Related Policy Groups

There are several groups in the ares of Research Infrastructures including e-infrastructures (or ICT infrastructures) that provide policy recommendations, advice or reflections contributing in their field of expertise to the European Commission and Member States/Associated Countries relevant to e-IRG. As part of the Horizon 2020 Work Programme there are also new advisory bodies (Advisory or Expert Groups) having been formed, and others closing or changing. For a better understanding and cooperation, and to find synergies between efforts made, it was considered useful to have an overview of the existing policy groups related to Research Infrastructures and e-Infrastructures and their roles.

Below you will find a summary of the policy groups related to e-IRG

Active

Initiator

Member States / DG RTD

Purpose

A strategic instrument to develop the scientific integration of Europe and to strengthen its international outreach. The competitive and open access to high quality Research Infrastructures supports and benchmarks the quality of the activities of European scientists, and attracts the best researchers from around the world.
The mission of ESFRI is to support a coherent and strategy-led approach to policy-making on research infrastructures in Europe, and to facilitate multilateral initiatives leading to the better use and development of research infrastructures, at EU and international level.

Representation

EC, member and associated states-– Appointed by Research-related ministries

Website

http://www.esfri.eu 

https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/strategy/european-research-infrastructures/esfri_en 

 

Initiator

European Commission / Co-chaired by DG RTD and DG CONNECT

Purpose

Responsible for overseeing next Work Programmes and approving funding requests for projects related to Research Infrastructures and e-Infrastructures, co-chaired by DG RTD and DG CONNECT

Representation

EC, member and associated states – Appointed by Research-related ministries

Initiator

Council (Member States and EC)

Purpose

ERAC is a strategic policy advisory committee that advises the Council, the Commission and member states on the full spectrum of research and innovation issues in the framework of the governance of the European Research Area.  The Committee is co-chaired by the Commission and an elected representative from a member state. The Council provides its secretariat.

ERAC currently has a Standing Working Groups on Open Science and Innovation (among 3 such groups).

Representation

EC, Member and associated states – Appointed by Research-related ministries

Website

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/council-eu/preparatory-bodies/european-research-area-innovation-committee/

(https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=3833)

Initiator

Member States

Purpose

Responsible for disseminating information regarding calls and supporting the Research Infrastructure Programme Committee members in their work

Representation

Member and associated states – Appointed by Research-related ministries

Website

http://www.rich2020.eu/

Initiator

OECD

Purpose

Provides a venue for consultations among senior science policy officials of OECD member countries. It produces findings and action recommendations on high-priority science policy issues requiring international consultations/co-operation, and identifies opportunities for collaboration on major scientific undertakings.

Representation

OECD member countries

Website

http://www.oecd.org/science/sci-tech/oecdglobalscienceforum.htm

Initiator

EIROforum

Purpose

The coordination of major IT issues such as licensing of software, IT security, Sharing expertise and experience in the IT domain, Collaboration and cooperation on large projects to foster European excellence in specific IT areas.

Representation

EIROforum members

Website

http://www.eiroforum.org/activities/it/index.html

Initiator

G8+05

Purpose

The Carnegie Group of G8 + 05 Science Advisers established a Group of Senior Officials (GSO) on Global Research Infrastructures to reach a common understanding on matters such as governance, funding and management of large-scale research infrastructures. The European Commission is member of the GSO group.

Representation

G8+05 countries

Website

https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/strategy/european-research-infrastructures/group-senior-officials-gso_en

Initiator

Science Europe

Purpose

The Research Infrastructures Working Group brings together experts on planning and management of research facilities from across the Science Europe membership. Responsible to tackle common challenges related to research infrastructure among Science Europe members (the association of European Research Funding and Performing Organisations (RFO-RPO).

Representation

Appointed experts by Science Europe

Website

https://www.scienceeurope.org/policy/policy-areas/research-infrastructures/

Initiator

EU Council after EC proposal

Purpose

The European High-Perfomance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) will pool European resources to develop top-of-the-range exascale supercomputers for processing big data, based on competitive European technology.

The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (JU) is a legal and funding entity which will enable pooling of EU and national resources in High Performance Computing (HPC) with the aim of developing a pan-European supercomputing infrastructure and supporting research and innovation activities.

