The four EOSC-A Task Forces have released five new deliverables offering new research, analysis and forward-looking recommendations on the development of EOSC and the EOSC Federation.
The EOSC-A Task Forces, a brain trust comprised of more than 200 expert volunteers at the intersection of the EOSC Association, the EOSC-related EU projects, the EOSC Nodes, the EOSC Opportunity Area Expert Groups, and the larger European Open Science community, have published five reports focused on fundamental strategic areas for the future development of EOSC and the EOSC Federation.
The deliverables provide targeted, evidence-based perspectives on topics ranging from repository-level support for machine-actionable data reuse to conceptual and practical frameworks for retention, appraisal, and preservation of digital objects. They also examine the current state of semantic interoperability within the EOSC Federation, highlight systemic gaps and fragmentation affecting data management across communities, and explore the alignment between EOSC and the emerging European Health Data Space.
Landscape overview for the EOSC Federation semantic interoperability in 2025
Prepared by the Technical and Semantic Interoperability Task Force, this deliverable assesses the practical status of semantic interoperability across EOSC projects and Nodes, which is fundamental for the successful implementation of the FAIR principles. The work is critical for enhancing data integration, enabling better data reuse, and preparing scientific data for Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence (ML/AI) applications. The deliverable highlights the need for semantic interoperability in the EOSC Federation, emphasising a shift from fragmented, bottom-up implementations to a coordinated, standard-based infrastructure. The analysis sets the foundation for coordinated recommendations to be detailed in a subsequent deliverable, which is currently under preparation.
Gaps, redundancies, and synergies in researchers’ EHDS-EOSC journeys
As Europe advances both the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and the European Health Data Space (EHDS), understanding how these two major initiatives interact is critical for researchers, data holders, and policymakers. This deliverable of the Health Data Task Force presents a comprehensive gap analysis of the interplay between the EOSC ecosystem and the EHDS regulation, covering data hosting and discoverability, interoperability and quality, and data processing. Its main objective is to identify all requirements, regulations, and ethical and legal foundations to enable access and processing of health data in EOSC in a fair and safe manner. The deliverable targets researchers, research infrastructure operators, policymakers, Health Data Access Bodies, and technical implementers active in either or both ecosystems.
Report on repository support for data-level interoperability / reusability
The deliverable of the FAIR Metrics and Digital Objects Task Force presents the results of a survey of 39 European research data repositories, both within and outside formal EOSC affiliations. It provides one of the first empirical assessments of FAIR data management practices in European research data repositories across seven domains: metadata practices, licensing, persistent identifiers, provenance tracking, FAIR metrics, governance, and EOSC alignment. While the findings reveal strong adoption of foundational FAIR infrastructure, they also highlight significant gaps affecting automated and machine-actionable reuse of data.
Conceptual framework on the implementation of workflows concerning appraisal, reappraisal, retention and preservation of digital objects
Developed by the Long-term Data Retention Task Force, this deliverable provides a coherent model for improving decision-making, transparency, and long-term management of digital objects across the EOSC ecosystem. The report draws on key inputs from the EOSC EDEN project (e.g., Core Preservation Processes), the FIDELIS project (e.g., Transparent Trustworthy Attributes Matrix – TTRAM), and the CoreTrustSeal Levels of Retention, Curation and Preservation (LoRCAP) that help define repository characteristics and the metadata required to communicate different levels of care. Five priority actions are identified to strengthen data-level interoperability and support the transition toward machine-actionable FAIR implementation within the EOSC ecosystem.
Current needs and challenges on data retention, appraisal, and reappraisal across stakeholders and communities
This deliverable of the Long-term Data Retention Task Force provides an overview of the main issues faced by a wide range of stakeholders and communities regarding data retention, appraisal, and reappraisal, along with proposed solutions addressing each identified challenge. Research data are often stored across a diverse and fragmented landscape of repositories that differ significantly in their funding models, governance structures, and technological infrastructure. This may lead to inconsistencies in accessibility, metadata standards, data quality, and long-term sustainability. The deliverable encourages stakeholders and communities to consider the proposed recommendations in their future practices.
