EU Competitiveness Council endorsed the implementation roadmap for the European Open Science Cloud

The Implementation Roadmap for the European Open Science Cloud was endorsed by EU research ministers on 29 May in Brussels. During the event, Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, put an emphasis on the following aspects for the realisation of the European Open Science Cloud:

1. The Cloud should be a wide, pan-European federation of existing and emerging excellent infrastructures, which respects the governance and funding mechanisms of its components
2. Membership in this federation would be voluntary
3. The governance structure would include member state ministries, stakeholders and scientists.

The EOSC-hub project plays a crucial role in this ambition, as it is set to create the integration and servic management structure of the EOSC - the hub - where researchers and innovators can discover, access, and use a variety of advanced data-driven resources.

In the meeting, Carlos Moedas also presented the integrated advice of the Open Science Policy Platform (OSPP). Established in 2016, the platform is made of stakeholders who advise the Commission on how to further develop and implement an Open Science policy in Europe.

Overall, this political endorsement will accelerate the implementation of the EOSC. The next important events are:

• EOSC Summit: the scientific and policy stakeholders of the EOSC will gather in Brussels on 11 June to discuss the rules of participation in the EOSC and the drafting of pan-European principles for FAIR data.
• DI4R 2018: the third edition of DI4R will be held in Lisbon, from 9 to 11 October and will showcase the policies, best practices and services necessary for the support of research.
• Launch of the EOSC governance structure: on 23 November, the incoming Austrian Presidency of the Council plans to gather research and innovation ministers to sign off the governance structure, which will steer the work of several projects under Horizon 2020, and to launch the first version of the EOSC Portal.