Austria

Austria

Overview

European Commission

Mandated Organisation

ACONET Verein

EOSC Steering Board representatives

Austria has put in place the necessary organisational structures and funding from national sources for a full implementation of Open Science on all levels of its research activities. Its major universities and research performing and funding organisations have joined forces in various networks and consortia, with the EOSC Support Office Austria (EOSC SOA) as the operational unit of the country’s Mandated Organisation, the ACONET Association.

The members of EOSC SOA strive for a coordinated development of the Austrian Open Science Policy and collaborate to establish Austria’s national EOSC Node and achieve the further goals of the EOSC initiative. In this context, many Austrian institutions are also part of EOSC-related Horizon Europe projects. Austrian institutions participate in several EOSC-related Horizon Europe projects (including EOSC Gravity, OSTrails, to name two current ones), where they are involved in technical as well as organisational aspects of teh development of EOSC. The Federal Ministry for Women, Science and Research (BMFWF) provides institutional support and funding opportunities essential for the success of the strategy. A national policy approved in February 2022 completes the landscape.

ACONET Association

The ACONET Association [1] is the signatory of the Memorandum of Understanding with the EOSC Association and is thus the Austrian EOSC Mandated Organisation. The ACONET Association has delegates the operational tasks of implementing EOSC to the EOSC Support Office Austria (EOSC SOA), a community-led initiative interested in the success of the endeavour. ACONET Association remains as the legal representative.

EOSC SOA members include all leading Austrian research funding and performing organisations. Founded in 2021, EOSC SOA coordinates all EOSC-related activities in the country, and acts as the closest link to the EOSC Association. Its operational goals translate those of the EOSC Association into the national context. Contact: Dr Ilire Hasani-Mavriqi (ilire.hasani-mavriqi@tugraz.at), Prof Dr Andreas Rauber (rauber@ifs.tuwien.ac.at).

A further initiative is the Open Science Austria (OSA) platform created in 2021 by the Austrian University Conference (uniko). OSA steers the discussion about the evolution of the Open Science landscape in Europe and beyond, and publishes through strategy papers to make informed decisions. Contact: Lola Karner, Officer for OSA. (lola.karner@uniko.ac.at).

Austria also counts with several national generic and discipline-specific e-infrastructures and services, including repositories for data and publications, high performance computation clusters, etc. (a full list as of 2026 can be found in the Appendixes of the Austria Country Profile Q4/2026. Many of them are linked to EU-wide initiative and projects through various projects and networks.

[1] Not to be confused with the National Research and Education Network (NREN) ACOnet, funded by the BMBWF  within the framework of the ACONET Association in 1990 under the responsibility of TU Wien. Since 1992, ACOnet has been operated by the University of Vienna.

EOSC in Practice

Embracing the principles of transparency, reproducibility, and accessibility, these examples highlight the innovative approaches adopted by researchers across various disciplines. From open data sharing and collaborative platforms to pre-registration and open peer review, these practices enhance scientific integrity and contribute to the advancement of knowledge.

Austrian DataLAB

The ADLS project is an initiative funded by the Austrian Government to foster collaborative approaches between our partner universities in the fields of data science and HPC. 

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Cluster Forschungsdaten

The “Research Data” digitisation cluster comprises three projects funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research: RIS Synergy, FAIR... Read more

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IDE@S – Innovative Data Environment @…

At regional level, the project IDE@S (Innovative Data Environment @ Styria) explored between 2020 and mid-2022 the status of Open... Read more

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RIS Synergy

RIS Synergy is building a sustainable foundation for digitising the Austrian research landscape. We create open access and exchange opportunities... Read more

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National Events

National Tripartite Event Austria
calendar_month 23 May 2022

The Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research served as host to the very first EOSC National Tripartite Event, held in Vienna on Monday afternoon, 23 May. The hybrid event, EOSC-Café-AT, featured an exchange of...

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Policies

Austria’s Open Science Policy was adopted on 23rd February 2022 after a discussion period of around two years that included consultation with various stakeholders, including the then Federal Ministries of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), Digitisation and Business Location (BMDW), and Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK). The Policy follows the Open Data and Public Sector Information Directive (EU 2019/1024), and is based on the principles of providing rewards and incentives to the adoption of Open Science practices, defines indicators for its implementation, establishes links to EOSC, and includes sections on FAIR data, research integrity, skills and education, and citizen science.

outboundAn interview with Paolo Budroni of EOSC Support Office AustriaoutboundOstrails: National Pilot Interview Austria
Annual Activity Report 2022/2023: Austrian Mandated Organisation EOSC Support Office Austria

Open Science Policy Austria: Austrian Policy on Open Science and the European Open Science Cloud

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People

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    Paolo Budroni, ACONET verein

    Interview at EOSC-A General Assembly, May 2023, Brussels
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    The EOSC Lustrum: 5 years of EOSC developments

    Vienna University Library, Vienna Austria 19 October 2023