A recap of the open consultation for the EOSC Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda

14 Sep 2020

The open consultation for the EOSC Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) closed on the 31st of August, collecting insightful input about the current draft of the SRIA document from within and without the EOSC community to help shape the future vision of the European Open Science Cloud.

The consultation was part of the move towards the next phase of the EOSC, a process that is taking place alongside the creation of the EOSC Association, founded on 29 July and currently evaluating membership applications from organisations.

A total of 217 responses were collected and, while the vast majority of them came from organisations, a relevant 30% was also submitted by individuals, mostly working at research performing organisations.

As expected, most participants responded from European countries, with Germany (38) and Italy (30) taking the first two spots of the list, while other MS such as France (21), Spain (12), and Austria (11) also saw relevant engagement. Interestingly, several submissions also came from non-EU countries such as the United States, Kenya, and Australia.

The consultation proved to be particularly relevant to research performing organisations (66 responses), but a considerable number of service providers like e-infrastructures decided to provide their input as well (46), and 14 companies participated directly bringing some business-oriented takes to the table.

EOSC Executive Board Co-chair Cathrin Stöver commented:

We are delighted to have received so many responses from a diverse range of European stakeholders and international bodies. While there was strong agreement with the principles and action areas proposed in the SRIA, the comments reveal nuances to these positions. The community also identified important gaps, requesting a stronger focus on delivering value to research communities and ensuring inclusivity. We are currently processing all the comments and look forward to releasing a much stronger SRIA, enhanced with all these community inputs.

The SRIA document is building on the EOSC Partnership proposal published in May 2020 and the work of the Executive Board & its Working Groups, while the precious feedback from stakeholders involved via the consultation will help set out a full and strategic vision.

Respondents provided their views on topics such as EOSC’s guiding principles, areas of action and strategic objectives. These included key information related to rewarding open science practices and skills; standards, tools and services to find, access and reuse results, and shared and federated infrastructures to enable open sharing of scientific results.

A successful webinar introducing the EOSC SRIA also took place on 28 July, providing more than 170 attendants with an overview of the draft document and the consultation process.

Input from the Open Consultation will be used to formulate the next version of the SRIA, which will be presented at the EOSC Symposium 2020, taking place online on 19-22 October.

The EOSC will enhance the possibilities for researchers to find, share and reuse publications, data, and software leading to new insights and innovations, higher research productivity and improved reproducibility in science. The benefits of Open Science and the EOSC address the 3 pillars of the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Programme: Better science, societal challenges and innovation. The EOSC ecosystem belongs to everyone in the scientific community and will provide seamless access to resources, datasets and services for researchers across Europe and beyond.

Follow the next steps of the European Open Science Cloud, learn more about the EOSC Symposium 2020 now!

Publication date: 14 Sep 2020