European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network

What European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network does

ECRIN (European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network) is a Paris-headquartered, not-for-profit European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) founded in 2004 that facilitates multinational clinical research across Europe. It operates a hub-and-spoke model in which a small core team in Paris coordinates with European Correspondents (EuCos) seconded in each of its 12 member countries and 1 observer country (Slovakia as of February 2025), who in turn work with national scientific partners — networks of 130 Clinical Trial Units (CTUs) at universities and hospitals — to deliver trial management services representing 361 million citizens.

ECRIN's service portfolio comprises four core areas: clinical operations (multinational trial management from protocol design through operational delivery for academic investigators and SME sponsors), data centre certification (audits of non-commercial European data centres for compliant data management), infrastructure development (EU-funded capacity-building projects such as PedCRIN, canSERV, and EU-AMRI), and training. Alongside these services, ECRIN has built a suite of free-access specialized toolboxes that encode accumulated regulatory and methodological knowledge: the Adaptive Platform Trial Toolbox, Clinical Research Metadata Repository, Rare Diseases Clinical Trials Toolbox, MaP Toolbox, Paediatric Tools, Risk Based Monitoring Toolbox, Regulatory and Ethical Database (RED), and the clinical research Data Sharing Repository (crDSR).

Revenue is generated through three streams: recurring member and observer country contributions that sustain core operations, European Commission project funding (FP7, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe) for infrastructure development initiatives, and not-for-profit service fees for trial management that are redistributed to national scientific partners. Advice and information are provided free of charge; trial management is offered at not-for-profit rates to academic sponsors. ECRIN holds ISO 9001:2015 certification (AFNOR, 2020) and is an ESFRI Landmark (2016), and it operates within the EU-AMRI alliance alongside BBMRI-ERIC and EATRIS-ERIC, covering over 700 research institutions across 29 European countries.

Name

European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network

Legal name

European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN)

Website

https://ecrin.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ECRIN is a Paris-based, not-for-profit European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) that facilitates multinational clinical research across 12 member countries and 1 observer country. It supports academic investigators and SME sponsors through a network of 130 clinical trial units, free-access regulatory toolboxes, and trial management services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Clinical Research Infrastructure Services

NAICS

Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Patient Recruitment, Site Feasibility & Trial Enablement CROs (HLAGAAAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Site Data Management Support (EDC/Source/SDV Readiness) (HLAGACAL), Clinical Data Management, Biostatistics & Statistical Programming CROs (HLAGAAAF)

Keywords

• Clinical trial infrastructure
• Multinational clinical research
• Clinical operations services
• Clinical trial tools
• Academic clinical trials

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Member and Observer Country Contributions: Sustainable funding from ERIC member and observer country contributions that sustain the organisation's core operations
2. European Commission Project Funding: Horizon 2020, FP7, and other EU Framework Programme funding for infrastructure development projects, capacity building, and specific initiatives
3. Service Fees: Trial management services provided at not-for-profit rates to academic sponsors; charges for distributed services carried out by national scientific partners in member/observer countries

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

ECRIN is a non-profit organisation that supports the planning, design, and conduct of multinational clinical trials across Europe. It provides clinical operations services (including project management, monitoring, and regulatory/ethical submission support), develops reusable tools and databases (such as the Adaptive Platform Trial Toolbox, Risk-Based Monitoring Toolbox, and Regulatory and Ethical Database), and certifies data centres to enable academic sponsors and investigators to run cross-border clinical studies.

