).

example of a large shared European research infrastructure

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, also called European Laboratory for Particle Physics, known as CERN, is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, a western suburb of Geneva, on the France–Switzerland border. It comprises 25 member states. Israel, admitted in 2013, is the only full member geographically out of Europe.

region whose cross-border industrial and research role is part of Flanders’ interest

Limburg, also known as Dutch Limburg, is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is bordered by Gelderland to the north and by North Brabant to the west. Its long eastern boundary forms the border with the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. To the west is the border with the Belgian province of Limburg, part of which is delineated by the river Meuse. To the south, Limburg is bordered by the Belgian province of Liège.

local area included in the strongest potential Euregio Meuse-Rhine impact

Voeren is a Flemish Dutch-speaking municipality with facilities for the French-speaking minority, located in the Belgian province of Limburg. Bordering the Netherlands to the north and the Wallonia region's Liège Province to the south, it is geographically detached from the rest of Flanders, making Voeren an exclave of Flanders. Voeren's name is derived from that of a small right-bank tributary of the Meuse, the Voer, which flows through the municipality.