The ESRF is an X-ray light source for Europe. It is located in Grenoble, France, and supported and shared by 20 countries.The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) is the most powerful synchrotron radiation source in Europe. Many countries operate synchrotrons—there are 10 in Europe—but only four worldwide are similar in design and power to the ESRF.At more than 40 specialised experimental stations on our beamlines, physicists work side by side with chemists and materials scientists. Biologists, medical doctors, meteorologists, geophysicists and archaeologists have become regular users. Companies also send researchers, notably in the fields of pharmaceuticals, consumer products, petrochemicals and microelectronics.The first phase of the Upgrade from 2009 to 2015 will deliver: Eight Upgrade Beamline projects with capabilities unique in the world, comprising 11 different beamlines with 15 independently operable end stations; complete or partial refurbishment of the remaining ESRF beamlines, and of many Collaborating Research Group beamlines, to maintain them at world-class level; improvements to the X-ray source to maintain world-leading beam availability, stability and brilliance; new state-of-the-art instrumentation, driven by the needs of the new beamlines, notably in X-ray mirror engineering, diamond technologies, nano-focussing optics, pixel detectors, on-line data analysis and high-rate data collection,New buildings for long beamlines, support laboratories and offices. The second phase of the ESRF Upgrade Programme will cover new developments from 2015 to 2018 and beyond, and a proposal is currently being elaborated with users, external experts and the ESRF funding bodies. ESRF is a project on the ESFRI Roadmap of Research Infrastructures (RIs) of pan-European interest.