Product overview

ECRIN is a public, non-profit research infrastructure (ERIC) that facilitates multinational clinical research in Europe through a unified platform of services and freely accessible tools. The core offering includes clinical operations support for multinational trial management, data centre certification, infrastructure development projects, and training services. ECRIN's tool portfolio consists of specialized resources including the Adaptive Platform Trial Toolbox for adaptive platform trials, Clinical Research Metadata Repository for finding study documents and data, Rare Diseases Clinical Trials Toolbox for rare disease trial guidance, Paediatric Tools for neonatal/paediatric trial support (via PedCRIN), Risk Based Monitoring Toolbox, Regulatory and Ethical Database (RED) covering European regulatory requirements, clinical research Data Sharing Repository (crDSR) for compliant data sharing, and MaP Toolbox for master protocol clinical trials. These tools are complemented by services for trial coordination, protocol evaluation, and management provided through a distributed network of national scientific partners across 13 member and observer countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Adaptive Platform Trial Toolbox A free online tool that provides resources, templates, and guidance for investigators designing and running adaptive platform trials. It is aimed at academic researchers and trial sponsors conducting complex, multi-arm clinical studies.
• Clinical Research Metadata Repository A searchable repository that aggregates metadata from clinical research studies to support transparency, discoverability, and reuse of trial information by investigators, sponsors, and other stakeholders.
• Regulatory and Ethical Database (RED) An online database that documents national regulatory and ethical submission requirements for conducting clinical trials across European countries, helping sponsors prepare compliant submissions for multinational studies.
• Risk Based Monitoring Toolbox A toolbox of templates, guidance, and resources that supports the implementation of risk-based monitoring strategies in academic and sponsored clinical trials.
• Mapping Tool (MaP Toolbox) A planning tool that supports feasibility assessment and the mapping of investigator sites and networks for multinational clinical trials across Europe.
• Rare Diseases Clinical Trials Toolbox A specialised toolbox providing resources tailored to the design and conduct of multinational clinical trials in rare diseases, addressing small populations, regulatory complexity, and cross-border collaboration needs.
• Paediatric Clinical Trials Toolbox (PedCRIN) A toolbox and supporting infrastructure for the planning and conduct of paediatric clinical trials, including neonatal studies, developed through the PedCRIN collaboration.
• Data Centre Certification A certification service that assesses and certifies data centres against ECRIN's quality requirements, providing assurance that certified centres meet standards for managing multinational clinical trial data.
• Clinical Operations Services Core services including project management, clinical trial monitoring, regulatory and ethical submission support, and coordination of multinational clinical trials for academic sponsors and investigators.
• Infrastructure Development Services Services that develop and sustain clinical trial infrastructure, networks, and partnerships across European countries, including capacity building for national clinical trial units.

Quantifiable outcome

• 361 million citizens represented across member and observer countries
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• EUPATI (European Patients' Academy on Therapeutic Innovation)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 January 2022Strategic partnership established to enhance patient engagement in clinical research. EUPATI provides training on patient involvement in medicines development while ECRIN provides infrastructure support for multinational trials.
• BBMRI-ERICcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 February 2019Long-term collaboration agreement signed to build sustainable collaboration strategy. Brings together biobanking (BBMRI), clinical trials (ECRIN), and translational medicine (EATRIS) research infrastructures to facilitate user access to pan-European medical research infrastructure and support development of tools, joint services, and common approaches on quality, standards and advocacy.
• EATRIS-ERICcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 February 2019Long-term collaboration agreement signed to build sustainable collaboration strategy. The three research infrastructures work in parallel to provide complementary services to researchers in biomedical sciences and support development of personalised medicine and new treatments.
• European Paediatric Clinical Trial Research Infrastructure (EPCT-RI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPedCRIN project brings together ECRIN and EPCT-RI founding partners to develop capacity for multinational paediatric clinical trials. Bridges paediatricians and other partners across Europe and internationally to combine resources and expertise.
• EU-AMRI (European Alliance of Medical Research Infrastructures)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlliance between BBMRI-ERIC, EATRIS-ERIC, and ECRIN-ERIC established to offer comprehensive workflow for researchers in biomedical science. Comprises over 700 research institutions and university hospitals, covers 29 European countries.
• canSERV project consortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEU-funded Horizon Europe project providing cutting-edge oncology services. ECRIN and 18+ other partners focus on entire cancer continuum from early detection to survivorship.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• EATRIS-ERIC: European Research Infrastructure Consortium for translational medicine, third member of the EU-AMRI alliance alongside ECRIN and BBMRI-ERIC. Shares ERIC governance, distributed-node delivery model, and focus on academic biomedical research infrastructure.
• BBMRI-ERIC: European Research Infrastructure Consortium for biobanking and biomolecular resources, co-founding partner of the EU-AMRI alliance with ECRIN. Both share ERIC legal status, ESFRI Landmark designation, and a distributed national-node model serving academic researchers across Europe.

Others

• European Medicines Agency (EMA) - CTIS sponsor: EU regulator that operates the Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) for multinational trial submissions. ECRIN co-hosts CTIS training events with EMA; comparable as institutional stakeholder in European clinical trial infrastructure but not a commercial competitor.

Broad incumbents

• IQVIA: Global commercial CRO offering full-service clinical trial management across all therapeutic areas. Comparable to ECRIN as a multinational trial execution provider, though ECRIN focuses narrowly on academic/SME-led non-commercial trials while IQVIA serves large pharma.

Emerging players

• EUPATI (European Patients' Academy on Therapeutic Innovation): Public-private partnership providing patient-expert training and patient engagement in medicines R&D, with whom ECRIN signed a 2022 strategic partnership. Operates in adjacent clinical-research infrastructure space, particularly in patient involvement in trials.

Regional players

• ECRIN partner node: CTU networks (e.g., KKS Netzwerk Deutschland, F-CRIN France): National clinical trial unit networks in ECRIN member countries that provide distributed local trial services. Function as both ECRIN delivery nodes and de facto independent trial execution infrastructure in their own geographies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC_xie-csCwB5ZY_zqC05ylQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/2871150

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network