Specific Challenge:

The main objective of this topic is to set up an operational framework for supporting the overall governance of the EOSC, including the coordination between relevant national initiatives.

The governance of the EOSC will rely on the interplay between three components: a body of representatives of the Member States and of the Commission (i.e. the public funders of research in Europe) that will decide and oversee the EOSC strategy, setting the broad orientations and the funding of the EOSC^[1]; a Governance Board constituted of high-level representatives of the stakeholders that will oversee the EOSC implementation, advising on the way forward and implementing the strategic and funding orientations of the Member States and the Commission^[2]; and a Stakeholders Forum open to all relevant stakeholders willing to provide input, e.g. on strategy setting or operational implementation.

The operational framework includes 1) setting up a coordination structure supporting the activities of the EOSC Governance Board that will oversee the EOSC implementation; 2) ensuring coordination between relevant national initiatives/data infrastructures/e-Infrastructures and their federation into the EOSC; 3) fostering FAIR data culture and the uptake of good practices in making data FAIR.

This topic aims to support a decisive shift in service provisioning from the current fragmented setting of national and European e-Infrastructures and thematic data infrastructures to a new federated European ecosystem for research data, fully taking into account the global environment; the new model should be underpinned by a business/funding model and a governance which provide organizational and financial sustainability in the long-term, thus offering added value services to science and innovation actors in Europe.

Scope:

The projects funded under this topic should establish clear links among themselves and with all relevant and EOSC related projects funded under previous and current Horizon 2020 Work Programmes, in order to collaborate and address potential synergies, overlaps and gaps in the overall service offering. As such, these projects will constitute a ‘dedicated and mandated effort or instrument to coordinate EOSC-type activities across Member States’, a need highlighted by the EOSC HLEG report^[3], as also endorsed in the Competitiveness Council of 30 May 2017.

 (b) Coordination of EOSC-relevant national initiatives across Europe and support to prospective EOSC service providers - Research and Innovation Actions

This sub-topic aims to support the coordination, convergence and federation of EOSC-relevant national initiatives for open research data and services, as well as the development of common practical tools and mechanisms (including development of human skills and capital) which enable, promote and further the compliance of research practices with open data policies. It aims as well to support activities of existing and future EOSC service providers to ensure their long-term sustainability, their role within the EOSC and the accessibility of their services through the EOSC hub, according to established rules and standards.

Only initiatives and services of wide European interest and at appropriate maturity level, and which are not addresses by INFRAEOSC-04-2018, should be considered. The successful proposals will also be called to interact closely among themselves and with the EOSC coordination structure (see sub-topic a). In particular, they should support the EOSC coordination structure in assessing the level of interoperability and organisational readiness of the involved EOSC service providers. This activity will build on and complement related work on the EOSC hub undertaken by projects resulting from EINFRA-12-2017 topic, to facilitate the adoption of common rules and practices to harmonise delivery of the EOSC core functions, and to enable interoperability with other EOSC services, while also enabling cost and energy efficiency. Building on the activities supported by sub-topic (c), successful proposals should enable the mainstreaming of standards for data management and of certification schemes for data repositories, and all relevant supporting activities (e.g. technical, organisational and legal training and capacity building); it should also create incentives for the uptake of FAIR data practices across national scientific communities.

Finally, proposals should also explore mechanisms such as virtual access/transnational access which would allow prospective EOSC providers to recover/share the investment and provisioning costs incurred when offering data and related services cross-border within the EOSC.

The successful proposals will contribute to the mapping and harmonisation of the procedures regulating the delivery of horizontal services related to research data by prospective providers of EOSC services and by national initiatives located in different Member States and Associated Countries, including in areas such as Service Level Agreements, seamless access policies, alignment of procurement practices, user support, certification and compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation and with EU Directive on security of network and information systems. Evolution, training and adoption of standards for federated services and interoperability at all levels, as indicated in the European Interoperability Framework, should also be addressed. Proposals should present a clear plan for the involvement of real user communities in the testing and development of the solutions proposed.

Close collaboration with projects resulting from ICT-21-2019 calls is also recommended.

Expected Impact:

• Pursue, under sub-topic (a), the identification and setup of an appropriate legal vehicle to enable the EOSC core functions (taking into account work done by the EOSCpilot project), the definition of statute and role of a EOSC coordination structure for the EOSC implementation, the rules of participation and decision making, and the governance mechanisms.
• Providing a recognized governance and implementation framework to identify priorities at EU level for new or upgraded research data services, thus avoiding proliferation of isolated, separated and overlapping initiatives.
• Streamlining advice to policy making and funding authorities concerning the EOSC, including preparation of financial plans and regular update of the EOSC roadmap initially developed by the European Commission.
• Achievement of a sustainable support to the EOSC governance via the coordination structure enabling the networking, harmonisation and federation of EOSC related initiatives with capacity of delivering the EOSC core functions to a wide range of users across Europe.
• Piloting and establishing future (co)funding strategies and business/usage models to ensure long-term sustainability.
• Wide adoption of processes and practices for optimal use of the resources ensuring open, fair and unbiased access of services through the EOSC hub.
• Progressive removal of technical and organisational barriers to ensure findability, accessibility, interoperability and re-use of research data.
• Enhancement of FAIR data uptake and contribute to harmonisation of related policies in Europe and facilitate alignment with international initiatives on research data sharing.