The road to and from the EOSC Declaration

Transcription

1 Date: 26/10/2017

2 From the EOSC Summit to the EOSC Declaration On 12 June 2017, the Commission organised the EOSC Summit, Europe s moment of commitment to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). The Summit was a success in many respects. The Summit brought together, from all over Europe, 110 players that are key for the implementation of the EOSC. Participation was highly representative, including scientific fields, national scientific infrastructures, research funders and ministries of Member States and Associated Countries. 80 key scientific stakeholders attended, representing all categories and scientific fields, including representatives of 15 national scientific infrastructures. 13 research funders and about 20 officials attended from ministries of Member States and Associated Countries. Overall, we had representatives from 23 Member States and Associated Countries attending. The Summit reached much beyond Brussels: about 1800 people from all over the globe watched the web stream of the event. #EOSCSummit and #EOSC were the second and third most popular Twitter topics in Belgium during the whole day. What these figures suggest is that joining forces is the European way forward and is supported by the world of European science. At the Summit, 110 key participants reviewed five key areas of EOSC implementation, based on specific input papers. 1. data culture, data stewardship: practical and policy tools; 2. adoption and implementation of FAIR data principles; 3. research data infrastructures and services; 4. sustainable funding & governance; 5. high-performance computing, big data and super connectivity. The Summit provided strong support for the implementation of the EOSC and marked a step change in the initiative. There was strong agreement on data culture, on the need for FAIR data and on the need to develop and gear supporting infrastructure of services; there were agreements and no fundamental objections on the much-debated issues of services, governance and financing. The intents of the input papers were broadly shared and further specified. This all supported the need 26/10/2017 Page 2 of 6

3 to act immediately and swiftly in the next few months to keep the momentum achieved by the 'coalition of doers'. Participants demonstrated a strong sense of commitment towards the implementation of the EOSC. They agreed that the EOSC is a truly common European project which will ensure long term sustainability and support Europe to become a key player in research data. At the Summit, many participants took upon themselves to make the EOSC a reality by 2020, proposing practical commitments to its implementation as described in the Declaration; these were collected in an Action List attached to the Declaration. In that respect, the summit marked a milestone and proved the willingness to build the EOSC as an inclusive (of all disciplines, countries and researchers), sustainable open research data commons for Europe s research and innovation system. On the same day as the Summit, an editorial in Nature called on governments, funders and scientific communities to move beyond lip-service and commit to data-sharing practices and platforms. The EOSC Summit also marked a clear division of labour between research policy makers and funders (Member States and the EC), and implementing stakeholders such as national infrastructures, projects and initiatives. Both scientific stakeholders and Member States must be engaged in the making of the EOSC via dedicated channels. Based directly on the results of the Summit, DG Research and Innovation drafted the EOSC Declaration. Straight after the Summit, all session Chairs and Rapporteurs worked hard to draw conclusions from the event. They revisited the input papers to factor in the commitments and introduced several clarifications. The Declaration is composed of 33 high level statements meant to capture our common understanding on the required Data culture & FAIR data, Research data services & architecture, Governance and funding to make the EOSC a reality by After the Summit, the DG sent letters to participants with the EOSC Declaration and the related Action List. It strongly encouraged stakeholders 26/10/2017 Page 3 of 6

4 1) to endorse the principles of the Declaration, and 2) to commit to take some of the specific actions forward. A reminder was sent on 30 August, with a deadline for submission of responses from Summit participants for 15 September. Today, the Commission is able to make the EOSC Declaration available to all scientific stakeholders for further endorsement and uptake of commitments by stakeholders. Response to the EOSC Declaration Overall, response from Summit participants has been plenty, positive and strong. Stakeholders responded directly - full letter (24) and only (14) - and indirectly via a web declaration or statement. Up to date 38 stakeholders have endorsed the EOSC Declaration; 31 stakeholders also committed to one or more implementing actions to support the EOSC initiative. Endorsements and commitments mostly came at Director-General and President level of stakeholder organisations. Response was received by a balanced mix of research funders, research infrastructures, scientific organisations and other, umbrella stakeholders. In terms of contents, endorsements are mostly strong and clear, often appreciative of the initiative. Commitments vary instead considerably in tone, clarity and reach. Mainly, stakeholders provided: short, clear statements of endorsement and commitment; commitments to wide-ranging actions involving large scientific communities; commitment to the practical application of FAIR data principles, including certification; commitment to gear several of their core and strategic activities towards implementation of the EOSC; comprehensive inputs touching upon EOSC strategy and governance; suggestions of amendments to the text of the Declaration; 26/10/2017 Page 4 of 6

5 positive reinforcement, pointing to the need for a formal process in their institution for further endorsement of the Declaration. To take but one metaphor from the Summit, responses to the EOSC Declaration confirm that we are all on the same ship, sailing towards greater things in science. Follow-up of the EOSC Declaration Today, the Commission published the EOSC Declaration, asking all scientific stakeholders to endorse it and commit to its realisation. Below we include a tentative timeline of the next steps of the initiative, in the near future: Today, online publication of the EOSC Declaration and of endorsement received; Mid-November, publication of commitments and endorsement received (updated); End-November, discuss of the way forward at the EOSCPilot Stakeholder Forum event. There is no way back now, but that does not mean that everything is already written in stone. The Commission will work with Member States, with the EOSCPilot and to make the most of the INFRA-EOSC Call (draft pre-published here), and with research funders regarding open research data policies and tools in support of the EOSC. Stakeholder engagement with the initiative will continue and there will be plenty of occasions in future to engage and make your voice heard. The DG is working with the EOSCPilot project to ensure that the EOSC implementation takes centre stage at the First stakeholder engagement event, to be held on November in Brussels. This event could serve as the first, pilot meeting of a future EOSC Stakeholder Forum in support of the EOSC initiative. The Commission also announced how it plans to support the EOSC in WP to the Research infrastructures Programme Committee (27 June 2017); the draft was pre-published on 3 October. This support is provided mainly by the Call INFRA-EOSC; the Call covers all the future key functions of the EOSC, with an 26/10/2017 Page 5 of 6

6 overall budget of m Euro (the fork is due to the need to further define the budget for year 2020). The Call is a central piece in the implementation strategy. Moreover, several research funders expressed a desire to work jointly to make the most of open, FAIR research data policies, to support their uptake and implementation. The Commission will work with them in this respect, to ensure full implementation of the 'data culture' and 'FAIR data' action areas of the Declaration. Finally, the Commission is strongly committed to working with Member States and Associated Countries to start discussions of concrete proposals on governance via the Roadmap on the basis of the draft Declaration. The Roadmap will put forward proposals for governance and funding - including a proposal for the future Executive Board of the EOSC. The Commission will work with the Council via the ERAC Standing Working Group on Open Science & Innovation ('ERAC OSI'), 1) to gather essential Member State input on the EOSC Roadmap, especially on the design of governance and on funding levels (MS requested this explicitly), and 2) to ensure that the initiative is aligned with national strategies for scientific data infrastructures. 26/10/2017 Page 6 of 6