The European Strategy in Research Infrastructures and Open Science Cloud

Abstract

The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) was established in 2002, with a mandate from the EU Council to support a coherent and strategy-led approach to policy-making on research infrastructures in Europe, and to facilitate multilateral initiatives leading to the better use and development of Research Infrastructures (RIs), at EU and international level. ESFRI has recently presented its updated 2016 Roadmap which demonstrates the dynamism of the European scientific community and the commitment of Member States to develop new research infrastructures at the European level.

Recently, the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) initiated activities towards facilitating integration in the area of European e-Infrastructures and connected services between the member states, at the European level and internationally. It aims to accelerate and support the transition to an effective Open Science and Open Innovation in the Digital Single Market by enabling trusted access to services, systems and re-use of scientific data.

This work is focused on the identification of the new features and conclusions of the ESFRI Roadmap 2016 in terms of the methods and procedures that led to the call, the evaluation and selection of the new ESFRI Projects and the definition and assessment of the ESFRI Landmarks. An analysis of the impact of research infrastructures on structuring the European Research Area as well as the global research scene, and of the overall contribution to European competitiveness are also discussed. The EOSC challenges, purpose and initial recommendations for a preparatory phase that will lead to the establishment of the ambitious infrastructure for Open Science are also presented.