Last year, the Council of Europe had defined the New European Research Area (ERA) as a “researchers-centred, value-based, excellence as well as impact-driven area, in which researchers, knowledge and technology are supported and can circulate freely.”
On 26 November 2021, the Council adopted conclusions on the governance structure for the ERA as well as the Pact for research and innovation in Europe, completing the reform process of the ERA.
The new conclusions set out specific priorities and establish the ERA governance framework, together with a clear policy agenda for 2022-2024. By mid-2022, the European Commission is expected to present a monitoring and evaluation framework for the ERA implementation.
In the Conclusions from 26 November, EOSC was mentioned as a key element for one of the New ERA priorities: “Deepening a truly functioning internal market for knowledge”. In particular, EOSC is the core of the first action related to this priority, focusing on enabling the open sharing of knowledge and the re-use of research outputs, including through the development of EOSC.
The expected outcomes of this action:
- Deploy Open Science principles and identify Open Science best practices
- Deploy the core components and services of EOSC and federate existing data infrastructures in Europe, working towards the interoperability of research data
- Establish a monitoring mechanism to collect data and benchmark investments, policies, digital research outputs, open science skills and infrastructure capacities related to EOSC
In addition, EOSC is one of the channels identified for strengthening cooperation between Research Infrastructures (RI), e-infrastructures and stakeholders, as part of the eighth action for this priority, aimed at enhancing sustainability, accessibility and resilience of RIs in the ERA.
The EOSC Steering Board has been recommended to continue its work as an independent Commission Expert Group, in coordination with ESFRI, the Partnership Knowledge Hub and other key entities, to support the implementation of the ERA.
- Council recommendation on a Pact for research and innovation in Europe
- Council conclusions on future governance of ERA