Representation

EC and Member/Associated states who have signed the declaration https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/about.html#inline-nav-1

Governance

1. The Governing Board, composed of representatives of the EU and Participating States. The Commission and each Participating State appoint one representative in the Governing Board. Each representative may be accompanied by one expert.

2. The Industrial and Scientific Advisory Board, composed of representatives of academia and industry as users and technology suppliers. It provides independent advice to the Governing Board on the strategic research and innovation agenda and on the acquisition and operation of the supercomputers owned by the Joint Undertaking. This Board is composed of two Advisory Groups:

  • The Research and Innovation Advisory Group (RIAG): composed of no more than 12 members, where no more than six are appointed by the Private Members taking into account their commitments to the Joint Undertaking and no more than six are appointed by the Governing Board. 
  • The Infrastructure Advisory Group (INFRAG): composed of no more than 12 members appointed by the Governing Board. This Advisory Group provides advice to the Governing Board for the acquisition and operation of the petascale and pre-exascale supercomputers, drawing up and regularly updating the draft multiannual strategic agenda for such acquisition.

3. The Executive Director; chief executive responsible for day-to-day management of the Joint Undertaking in accordance with the decisions of the Governing Board and is the legal representative of the Joint Undertaking.

Website

https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/

https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/governance.html

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/eurohpc-joint-undertaking

Initiator

EC-MS

Purpose

The EOSC Board is an institutional group gathering the Member States and the Commission to ensure effective supervision of the implementation.

The EOSC Board is tasked with:

  • ensure continuity of the EOSC coordination between the Commission, the Member States and the Associated Countries.approving the list of the Executive Board members;
  • deciding the strategic orientations for the EOSC (based on the advice of the Executive Board) and approving an annual work plan;
  • assessing the progress of the EOSC implementation;
  • ensuring coordination with relevant Member States/Commission initiatives;
  • discussing new activities in support of the EOSC, including its long-term sustainability.

Representation

Appointed experts by MS and EC.

https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=3756

Closed

Initiator

EC-MS

Purpose

The EOSC Board is an institutional group gathering the Member States and the Commission to ensure effective supervision of the implementation.

The EOSC Board is tasked with:

  • approving the list of the Executive Board members;
  • deciding the strategic orientations for the EOSC (based on the advice of the Executive Board) and approving an annual work plan;
  • assessing the progress of the EOSC implementation;
  • ensuring coordination with relevant Member States/Commission initiatives;
  • discussing new activities in support of the EOSC, including its long-term sustainability.

Representation

Appointed experts by MS and EC.

https://eosc-portal.eu/governance/eosc-board

Initiator

EC

Purpose

To establish a cooperation between the Commission and R&I stakeholders on questions relating to the Implementation Roadmap for the European Open Science Cloud (‘EOSC’) in coordination with the Member States. The group shall assist the Commission in the first phase of development of the EOSC until 2020 and in the preparation of the transition to the second phase of development of the EOSC after 2020.

Representation

Appointed experts by EC.

http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=3632&NewSearch=1&NewSearch=1

EOSC Working groups under the EOSC EB

EOSC Working Groups form an official part of the EOSC Governance structure that will ensure a community-sourced approach to the current challenges of the EOSC.

The EOSC Secretariat advises on the processes, assists on the operation and supports the coordination of the Working Groups, through a dedicated Work Package, pooling the best expertise available in the community and delivering synthetical reports on all relevant issues requiring a decision, as requested by the Executive Board.

Following the establishment of the EOSC Executive Board, five working groups have been set up with support from the EOSC Secretariat

  • Landscape: Mapping of the existing research infrastructures which are candidates to be part of the EOSC federation;
  • FAIR: Implementing the FAIR data principles by defining the corresponding requirements for the development of EOSC services, in order to foster cross-disciplinary interoperability;
  • Architecture: Defining the technical framework required to enable and sustain an evolving EOSC federation of systems;
  • Rules of participation: Designing the Rules of Participation that shall define the rights, obligations governing EOSC transactions between EOSC users, providers and operators;
  • Skills and Training: Providing a framework for a sustainable training infrastructure to support EOSC in all its phases and ensure its uptake;
  • Sustainability: Providing a set of recommendations concerning the implementation of an operational, scalable and sustainable EOSC federation after 2020.

https://www.eoscsecretariat.eu/eosc-working-groups

Initiator

EC

Purpose

The high-level expert group will assess the effectiveness of the Research Infrastructures funding instruments under the Union Framework Programme and the Research Infrastructures progress towards implementation and their long-term sustainability. The Commission will ensure complementarity with other ongoing evaluations and assessments of ESFRI projects and/or landmarks. The experts will provide an assessment report for each of the targeted ESFRI infrastructures.

