"The present FP-7 proposal MAX is subsequent to the recommendations of the Strategic Research Agenda of SNETP for ADS development in Europe. Its aim is to pursue the R&D required for a high power proton accelerator as specified by the MYRRHA project. There is especially a strong focus on all the aspects that pertain to the reliability and availability of this accelerator.This R&D effort builds on the large body of results and the clear conclusions that have been obtained during the consecutive FP5 project PDS-XADS and FP6 project EUROTRANS. MAX will further investigate the key issues of redundancy and fault-tolerance by real-world experience in making maximum use of already existing or to-be-built dedicated prototypes, both on the injector side and on the main superconducting linac side.At the end of the MAX project, it will be possible to generate an updated consolidated reference layout of the accelerator for MYRRHA with sufficient detail and adequate level of confidence in order to initiate its engineering design and subsequent construction phase."