EOSC Nodes with federating capabilities for the EOSC Federation

Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• The EOSC federation will be established as a distributed system of systems, comprising of independently managed EOSC nodes that collaborate to augment their contribution to EOSC users whilst ensuring resilience of the interconnected systems by supporting the common federating capabilities.
• Researchers will benefit from unified support aimed at integrating their research environments with the EOSC federation and this coordinated assistance will streamline the alignment of research practices with the EOSC ecosystem.

The call aims to further develop the cross-domain EOSC system of systems, building upon the results of the previous INFRAEOSC calls^[1]. The focus is on developing and expanding the EOSC federation through a network of nodes as baseline elements of the federation model. These EOSC nodes will establish a set of essential federating capabilities, compatible with the EOSC EU Node reference architecture, following the EOSC Federation Handbook and EOSC interoperability framework. They should have a clearly described identity and offer unique value to EOSC users, for example representing a specific thematic domain (e.g. data or computing) or geographical area amongst the Horizon Europe participating and associated countries.

To become an EOSC node, the proposals are expected to demonstrate the ability to assess and address the existing gaps regarding the federating capabilities at technical, legal and organisational level. The proposals are expected to indicate adherence to the EOSC governance structure, federation policies and capabilities. They should also address business models, service management procedures, and technical and semantic interoperability. Furthermore, the proposals should propose a credible plan to ensure the sustainability of the proposed solutions beyond the project lifespan, including how to take over or replicate the federating role currently ensured by the EOSC EU Node^[2].

More specifically, the proposals should focus on all of the following aspects:

• Satisfy the minimal node requirements as defined by the EOSC tripartite governance^[3], and go beyond them by further development and refinement of the harmonized participation model, taking into account the variety of thematic and national dimensions in the EOSC federation. These requirements include:
  • Compliance with the requirements on the legal status of the organisation;
  • Compliance with the requirements aiming at large-scale, quality service provisioning;
  • Capacity to onboard third-party services^[4];
  • Capacity to contribute to and/or take-over the EOSC federating capabilities;
  • Adoption and integration of the EOSC federation rules and policies, and further refinement and practical adaptation of best practices;
  • Support to effectively monitor and report the activities of the services provided.
• Integrate and offer EOSC core federating capabilities pioneered by the EOSC EU Node, such as Authentication, Authorisation and Accounting, Research Catalogues and Knowledge Graph, Application Workflows, Monitoring and Helpdesk
• Contribute to a robust and coordinated strategy for evolving and sustaining the federated governance model for EOSC by fostering effective collaboration and coordination among the other node operators offering federating capabilities. This can be done for example by distributing the work and taking a share in facilitating the identification, selection and integration/enrolment of other organisations interested in becoming responsible for operating an EOSC node and representing various countries, regions and scientific disciplines.
• Enrich the existing guidelines and best practices for the onboarding and enrolment processes.
• Evolve and refine the EOSC federation specifications to drive the evolution across governance, operations, sustainability and technical interoperability.
• Designate and train the EOSC node operators, especially those offering federating capabilities, for high level of responsibilities within the EOSC federation.
• Develop and run community engagement and support programmes around the EOSC nodes and the surrounding ecosystem.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2021-2022/wp-3-research-infrastructures_horizon-2021-2022_en.pdf;

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2023-2024/wp-3-research-infrastructures_horizon-2023-2024_en.pdf

[2] https://open-science-cloud.ec.europa.eu/. Financial support for third-parties (FSTP), that will make value-added data, tools and services ready to be onboarded and available via the node, can be included in the proposals. The FSTP budget will only cover the cost of onboarding.

[3] https://eosc.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/EOSC-A_GA8_20240527-28_Paper-G_Update_EOSC_Nodes_requirements-DRAFT-v240524.pdf

[4] Financial support for third-parties (FSTP), that will make value-added data, tools and services ready to be onboarded and available via the node, can be included in the proposals. The FSTP budget will only cover the cost of onboarding.