Assist the Commission in relation to the implementation of existing Union legislation, programmes and policies.

Representation

Appointed experts by EC.

http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=3641&NewSearch=1&NewSearch=1

Initiator

EC

Purpose

The Open Science Policy Platform represents a new way of making policy: co-design and co-develop an Open Science Policy Agenda for Europe.

Representation

Appointed experts by EC. Nominated by the community.

Website

https://ec.europa.eu/research/openscience/index.cfm?pg=open-science-policy-platform

http://ec.europa.eu/research/openscience/pdf/ospp_nominated_members.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none

Groups that have concluded their work or have been closed

Initiator

EC

Purpose

Findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable/ re-producible (FAIR) data is an integral part in the process of opening up science and research. By improving the FAIR-ness of research data it will unlock the potential for both scientific research and society to draw from the benefits of this data, and also enable significant contribution to economic growth. Accordingly, the Open Science agenda contains the ambition to make FAIR data sharing the default for scientific research by 2020. The overall objective of the Expert Group on Turning FAIR data into reality is to operationalise and facilitate this goal.

The group will fulfil five essential tasks, including: 1) Mapping of existing initiatives and analysis of the components of FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable) to develop recommendations with a view to what needs to be done to turn each of these components into reality (on EU/ Member State/ international level); 2) Propose indicators to measure progress on each of the FAIR components; 3) Give input to a proposed action plan on how to make data FAIR; 4) Contribute to the evaluation of the Horizon 2020 DMP template and future revisions of the template, in light of harmonisation with funders across the EU, including the development of additional sector/ discipline specific guidance (if desired); 5) Provide input into the issue of costing and financing of data management activities (on EU/ Member State/ international level). The groups recommendations will be outlined and published in a Final Report.

Representation

Appointed experts by EC.

http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=3464

Initiator

EC

Purpose

The Expert Group will advise the Commission regarding how to achieve the implementation of ‘European Open Science Cloud’ initiative. Overall, the group should provide methodological advice to the Commission on the fulfilment of the objectives set by European Open Science Cloud initiative as part of the Digital Single Market. Care should be taken that the ‘European Open Science Cloud’ does not duplicate existing initiatives and that it adds value by integrating existing Commission and Member States’ initiatives as well as the outcome of past, ongoing and forthcoming projects.

To establish a cooperation between the Commission and R&I stakeholders on questions relating to the Implementation Roadmap for the European Open Science Cloud (‘EOSC’) in coordination with the Member States. The group shall assist the Commission in the first phase of development of the EOSC until 2020 and in the preparation of the transition to the second phase of development of the EOSC after 2020.

Representation

Appointed experts by EC.

http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=3513

Initiator

European Commission / DG RTD with DG CONNECT

Purpose

To contribute to the implementation of Horizon 2020, the European Unions’s new funding programme for research and innovation for the period 2014-2020, and in particularof the Part ‘Research Infrastructures’ within the ‘Excellent Science’ pillar, by giving advice to the Commission services (the advice provided will contribute to a broader policy context: to the Europe 2020 Strategy, the innovation Union, and other relevant EU policies).

Website

http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=2940

(ex-eInfrastructure Policy Forum – eIPF merged with the member state forum for regular exchange and reporting on national developments foreseen in the ERA Communication COM(2012)392)

Initiator

European Commission / DG CONNECT

Representation

EC, member and associated states – Appointed by Research-related ministries

Purpose

Forum for reporting on national developments and exchanging views among members states and the EC.

Initiator

EC

Purpose

The Expert Group will advise the Commission regarding the shape of a ‘European Open Science Cloud’ initiative. Overall, the group should provide strategic advice to the Commission on the strategy for the European Open Science Cloud initiative as part of the Digital Single Market.

Representation

Appointed experts by EC.

Website

http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=3353&NewSearch=1&NewSearch=1

 
A previous version of the related policy groups (focusing on DG Connect) can be found in this document.

flag-eu e-IRGSP7 has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Programme call HORIZON-INFRA-2021-DEV-01-05, Grant Agreement number 101057802.