HIRES is an optical-infrared High Resolution Spectrograph for the ELT which is expected to start construction phase in early 2022 to arrive at the telescope in early 2030. The HIRES project is carried out by an international consortium composed by 33 institutes from 13 countries of which INAF is the leading technical institute.

I will present an overview of the project, describing science cases and the baseline design. The top science cases of ELT-HIRES will be the detection of life signatures from exoplanet atmospheres, tests on the stability of Nature’s fundamental couplings, and the direct detection of the cosmic acceleration. However, the science requirements of these science cases enable many other ground-breaking science cases. The baseline design, which allows to fulfil the top science cases, consists of a modular fibre-fed cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph providing a simultaneous range of 0.4-1.8 µm with a goal of 0.35-2.4 µm, at a resolution of 100,000 and with several observing modes. HIRES will be provide both in seeing- and diffraction-limited modes, the latter being characterised by a unique high resolution IFU, capable of a simultaneous wavelength coverage of 1-1.8 µm.  Finally, I will conclude by presenting the future development of the project and the involvement of INAF and its community.