Greece

Greece

Overview

European Commission

Mandated Organisation

National Infrastructures for Research and Technology - GRNET S.A.

EOSC Steering Board representatives

The authority for Research, and Innovation actions concerning Open Science Cloud falls under the supervision of three Ministries: Ministry of Development and Investments, Ministry of Digital Governance, Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs. To collectively respond to EOSC demands in Greece, twenty-six national academic and research institutions, research infrastructures, national nodes and Open Science initiatives self-organised through the bottom-up National Open Science Task Force (2019).

They published their proposal for a National Open Science Plan (June 2020), supported by the General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT) of the Ministry of Development and Investments. The Task Force led to the establishment of the Hellenic Open Science Initiative (HOSI) (February 2022) which, among other things, will propose the EOSC Association mandated organisation for Greece.

Both ATHENA Research Center and GRNET contribute to the core of EOSC developments, each in their areas of expertise, utilising well-established European networks and service provisioning organisations that they are members of or lead, such as GEANT, EGI, EUDAT and OpenAIRE. Particularly in the context of NI4OS-Europe project, they collaborate to support the establishment of strong and inclusive National Open Science Cloud Initiatives (NOSCIs) in Southeast Europe and to expand the EOSC service offering. Communication and collaboration between organisations that are members of the HOSI enhances EOSC uptake, contributes to the EOSC service portfolio and supports EOSC governance, aligned with the European policies.

Hellenic Open Science Initiative (HOSI)

In February 2022, the National structure, Hellenic Open Science Initiative (HOSI) was established by thirteen Greek leading research, technology and innovation organisations, including Members or Observers in the EOSC-A, specifically Athena RC, GRNET, FORTH, and NCSR DEMOKRITOS. The profile of the national structure is diverse to more effectively respond to multidimensional demands characterising Open Science and EOSC implementation.

Research Performing Organisations, such as ATHENA contribute in policy adoption, FAIR application, interoperability and training through OpenAIRE and Hellenic Data Service “HELIX”. Contact points: Elli Papadopoulou and Spiros Athanasiou.
EOSC provisioning organisations, such as GRNET provide the necessary network, cloud computing, data management services and core services for data intensive research. Contact point: Kostas Koumantaros.
Libraries via Hellenic Academic Libraries Link (HEAL-Link) support Open Access to publications and provide University-led research data services, such as HARDMIN. Contact points: Iliana Araka and Zisis Simaioforidis.

The HOSI aims to be officially represented by a Mandated Organisation that collectively represents the Greek EOSC Community.

Policies

The proposal for a National Open Science Plan was published in June 2020, prepared by a collaborative bottom-up initiative of twenty-six national academic and research organisations, research infrastructures & civic initiatives, including provisions for open access to scientific outputs produced from publicly funded streams and for better access to and FAIR-aligned infrastructures and services. This report proposes a series of goals, commitments, policies and actions for the adoption of Open Science in Greece.  It is intended to serve as a reference point for national policy makers towards the establishment of a national strategy for Open Science, assist national organisations in embracing Open Science principles, and ensure national alignment with the EOSC.

In addition, the Digital Transformation Strategy 2020-2025, the latest policy document in Greece, introduced by the Greek Ministry of Digital Governance in 2020, includes several actions regarding Open Science policies and contains as a key target the adoption of the National Open Science Strategy. More specifically, Open Science is referred as one of the accelerators of digital transformation. It takes into account several elements from the proposed Open Science Plan to advance the national Open Science Cloud status quo and boost national participation into EOSC. It includes guiding principles from the strengthening of national e-infrastructures and services, to their interconnection with EOSC, to Open Access for scientific publications, research data and software, and to empower the Greek R&D community with the necessary qualifications, digital skills, incentives and reward mechanisms for the adoption of OS at national level.

At institutional level, all HOSI member organisations will adopt the National Open Science Plan and work towards their implementation.