EOSC-CONNECT is officially up and running. From 29 September to 1 October 2026, the consortium gathered in Helsinki for the project’s kick-off meeting, beginning a joint effort to strengthen, connect and advance EOSC National Nodes across Europe. The project has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its sister projects and the EOSC Association to build the EOSC Federation together.
14 National Nodes, one shared goal
The project will work with 14 National Nodes from Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Although each Node is at a different stage of development, EOSC-CONNECT will help all of them grow towards stronger interoperability, long-term sustainability and enrolment in the EOSC Federation.
To get there, partners will develop a common blueprint for National Nodes, encourage countries to learn from one another and advance federating capabilities. They will also put cross-border resource sharing to the test through 4 multi-node use cases and 2 demonstrators.
Setting the course in Helsinki
The kick-off moved from the big picture to the practical side of the project. Bob Jones, Special Envoy for the EOSC Federation, opened the first day by explaining how the Federation is moving towards an operational structure, and why National Nodes are central to that move.
Sara Garavelli, EOSC-CONNECT Project Coordinator, and Bob Jones, Special Envoy for the EOSC Federation, 29 September 2026, Helsinki.
Over the three days, partners discussed what National Nodes need to become sustainable national entry points to EOSC. Topics included Node operator training, federating capabilities, use cases and demonstrators, and the Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) scheme with its two upcoming Open Calls. The consortium also looked at how to engage national stakeholders, including through a series of 28 tailored webinars.
Sustainability was at the heart of the final day. In a dedicated workshop, partners explored possible business models for National Nodes and the legal and administrative arrangements needed to share data, services and costly resources across Nodes.
“Business Model for a Node” workshop, 1 October 2026, Helsinki.
The consortium left Helsinki with a clear focus: moving from planning to implementation and turning EOSC-CONNECT’s objectives into tangible results.
Joining forces: the MoU with sister projects and the EOSC Association
EOSC-CONNECT is part of a wider effort. It is one of four projects funded under the HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01 call, alongside EOSC4ALL, EOSC-Marine and EOSC Mesh. Each project brings something different, but they all share one ambition: making it easier for researchers across Europe to access the data, tools and services they need, wherever those resources are hosted.
To make the most of this shared ambition, the four projects and the EOSC Association have signed an MoU to align their work on the Federation’s capabilities and architecture. The EOSC Association will coordinate the collaboration, with support from its own projects EOSC Gravity and EOSC United.
Signing of the MoU between EOSC-CONNECT, EOSC4ALL, EOSC-Marine, EOSC Mesh and the EOSC Association, 15 October 2026, Florence.
“Building the EOSC Federation is a collective endeavour,” said Bob Jones. “By aligning the project efforts, we can reduce fragmentation, avoid duplication and deliver a more coherent and impactful Federation, one that serves the needs of Europe’s research communities.”
By the end of 2026, the partners will agree on a joint work plan, and they expect to start putting it into practice in early 2027. The agreement will run until the end of the last participating project, currently scheduled for 31 August 2029, and the collaboration will focus on four areas: technical interoperability, community engagement, governance and long-term sustainability. The projects will work closely together through the EOSC Federation Build-up Group and coordinate how they engage with national initiatives and EOSC Nodes.
“By working closely with partners across 14 countries, EOSC-CONNECT helps candidate EOSC national nodes become sustainable cornerstones of both national research ecosystems and the EOSC Federation,” said Sara Garavelli, EOSC-CONNECT Project Coordinator. “By bringing together EOSC-CONNECT’s expertise in operating national and European digital infrastructures and federated services with the thematic and pan-EU infrastructure skills from the other sister projects, we can accelerate the EOSC Federation.”
What’s next for EOSC-CONNECT
In the coming months, partners will:
- assess how ready each Node is;
- develop the technical roadmap and the guidelines for onboarding resources;
- refine the use cases and demonstrators;
- prepare the first Open Call.
Throughout, the focus will stay on long-term value: tools and solutions that keep serving researchers after the project ends.
Trust-IT’s role in EOSC-CONNECT
Trust-IT leads two key areas of EOSC-CONNECT. The first is the Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) scheme, which Trust-IT manages together with COMMpla. Through two Open Calls, the scheme will support third-party data and service providers in joining National Nodes, and Trust-IT will oversee the whole process. That covers launching the calls, organising their evaluation, contracting and funding the selected third parties, and monitoring the impact of their work.
Trust-IT also leads the project’s engagement, dissemination and exploitation activities. These activities help National Nodes connect and learn from one another, give visibility to their contribution to the EOSC Federation, and bring EOSC-CONNECT’s results to the wider EOSC community. Trust-IT will also build links with the other INFRAEOSC projects, so that the knowledge and solutions developed in EOSC-CONNECT can be widely shared and used well beyond the project itself.
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