FAIR Integration for Enhanced Research Data in the EOSC ecosystem and beyond

Projects are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• improved findability, accessibility, interoperability and re-usability (“FAIRness”) of research data and other digital research outputs;
• wider uptake of and compliance with FAIR data principles and practices by national and European research data and metadata providers, repositories and databases;
• operationalisation of the concept of FAIR digital objects throughout the entire research data lifecycle;
• enhanced and mainstreamed technical specifications for FAIR digital objects to facilitate the creation of digital objects that are FAIR-by-design.

The scope of this call topic is centred on advancing the interoperability and integration of research data within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), in alignment with the broader context of the Common European Data Spaces and cross-sector collaboration. FAIR digital objects provide a conceptual and implementation framework to develop scalable cross-disciplinary capabilities, deal with the increasing data volumes and their inherent complexity, build tools that help to increase trust in data, create mechanisms to efficiently operate in the domain of scientific assertions, and promote data interoperability. Proposals should cover all of the following areas and activities:

• FAIR-by-Design digital objects creation: the development of tools that enable the creation of digital objects adhering to the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles both from the “source” or as a result of an analysis.
• Automated standardisation and data quality assessment: development and provision of automated tools and procedures for standardisation and data quality assessment. This will ensure that data across different domains adhere to common standards, fostering greater compatibility and enhancing overall data quality.
• Operational data services specification: delivering technical specifications for operational data services that support the transformation of digital objects into FAIR entities. Such services may include the integration of AI-based tools capable of autonomously operating on data repositories, contributing to the automatic establishment of FAIR practices throughout the research ecosystem.
• Interoperability and training to promote the uptake of open standards: the action should make substantial contributions to the development, upkeep and widespread adoption of open standards for metadata, formats, vocabularies, semantics and APIs. Activities should foster compatibility among digital objects across different domains, facilitating seamless data exchange and integration. Training and dissemination activities will facilitate the uptake of these standards, fostering collaboration and compatibility.
• Collaboration and alignment with Common European Data Spaces: harmonisation of EOSC technical specifications with those of other Common European Data Spaces.
• Interoperability demonstration and content integration: demonstrating the tangible outcomes of applying FAIR tools, standards, and specifications will showcase the achieved interoperability and integration, strengthening the case for data sharing and reuse across disciplines and sectors.
• Cross-Sector data utilization: by enhancing content integration from data spaces, industry, and beyond, the reuse of science data in various sectors is to be encouraged. This will ease access to real-life data from other data spaces, fostering its utilization in research and expanding its impact.

These activities will have to be developed in accordance with standards and guidelines defined or adopted by EOSC, promoting data quality and open access practices. To ensure complementarity of outcomes, proposals are expected to cooperate and align with activities of the EOSC Partnership and to coordinate with relevant initiatives and projects contributing to the development of EOSC, including projects funded by the call topics HORIZON-INFRA-2023-EOSC-01-04 - ‘Next generation services for operational and sustainable EOSC Core Infrastructure’ and HORIZON-INFRA-2024-EOSC-01-05 - ‘Innovative and customizable services for EOSC Exchange’. In addition, cooperation is expected with project(s) funded by the call topic HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-01. Finally, proposals should build on the work delivered by the projects FAIR-IMPACT and FAIRCORE4EOSC, especially in the areas of interoperability across disciplines and sectors, as well as in the mainstreaming of creating FAIR-by-Design digital objects. This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership for the European Open Science Cloud.