F&Q

1. The basic architecture of EOSC implementation in the Czech Republic is described in the document prepared by the EOSC platform at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and adopted in June 2021 by MEYS (here).
2. Further development of the architecture of EOSC implementation in the Czech Republic and related services are carried out within the activities of the EOSC CZ working groups, in particular the WG EOSC CZ Architecture and WG EOSC CZ Core Services.
3. The needs and services of the EOSC architecture in the Czech Republic in specific scientific disciplines will be defined continuously by the experts in the EOSC CZ thematic working groups.

1. Findability

If you want your data to be reusable, you need to make sure that both people and machines can find it. To this end, it is crucial to prepare machine-readable data.

2. Accessibility

Data should be openly accessible, ideally through a repository. If access to the data is restricted, then at least the metadata should be openly accessible.

3. Interoperability

If you want to integrate your data with other datasets, it is advisable to use standardised terms to describe the data.

4. Reusability

The main goal of the FAIR principles is to increase the reusability of scientific data. To achieve this goal, the data need to be sufficiently described and shared under the least restrictive licence possible so that the data users know how the data were created, what they describe and how they can use them.

The EOSC-CZ project is divided into three key professional activities:

1. EOSC CZ Secretariat (professional and administrative support of the EOSC implementation in the Czech Republic)
2. Shared components and services of the National Data Infrastructure (NDI)
3. EOSC CZ Training Centre
4. The project will provide basic administrative, professional and training services for the implementation of EOSC in the Czech Republic, as well as the development of key shared components of the National Data Infrastructure (NDI). In particular, the project will ensure the development of the National Metadata Directory (NMD) and the unification of policies within the NDI. The main objective of the EOSC-CZ Project is to create a common background for the implementation of the data-oriented parts of the Open Science strategy in the Czech Republic, especially within the OPEN/FAIR Data and EOSC pillars.

The CARDS project is divided into two key professional activities:

1. Implementation and operation of the next-generation platform
2. Methodological support for working with research data metadata and persistent identifiers

The main objective of the CARDS Project is to create a unified environment for sharing and efficient management of information resources and to contribute to the establishment of a common background for the implementation of the data-oriented parts of the Open Science strategy in the Czech Republic, especially within the OPEN/FAIR Data and EOSC pillars. The project is complementary to the parallel project EOSC-CZ under the coordination of e-INFRA CZ (Masaryk University), and together, they create the basic background for the implementation of other Open Science calls under the OP JAC.

The National Repository Platform represents the foundation (core) of the NDI. It is a collection of technical resources (hardware), software (basic and additional service) and policies that create the backbone for the creation of individual virtual repositories (tenants of the NRP, or NDI) for storing and further work with research data. The NRP will also include a general data repository for data that can not be placed in the thematic (subject-specific, institutional, etc.) repositories. From a technical standpoint, the NRP will be implemented as a distributed environment with different software; this heterogeneousness will allow for the gradual development and linking of repositories that already exist or will be created outside the NRP. The NRP will be built in compliance with the standards proposed by the individual EOSC CZ working groups and approved by the EOSC CZ Coordination Committee in cooperation with the EOSC CZ Secretariat as part of the EOSC CZ project. Thematic (subject-specific) repositories will be linked to the NRP; together, all the data will be traceable through the National Metadata Directory (NMA).

The NRP will be created within the framework of a joint project of advanced scientific research academic institutions in the Czech Republic, coordinated by e-INFRA CZ, with a guarantee of a full, seamless connection to the national e-infrastructure. The joint NRP project will comprise the representatives of universities and academic institutions already working with larger quantities of scientific research data and already have or are currently implementing a real need for the management thereof. The project will thus enable the basic technical infrastructure and other related NDI rules and standards built within the EOSC CZ and CARDS projects to be put into practice and operated in the conditions of the Czech academic environment.

While only a limited number of academic and research institutions will be involved in building the NRP, its results will be available to the entire academic and research community. This concerns primarily the creation and management of tenants (virtual repositories), making decisions regarding the terms of use of such tenants as well as the terms of accessing and processing such data and datasets.

