ELIXIR has published a position paper calling on European funders and policymakers to recognise the critical role of open biodata resources for Europe’s competitiveness.
The paper outlines four policy statements, each with associated recommendations:
1. Open data resources are the foundation for life science innovation: Europe should invest in open data as a critical enabler of innovation
Recommendations
- Explore transitional funding mechanisms to support critical European resources following reduction in US support.
- Recognise data resources as infrastructure, not research projects, with suitable funding instruments and lifecycle management.
2. To reach their full potential, AI investments must be anchored in sustainable data infrastructure
Recommendation
- Anchor investments in AI and data spaces in sustainable, FAIR-compliant and openly accessible datasets—particularly in life sciences, where data complexity is highest and potential impact greatest.
3. Secure Europe’s data sovereignty through investing in world-leading data resources, a skilled workforce and national capacity aligned with European infrastructure
Recommendations
- Reinforce Europe’s sovereignty by strengthening Europe’s role as a net data contributor, ensuring others continue to align with European infrastructures and open data values.
- Invest in human capital by creating a digital workforce with expertise in managing, curating, and exploiting complex datasets.
- Amplify national efforts by incentivising alignment of national capacities with EU-level strategies ((e.g. the EU Life Science Strategy, the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) and the Common European Data Spaces including the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)).
4. Europe should play the role of global leader in open science, supporting multilateral collaboration and championing the benefits of open data
Recommendations
- Support multilateral science by providing stable, long-term funding for international open data infrastructures with strong European participation.
- Leverage diplomacy through openness by positioning Europe as a principled and dependable steward of global scientific collaboration.
- Lead through action by making open science and shared data infrastructures central, well-funded pillars of the next Framework Programme—signalling to the world that Europe values open data and global collaboration.
Read the full position paper
Read the Global Biodata Coalition’s blog and white paper executive summary