International Conference on Science and Technology for FAIR in Europe 2014

Cooled stored stable and exotic nuclei at highest atomic charge states offer unprecedented experimental conditions for atomic and fundamental physics as well as for nuclear structure and astrophysics research. The combination of the heavy-ion synchrotron SIS, fragment separator FRS and the cooler-storage ring ESR were for about two and a half decades a worldwide unique facility to conduct the corresponding experiments leading to many impressive results. It is therefore not surprising that the huge potential of storage-ring experiments is reflected in the FAIR facility, where the construction of several dedicated storage rings is foreseen suiting challenging experimental conditions for NuSTAR, APPA and PANDA projects. However, the modularised start version of FAIR caused severe consequences for the storage-ring based research programs. The present status, the short- and middle-term perspectives at GSI/FAIR as well as competition projects worldwide will be discussed in this contribution.