Updates for parties interested in contributing to the build-up phase of the EOSC Federation

The construction of the future EOSC has entered an important phase. The EOSC EU Node will be presented to the scientific community at the EOSC Symposium in October 2024. Meanwhile, the discussions are intensifying on the aims, structure and tasks of the individual EOSC Nodes that will complement the EOSC EU Node to initiate the formation of the EOSC Federation.

The EOSC Tripartite Governance ran a questionnaire from June through August 2024 to gauge the scale and scope of interest in and readiness for the build-up phase of the EOSC Federation. Replying to the questionnaire was a first step in establishing the interest of parties to contribute to a testbed of EOSC Nodes representing the different stakeholders involved in the research communities of Europe.

Distribution of submissions to the EOSC Nodes questionnaire

Based on their replies to the questionnaire, several organisations will be invited by the Tripartite Governance to contribute to the refinement of the EOSC Federation concept during the build-up phase. The build-up phase will help the Tripartite to gain experience from cooperation between the EOSC EU Node and the individual future EOSC Nodes, and to test the different aspects of the EOSC Federation Handbook in practice. The invited organisations shall reflect the different types of stakeholders and organisations to ensure the best possible representation of the various European research communities.

  • Increased visibility and reach
  • Collaboration and interoperability
  • Support for Open Science and FAIR principles
  • Access to broader resources and expertise
  • Influence on policy and standardisation
  • Sustainability and economic benefits

Other questions included in the questionnaire

  1. Do you intend to offer your institutional resources through a future EOSC Node of the EOSC Federation?
  2. Do you wish to join the build-up phase with the intention to build a potential future EOSC Node?
  3. Are you able to identify the legal entity that would assume legal responsibility for the potential EOSC Node?
  4. Please list the resources your organisation intends to make available via the node. For each entry give the Technology Readiness Level (TRL 1-9), any restrictions that apply to use of the resource, and describe their added value to the EOSC Federation.
  5. Are all these resources owned/operated by your organisation?
  6. Please estimate when you would be able to start offering resources to the EOSC Federation?
  7. What support/competences/training will be offered to the users of the resources made available via the potential node?
  8. What is the added value that you see for you and for your users in contributing to the EOSC Federation?
  9. Please add any additional remarks you would like to make about the EOSC Federation
  10. Upload supporting documents (optional)

Briefing papers


Webinars: video and slides

The EOSC Association held two webinars, on 19 June and 25 June 2024, to explain the purpose of the questionnaire and provide guidance on how to complete it.

A recording of the EOSC-A webinar for parties interested in building up the EOSC Federation

No additional funding is associated with this activity. Submitting the questionnaire does not commit the respondent to onboard their resources (i.e. services/data repositories) nor to establish a future EOSC Node. At the same time, the invitation to form a node in the build-up phase does not automatically guarantee the status of a federated EOSC Node at a later stage. The decision of the future structure, organisation and funding of EOSC will follow the negotiations of the next European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, FP10.