Introducing EOSC Beyond: Spearheading the Evolution of the European Open Science Cloud
The kickoff meeting of the EOSC Beyond project convened on 16-18 April 2024 at the Amsterdam Science Park, hosted by the project coordinator EGI Foundation, and it signified a major step forward in evolving the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) within the Horizon Europe framework program.
About EOSC Beyond
At its core, EOSC Beyond is committed to enhancing the EOSC ecosystem by providing innovative technical solutions. These solutions empower developers to seamlessly integrate a diverse range of EOSC resources, thereby enhancing accessibility for researchers. Through a federated network of pilot Nodes operating at various levels and domains, EOSC Beyond introduces a new paradigm for EOSC, fostering national, regional, and thematic collaboration. Leveraging co-design methodologies and partnerships with diverse initiatives and research infrastructures, EOSC Beyond is poised to accelerate scientific innovation and drive forward the Open Science movement.
~"With EOSC Beyond, we brought together a diverse and experienced consortium to help transform the EOSC environment, fostering superior collaboration and accessibility for researchers across Europe and the world." Hien Bui, EGI Foundation, EOSC Beyond Project Manager
Improving existing EOSC Core services and framework
EOSC Beyond is dedicated to enhancing the current EOSC Core services and framework. This includes improvements to various aspects such as Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure (AAI), Persistent Identifiers, Resource Catalogue, Metadata Knowledge Graph, Marketplace, Accounting, Monitoring & Messaging, Helpdesk, Platform architecture, EOSC Resource Profiles and Models, Operations Policy recommendations, Release Management, and Software Quality Assurance.
~“By collaborating with key EOSC technology providers and engaging with various research communities, in EOSC Beyond we aim to create an EOSC that meets researchers' needs, delivering innovation for the next phase of EOSC." Diego Scardaci, EGI Foundation, EOSC Beyond Coordinator
Developing new EOSC Core services
At the heart of the EOSC Beyond initiative lies the development of new EOSC Core services to further elevate the platform's capabilities.
- EOSC Integration Suite - A comprehensive portfolio of software adapters designed to simplify integration between horizontal and multidisciplinary resources. These adapters facilitate the seamless sharing and reuse of software libraries between research communities and technology providers, enabling collaborative solutions for scientific applications.
- EOSC Execution Framework - A dynamic framework enabling machine-composability and the dynamic deployment of EOSC resources. This framework delivers an extendible set of composability-based applications, supported by an enriched EOSC Interoperability Framework Registry and Deployment Service, facilitating on-demand service deployment in hybrid cloud infrastructures.
- EOSC Core Innovation Sandbox - A dedicated infrastructure serving as a service incubation and technology testbed for the next generation of EOSC Core functionalities. Equipped with automation tools for testing and validation, the sandbox allows for the prototyping and validation of enhanced and new EOSC Core services, ensuring seamless integration with the EOSC Platform.
Piloting regional and thematic EOSC Nodes and Data Spaces
EOSC Beyond will actively pilot regional and thematic EOSC Nodes and Data Spaces, connecting national, regional, and thematic infrastructures to the European EOSC Node. These pilot Nodes serve a vital role in integrating, testing, and validating the solutions developed within EOSC Beyond.
EOSC Pilot Nodes
- NFDI (National Node): Connecting German research data infrastructure to EOSC, integrating domain-specific services.
- e-Infra CZ (National Node): Creating a national data infrastructure for Czech research data, integrating services with EOSC.
- NI4OS (Regional Node): Gathering resources from South-Eastern Europe, maintaining integration with EOSC.
- LifeWatch (Environmental): Integrating metadata catalogue into EOSC, improving compatibility with EOSC Core.
- METROFood-RI (Health and Food): Implementing FoodCASE as a pilot data space, integrating METROFood-RI AAI with EOSC.
- Instruct-ERIC (Structural Biology): Providing automatic synchronisation between ARIA and EOSC catalogue.
EOSC Data Spaces
- CNB-CSIC (Structural Biology): Extending Cryo-EM Validation Report Service, ensuring FAIRness for research outputs.
- ENES (Climate Change): Further integrating EOSC Core services, exposing ENES Data Space applications through EOSC Core Execution Framework.
- CESSDA (Social Science): Integrating domain-specific services for Social Sciences into EOSC, supporting FAIR SSH metadata generation.
Improving interoperability for science in Europe and beyond
The kickoff meeting also welcomed guests from the European Commission, the EOSC Association, and the OSCARS project, a testament to EOSC Beyond's willingness to collaborate with other key actors in the EOSC community.
As part of the broader effort to enhance interoperability, EOSC Beyond also intends to collaborate with the Data Space Support Centre (DSSC) to develop pan-European Data Spaces. EOSC stands out as a key sectoral data space for research data envisioned to interoperate with other sectors such as health, the Green Deal, and agriculture. By implementing technical, governance, access, and semantic mechanisms within the EOSC Platform, EOSC Beyond aims to facilitate seamless interoperability. Additionally, EOSC Beyond is going to engage with the SIMPL Smart Middleware Platform for Cloud-to-Edge Federations to ensure compatibility and interoperability.
For more information and updates, please visit the project website. Follow EOSC Beyond on LinkedIn for the latest developments.