EOSC-Pillar signs the Collaboration Agreement in support of the EOSC governance

Another fundamental step for the development and implementation of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) was taken at the end of December 2019, when EOSC-Pillar joined other key H2020 projects in signing the Collaboration Agreement "Support to the EOSC Governance".

Aside from EOSC-Pillar, the CA involves the other projects included in the INFRAEOSC-05-2018-2019 call: EOSC-synergy, EOSC-Nordic, NI4OS-Europe, ExPaNDS, EOSCSecretariat.eu, and FAIRsFAIR.

The Agreement provides the framework for all parties to collaborate on a wide range of topics, in order to enhance synergy in the mutual activities related to the EOSC, implementing the provisions outlined in their Complementary Grant Agreements concerning, among other things, access to complementary results and background. The establishment of a Cross-Project Collaboration Board (CPCB), featuring two members per each project, was a key step towards designing a roadmap for this collaboration. Federica Tanlongo from GARR and Yann Le Franc from CINES will represent EOSC-Pillar in the Board.

The Joint Activity Plan

The main output of the discussion was the creation of a Joint Activity Plan, which will guide the projects through the synchronisation and coordination of activities, focusing on three core areas:

• Identification of overlaps and complementarities between the projects
• Formation and operation of Task Forces dedicated to address common activities
• Development of a common strategy to synchronise activities with the EOSC Working Groups

The Joint Activity Plan acts as a living document, to be constantly updated following the evolutions and changes of the EOSC. Six essential topics were identified and assigned to the Task Forces, which will work on them with the support of the EOSC Secretariat:

• National Policies and Governance
• Training and Skills
• Communication and Events
• FAIR
• Service Onboarding
• Landscaping

The six Task Forces share many objectives with the EOSC Executive Board WGs, and one key instance of this collaboration will see the Landscape WG use the outcomes of the national initiatives surveys managed by the regional projects.

2020 will be a crucial year for the European Open Science Cloud, join our community and follow this exciting journey!