EOSC Lustrum: 2023 Conference at Vienna University Library

The Vienna Declaration on the European Open Science Cloud

Vienna, 23 November 2018

We, Ministers, delegates and other participants attending the launch event of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC):

  1. Recall the challenges of data driven research in pursuing excellent science as stated in the “EOSC Declaration" signed in Brussels on 10 July 2017.
  2. Reaffirm the potential of the European Open Science Cloud to transform the research landscape in Europe. Confirm that the vision of the European Open Science Cloud is that of a research data commons, inclusive of all disciplines and Member States, sustainable in the long-term.
  3. Recognise that the implementation of the European Open Science Cloud is a process, not a project, by its nature iterative and based on constant learning and mutual alignment. Highlight the need for continuous dialogue to build trust and consensus among scientists, researchers, funders, users and service providers.
  4. Highlight that Europe is well placed to take a global leadership position in the development and application of cloud services for Science. Reaffirm that the European Open Science Cloud will be both European and open to the world, reaching out over time to relevant global research partners.
  5. Recall that the Council - in its conclusions of 29 May 2018 - welcomed the implementation roadmap and the federated model for the European Open Science Cloud. It invited the Commission and all Member States to set up a common governance framework that ensures participation of stakeholders from the research community based on principles of transparency, openness and inclusiveness and an effective involvement of all Member States.
  6. Note that the 2018 EOSC Summit (held on 11 June 2018) called for acceleration towards making the European Open Science Cloud a reality, hinting at the need to further strengthen the ongoing dialogue across institutions and with stakeholders, for a new governance framework to be launched in Vienna, on 23 November 2018.

    We therefore:

  7. Resolve to harness the many ongoing and planned activities at EU and Member States level to cooperate in establishing an inclusive partnership with a view to developing the European Open Science Cloud as a federated infrastructure that can enhance value-based, open, trusted, user-centric digital services across borders within the Digital Single Market (DSM).
  8. Invite all Member States, as well as public and private stakeholders in Europe, to support actively this joint effort and the new European Open Science Cloud governance structure for a successful implementation of the initiative.
  9. Call for the European Open Science Cloud to provide all researchers in Europe with seamless access to an open-by-default, efficient and cross-disciplinary environment for storing, accessing, reusing and processing research data supported by FAIR data principles.
  10. Commit to support service provision for the European Open Science Cloud by helping connecting relevant national and disciplinary nodes to the pan-European level.
  11. Reaffirm the potential of the European Open Science Cloud to enable first-class data-driven science and to stimulate new business models benefiting our society and the economy. Recognise that such services will create opportunities for both public and private sectors, notably by intensifying reuse of public sector information while preserving data integrity, and ensuring access, transparency within and across borders.

We therefore declare to work together towards realising the potential of the European Open Science Cloud for the benefit of citizens, society and the economy.

The Vienna EOSC Declaration was conceived by Paolo Budroni, University of Vienna and Stefan Hanslik, Austrian Federal Ministry for Education in close cooperation with  the European Commission. Vienna, 2018