The EOSC CZ working groups form a key component of the preparation and subsequent implementation of the EOSC in the Czech Republic. Their objective is to seek and find consensus within the Czech academic and research community regarding key architectural, operational, metadata, discipline-specific and other issues of EOSC implementation in the Czech Republic. The working groups also propose standards that will be binding for the implementation of the entire NDI. The gradual deployment of the working groups’ recommendations/standards into production operation will commence in 2023. More information on the working groups’ activities and an up-to-date list of the WGs is available online.

Anyone can participate in the WGs’ activities by registering for a specific WG.

The EOSC CZ Secretariat is the central administrative, expert and support component of the EOSC initiative implementation and the provision of FAIR research data in the Czech Republic. Its key activities include monitoring the actual EOSC implementation in the Czech Republic, providing broad publicity (including the development of the national EOSC portal) and continuously providing information on the state of the implementation. The Secretariat will also be connected to international (EU) activities, including supporting those interested in active involvement at the European level. Other activities of the EOSC CZ Secretariat will include administrative, logistical, technical and professional support of the working groups, communication with the EOSC CZ Coordination Committee, etc. The Secretariat is part of the EOSC-CZ project (activity KA2). More information on its activities will be available here.

The EOSC CZ Training Centre is responsible for providing comprehensive support and facilities for training, educational and related activities, including the organisation of conferences. The Centre’s objective will be to consolidate and make the emerging materials widely available, register suitable trainers, support the use of training and educational materials, plan and implement training, including provision of suitable trainers and speakers, collect and evaluate feedback from implemented training and professional educational activities, etc. Furthermore, the Training Centre’s objectives will include cooperation with universities and other subjects and collection of requests for training and further education, dissemination and publicity of training and educational activities of all relevant national subjects, thus gradually creating an overview of available training within the Czech Republic (planned as an important component of the future national EOSC CZ portal). The Training Centre is part of the EOSC-CZ project (activity KA4).

National Data Infrastructure (NDI) is the name of the entire complex environment that will be realised within the EOSC implementation in the Czech Republic. Its key components are:

1. The National Metadata Directory (NMA), including support for metadata access control
2. The National Repository Platform (NRP), including support for metadata access control
3. Thematic and possibly other (physical) repositories
4. Policies, conditions of access, participation and use
5. Training and educational activities (coordinated by the EOSC CZ Training Centre) and generally taking care of new job positions (data steward, data scientist…)
6. EOSC CZ Secretariat

Within the NDI, the interoperability of all components will be ensured in accordance with the principles of building an Open Science environment in the Czech Republic.

1. The National Metadata Directory is a central directory in which the basic metadata of research data will be stored (the corresponding basic metadata model will be developed and continuously updated within the Metadata Directory WG with the support of the CARDS project). NMD will also contain the basic data necessary to ensure interoperability while accessing the data. The NMD will include search services and metadata retrieval. The NMD will index metadata from various data repositories and stores in the Czech Republic and abroad (the aim is to cover all research data produced in the Czech Republic).
2. Methodological support is provided by the National Library of Technology (NLT) within the CARDS project, technical support and operation is provided by the e-INFRA CZ consortium within the EOSC-CZ project.

NMD is a central directory linked to a search engine. The NMD will maintain metadata of research data from various sources in the Czech Republic and abroad and will allow searching these metadata. NCR is a catalogue containing information on the individual repositories and controlled vocabularies, ontologies and metadata schemas used within.

1. The National Data Infrastructure (NDI) is an umbrella term for a complex environment that will allow the management and further development of FAIR data in the Czech Republic. The National Repository Platform (NRP) is a part of NDI.
2. The NDI (represented by the EOSC-CZ project and the complementary CARDS project) defines the standards and compliance therewith within the NRP; thus, the NDI provides the framework for the NRP. The actual concrete design of the NRP architecture and responsibility for its implementation lies with the NRP project.
3. The NRP and its services (together with the National Metadata Directory) form the foundation or core to which other NDI components can be linked, such as data-oriented repositories and specific services related to specific thematic (large-scale domain-science) clusters.
4. The NDI complex is complemented by human resources whose development and allocation are focused on research data management across the Czech Republic. Associated with this is a non-trivial improvement of the ability of the individual institutions, research teams and individuals to work with the agenda of secure and effective data management.

1. These are parallel projects. Their connection is crucial for the future; however, it is not yet clear even at the EU level, except for the general context of the European data strategy.
2. In general, EHDS is on of the Data Spaces; the current interpretation puts Data Spaces closer to commercial (and other non-research) use, whereas the primary objective of EOSC is to provide background for Open Science and Excellent Science.

