While implementation of the European Open Science Cloud continues at European level, a study of the corresponding national structures provides recommendations.
EOSC, a co-programmed European partnership under Horizon Europe, was one of the key topics in the new ERA conference in Slovenia on 26-27 October 2021, where stakeholders made recommendations for its successful implementation (see SwissCore article). Open Science, spitted in the EOSC and research assessments, which highlighted the importance of the implementation of EOSC for the new ERA.
The latest developments in EOSC are showcasing concrete implementation steps, one through the establishment of dedicated complementary national structures of EOSC and another one at the European level through the key deliverables resulting from the Horizon 2020 project ‘EOSC Enhance’ that is coming to an end and will be continued through ‘EOSC Future’. ‘EOSC Enhance’ was launched in December 2019 with the mandate to advance the developments of the EOSC portal and will continue through ‘EOSC Future’, which takes over operations of the EOSC Portal starting in December 2021. The EOSC Portal provides access to a wide range of services, offering information related to updates on EOSC, a portal for providers, and the EOSC Portal Catalogue and Marketplace. In a webinar on ‘EOSC Future’ on 25 November 2021, Carmela Asero, EOSC Enhance Project Manager at European Future Innovation System (EFIS) Centre, explained that ‘EOSC Enhance’ is leaving a legacy of Key Exploitable Results, providing important indications for the future evolution of the Portal, and contributing to the long-term development of EOSC. ‘EOSC Future’, is one of the main Horizon 2020 funded projects for the implementation of the EOSC together with other projects of the EOSC ecosystem.
On 25 October, the EOSC secretariat published a study of the EOSC national structures in 24 EU Member States, 11 Associated Countries and Switzerland. The study was conducted between April and October 2021. It concluded that 83% of the countries have their EOSC national structure in place, are currently setting up one or are planning to do so in the future. The countries have set up their EOSC structures through four ways (i. consortia, ii. individual legal entities, iii. expert groups and iv. national programmes), and are following in most cases a mixed approach between top-down and bottom-up. The study recommends that the EOSC Partnership should consider EOSC national structures as an integral part of the EOSC ecosystem as they coordinate EOSC activities at the national level, and avoid duplication effects. National structures also strengthen cooperation and engagement of national stakeholders into EOSC, disseminate and promote EOSC at national level and offer channels to connect national stakeholders with the EOSC governance. The Partnership will engage with Member States and Associated Countries on two levels, namely through the Steering Board and through the EOSC Association.
The study shows that Switzerland is in the process to set up a national structure. The Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) has commissioned swissuniversities to develop the strategy and the corresponding plan of action. The mandated organisation, ETH Zurich, is a member of the Open Research Data Sounding Board that is responsible for preparing the strategy of the national structure. The governance is not defined yet, but will be supported by SERI; it is a mixed approach between bottom-up and top-down.