ERCIM Working Group on EOSC and Gaia-X

ERCIM actively engages in key European initiatives such as the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and Gaia-X, fostering collaboration, knowledge exchange, and strategic alignment among its members. Through its dedicated Working Group, ERCIM provides a trusted space to share experiences, coordinate activities, and explore opportunities to strengthen Europe’s open, federated, and sovereign digital ecosystems.

What is EOSC?

The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is a major initiative launched by the European Commission. Its goal is to create a federated, open, and trusted of research infrastructures where both researchers and innovators across Europe can seamlessly publish, discover, and reuse data, tools, and services.

EOSC is designed to:

  • Accelerate the transition to Open Science in Europe.
  • Improve access to machine-actionable data and other research outputs, including e.g. software and publications.
  • Foster interoperability and the (re)use of data across disciplines and research communities.

In short, EOSC aims to make European research more collaborative, transparent, and impactful. Learn more on the European Commission’s official EOSC page.

What is Gaia-X?

Gaia-X is a European initiative designed to build a secure, transparent, and trustworthy environment for data sharing, while ensuring that businesses, individuals, and governments retain full sovereignty over their data. By connecting cloud service providers and users in a federated system, Gaia-X aims to strengthen Europe’s digital independence and drive the European data economy.

Gaia-X is built to:

  • Enable trusted, decentralized digital ecosystems.
  • Establish a de facto standard for federated and trusted data infrastructures, through clear specifications, rules, policies, and a robust verification framework.
  • Empower users with secure, transparent, and sovereign control over their data via decentralized cloud infrastructures.

Learn more on the official Gaia-X website.

ERCIM Working Group

ERCIM has established a Working Group (WG) to coordinate and share information among its members on activities related to EOSC and Gaia-X. The group’s purpose is to raise awareness, identify synergies, and support informed collaboration within the ERCIM community.

Its long-term goal is to provide a trusted space where members can:

  • Exchange experiences, including lessons learned and best practices (e.g. in providing services).
  • Share plans to avoid pitfalls.
  • Align strategies in the best interest of ERCIM members.

The Working Group first met at the ERCIM Spring Meetings in 2022 and continues to meet regularly at the spring and fall meetings to discuss updates and new developments. It began by conducting a SWOT analysis and discussing the outcomes. Today, its focus has shifted – driven in part by ERCIM members preparing to become EOSC Nodes – towards exploring practical questions such as:

  • What are the plans and steps required to establish an EOSC Node?
  • Which technical measures and set-ups are needed?
  • What is the time plan for implementation?
  • How will the roles defined in the EOSC Federation Handbook (Coordinator, Operation Manager, Technical Officer, Security Officer, Scientific Officer, Legal/Privacy Officer) be filled, and what tasks will they involve?
  • What resources (both human and financial) are required?