India to renew commitment to Italy’s Elettra facilities

NEW DELHI India has committed to contribute at least €7 million (about ₹73 crore) over the next five years, beginning in the current financial year 2026-27, towards the Elettra 2.0 programme, Union Science Minister Jitendra Singh said in Italy on Saturday (November 14, 2026). Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste is an international research centre in Trieste, Italy, that operates a synchrotron light source — a facility in which electrons are accelerated to nearly the speed of light and made to emit extremely bright X-rays and other forms of electromagnetic radiation.

These beams allow scientists to examine the structure and properties of matter at the atomic and molecular scales, with applications ranging from materials science and nanotechnology to biology, medicine, archaeology and cultural heritage. The centre operates two major facilities: Elettra, a third-generation synchrotron light source, and FERMI, a free-electron laser that produces exceptionally bright, ultrashort light pulses.