1. At the national level, the most important strategic documents are the National Research, Development and Innovation Policy of the Czech Republic 2021–2027 (actions 8 and 13), the Czech National Strategy of Open Access to Scientific Information 2017–2020 and the Action Plan thereof.
2. The most important strategic documents on the European (or international) level are the Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the re-use of public sector information (article 10), Commission Recommendation (EU) 2018/790 of 25 April 2018 on access to and preservation of scientific information, Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Version 1.0 (15 February 2021) and UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science (23 November 2021).

1. The international cooperation is carried out mainly through the so-called EOSC Association (based in Brussels), an international non-profit organisation established under Belgian law in July 2020 (it took over the responsibility of the EOSC governing structures from previous years). This association plays a key role i.a. in the implementation of the European partnership for EOSC, which is one of the cross-cutting initiatives within Horizon Europe. The following institutions are representing the Czech Republic as members of the association: the CESNET Association (MEYS has also entrusted this association with the role of the national “Mandated Organisation”), Masaryk University (CERIT-SC), VSB – Technical University of Ostrava (IT4Innovations) and the National Library of Technology. Furthermore, J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences is involved as an observer.
2. The strategic and implementation priorities of the EOSC are formulated and updated through the continuous work of the EOSC Association Task Forces, in which individuals from various collaborating research organisations from the Czech Republic are represented.
3. Furthermore, the EOSC Steering Board, composed of the representatives of the public administration of the individual Member States, is an expert advisory body to the European Commission with regard to EOSC issues.
4. Together, the EC, the EOSC Steering Board and the EOSC Association form the so-called EOSC Tripartite, which discusses the general direction of the EOSC partnership, updates the strategic roadmap, develops key elements of future EOSC challenges, etc.

Information about EOSC at the European level is primarily available on the eosc.eu website.

1. Here are some examples of international projects supporting EOSC with Czech involvement: EOSC-Life, PaNOSC, EOSC Synergy, EOSC Future, EOSC-Hub, EUROCC, EGI ACE, HPLT, etc.
2. In general, these projects are primarily thematically focused (clustering of large European research infrastructures) or projects aimed at building pan-European universal FAIR data e-infrastructures.

1. Within the support provided by the H2020 programmes, the EOSC initiative was targeted by calls from the Work Programme 2016–2017 (approx. € 36 million) and the 2018–2020 Work Programme (approx. € 188 million). Within the HE programme, the so-called European Partnership for EOSC was established, which is to support the EOSC initiative with €490 million between 2021–2030 (€ 500 million has been pledged collectively by the EOSC Association members).
2. Among the EU member states that are at a moderately advanced stage of implementation of the national EOSC network are the Netherlands (since 2019, the National Programme for Open Science has been functionally linked to the public support programme with an input of € 40 million and later € 20 million per year – up to 2030), Germany (the Action Plan for Research Data of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research combined with a public support programme of € 90 million per year for 2019–2028) and France (the Second National Plan for Open Science 2021–2024 connected to the NFOS public support programme).
3. The member states that, like the Czech Republic, are in the early stages of the implementation of the national EOSC network are e.g. Sweden, Austria and Portugal. In all these states, systematic national public support plans are currently being set up on the basis of relevant national strategies and infrastructures.

1. The managing authority of the OP JAC has identified EOSC-CZ (i.e. EOSC-CZ and all the complementary or future projects contributing to the development of this field) as an operation of strategic importance, which is characterised by a significant contribution to the fulfilment of the programme objectives; The managing authority of the OP JAC will also give increased attention to the monitoring and promotion thereof. The term OP JAC Strategic Project is used for short.
2. The aim of the European Commission is to use this instrument to make the EU citizens more aware of the importance of European cohesion and regional policy. In addition to their significant financial volume and thus key contribution to the direction of the programme, operations of strategic importance are characterised by their fundamental innovativeness and specific character in the given national and economic context, and their outputs influence the activities of a large number of end users (see Communicating operations of strategic importance in 2021–2027).
3. At the level of communication management of the EOSC-CZ project, closer cooperation with the publicity department of the OP JAC managing authority is expected, as well as compliance with the relevant recommendations of the European Commission.