NEWS

Policy Paper Federated Data Infrastructures for Scientific Use

In this policy paper the RfII provides an overview and a comparative in-depth analysis of the emerging research (and research related) data infrastructures NFDI, EOSC, Gaia-X and the European Data Spaces. In addition, the Council makes recommendations for their future development and coordination. The RfII notes that access to genuine high-quality research data and related core services is a matter of basic public supply and strongly advises to achieve coherence between the various initiatives and approaches.

Federated Data Infrastructures for Scientific Use. NFDI, EOSC, Gaia-X, and the European Data Spaces: Comparison and Recommendations for a Committed Engagement to Shape the European Research Data Ecosystem

Enforcing data sharing and data (re-)use is a top priority in European societies to realise a single digital market and address sustainability, social welfare, and prosperity. Researchers and research institutions are crucial actors in driving the digital transformation with the build-up of research data infrastructures as one important pillar and backbone of future scientific innovations. Thus, today’s science policy strives to establish the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) in Germany and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) in close connection with related transnational and European endeavours, such as Gaia-X and the European Data Spaces.

In its policy paper ‘Federated Data Infrastructures for Scientific Use’, the Council for Scien-tific Information Infrastructures (RfII) provides an overview and a comparative in-depth analysis of the emerging data infrastructures. In addition, the Council makes recommenda-tions for their future development and coordination. The RfII notes that access to genuine high-quality research data and related core services is a matter of basic public supply and strongly advises achieving coherence between the various initiatives and approaches. The Council further recommends increasing researchers’ active involvement in the continuous development and maintenance of data infrastructures and considering this activity as an integral part of scientific practice. This needs to be complemented by the development of steady career opportunities in the broad field of research data management and service provision.

Moreover, important challenges such as sustainable responsibilities as well as reliable and coherent funding conditions as a basis for long-term maintenance and operation perspec-tives of research data infrastructures are addressed to funding agencies and research policy actors. The RfII sees this as imperative to ensure long-term trust and thus the acceptance of researchers for federated data storage and data exchange.

https://rfii.de/en/home/