Learn about the steps taken in Portugal and Europe towards the implementation of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) – an initiative that aims to place the European Union as a global leader in research data, ensuring benefits for nearly 2 million European scientists.
The process of creating EOSC began in 2015 with a clear objective: create a data storage and processing ecosystem that supports European Science. In this sense, the EOSC foresees the creation, by 2025, of a virtual, international and multidisciplinary environment which includes open and seamless services for storage, management, analysis and reuse of research data.
In order to guarantee this versatility, the European data infrastructure envisaged by EOSC includes solutions cloud high-capacity computing, as well as supercomputing and artificial intelligence tools. This structure is also expected to be expanded through its gradual opening to the public sector and industry. “The EOSC will unite institutional, national and European actors, initiatives and data infrastructures to develop an inclusive Open Science ecosystem in Europe”, explains the European Commission, on the project's institutional page.
The European Commission expects the impact of this effort to result in benefits for around 1.7 million European researchers and 70 million science professionals. In one of the most important steps taken in this direction, in February 2020, the Commission launched the European data strategy which defines the EOSC as the centerpiece of an open data space for innovation and research.
The EOSC initiative is part of the 2021-2027 cycle of the European Commission's innovation funding program “Horizon Europe”, and EOSC services are expected to be made available to European researchers by 2025. However, the impact of the EOSC is already being felt, particularly in the current pandemic context, by accelerating access to and sharing of research data through the newly created European COVID-19 Research Data Platform.
EOSC in Portugal
This European initiative is expected to have a profound impact on national research communities, as both providers of national research data services and the institutions that use them to conduct science will have to align with the EOSC. In Portugal, the Foundation for Science and Technology, through the FCCN Unit, has been developing efforts in this area.
The FCT's strategy for national EOSC adoption focuses on policies and regulations, services to support EOSC adoption, and communication, dissemination, and training activities. A visible result of this effort is the inclusion of the research data management aspect in the recent data science competition promoted by FCT.
At the same time, the The FCCN Unit has been promoting data management and EOSC among the community RDA-pt and GDI Forum, as well as with the itinerary infrastructures. On the other hand, participation in the H2020 project EOSC-Synergy resulted in the realization of a in-depth analysis on the policies, practices and strategies related to EOSC in Portugal.
Since October 2020, the FCT has been the organization mandated to represent Portugal's interests within the EOSC association, being represented by the national delegate João Mendes Moreira.
To learn more about EOSC, visit: https://www.eosc-portal.eu/
