You can find our Press Release on the Signing Ceremony of the MoU, with photos, here.
You can download the text of this MoU in PDF here.
This Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) is made between:
- EGI Foundation (Stichting EGI), with statutory seat in Amsterdam (Netherlands) (https://www.egi.eu/egi-federation/)
- EUDAT Oy with statutory seat in Espoo (Finland) (https://eudat.eu/eudat-cdi)
- GÉANT Vereniging with statutory seat in Amsterdam (Netherlands) (https://about.geant.org/membership/)
- OpenAIRE AMKE with statutory seat in Athens (Greece) (https://www.openaire.eu/members)
- PRACE AISBL with statutory seat in Brussels (Belgium) (https://prace-ri.eu/about/members/)
Hereafter collectively referred to as “e-Infrastructures” or “the Parties” to form the European e-Infrastructures Assembly (hereafter ‘the Assembly’).
The Parties will be working together towards the common goals defined in this MoU. Other organisations may join the collaboration at the discretion of the initial Parties named above and through the amendment of this MoU.
The mission of e-Infrastructures is to support research communities by providing innovative digital services. The European e-Infrastructures provide and connect local, regional, European and thematic research data centres, data repositories and archives, connectivity and computing infrastructures, organisations and teams of experts with the aim of enabling the advancement of science and innovation. Together, e-Infrastructures provide an ecosystem in which research, innovation, collaboration and coordinated service delivery efforts are aligned at a pan-European level.
Purpose
Via this MoU, the Assembly addresses policy, governance and sustainability matters relevant to its members in a coordinated manner with the overall purpose of jointly strengthening the position of, and promoting the functions, responsibilities and role of the e-Infrastructures to support the excellence of research and innovation in Europe. The Assembly will consult the e-IRG, ESFRI and other relevant pan-European initiatives and policy bodies when appropriate.
Activities
The Assembly seeks to promote e-Infrastructures in the European Research Area (ERA) and its changing landscape and ensure that the bottom-up experience developed by e-Infrastructures over the last decades plays an active role in the definition and shaping of future discussions on the digitisation of Europe, with a particular focus on the ERA, Research and Education.
In particular, the Assembly will:
- Promote Parties’ activities in Europe to the EC and MS/AC, policy bodies and pan-European initiatives relevant to the e-Infrastructures’ scope of work, increasing awareness and visibility;
- Seek dialogue and foster interaction of the Parties with entities such as EU institutions and initiatives, the EOSC Association, new e-Infrastructure players, the Research Infrastructures ecosystem including ESFRI and the ERIC Forum, projects funded through EU multiannual financial frameworks relevant to the Research and Education community, national research organisations and Open Science initiatives, with the aim of increasing collaboration and avoiding fragmentation and duplication of efforts;
- Align and coordinate activities in areas of work of common interest including seeking appropriate funding sources and instruments;
- Improve the interface towards, and intensify the connection with, initiatives of pan-European and international relevance, complementing existing individual collaborations and aligning individual efforts and contributions;
- Discuss funding at European and national levels with the purpose of ensuring sustainability and avoiding fragmentation and/or duplication of efforts along with the protection of the long term national, \European and international investments made and experience gathered over the past decades;
- Collaborate in joint research and development programmes to support innovation of the Parties’ services and progression of Open Data;
- Define common strategies for the development, interoperation, integration and delivery of e-Infrastructure services to jointly address research and education community needs. This includes adopting novel computing and data management technologies and of Open Science principles and practices;
- Attend joint events in collaboration with external stakeholders including research & education communities;
- Share and discuss ERA policy developments that may impact any of the Parties in the Assembly and mutually exchange findings;
- Support research infrastructures, projects and scientific collaboration in the integration of their data in the European Research Area and the web of FAIR data with services from the Assembly members.
Relation to research communities and the ERA
The e-Infrastructures support various actions of the current ERA[1] Policy Agenda including:
- Action 1 (“Enable the open sharing of knowledge and the re-use of research outputs, including through the development of the EOSC”), including supporting open science principles and practices and increasing EOSC connections across the European research infrastructure and e-Infrastructure landscape;
- Action 8 (“Strengthen sustainability, accessibility and resilience of research infrastructures in the ERA”), comprising increasing cooperation between research infrastructures, e-infrastructures and stakeholders, including through the EOSC, and strengthening the impact of European e-Infrastructures on all forms of research communities in Europe;
- Action 9 (“Promote international cooperation”) by establishing strong research, innovation and digital infrastructure provisioning programmes with the participation of national stakeholders in Europe and beyond in support of international research collaborations;
- Action 16 (“Improve EU-wide access to excellence”) by facilitating cross-organizational and cross-country access to national digital capabilities and research outputs.
Activities and roadmap
The Assembly plans to undertake the following activities in order to achieve its objectives:
- Hold at least 6 meetings per year to maintain proper mutual understanding of the scope and concerns of the e-Infrastructures. Each Party commits to identify at least one person mandated to represent the member in the Assembly;
- Prepare communication materials (e.g. white papers, conference presentations) describing the scope and concerned interest of the e-Infrastructures and the ways in which they complement one another to form a comprehensive offering to research communities;
- Organise meetings with policy, funding and governance bodies of relevance (such as the EC, EOSC Association Board and Steering Board, national ministries and initiatives) for informal discussion on topics of common concern;
- Prepare joint statements and coordinated advocacy plans on topics of common interest;
- Organise the participation in meetings and presentations with Research Infrastructures, projects, NGOs and other organisations to represent and raise the e-Infrastructures’ joint profile;
- Representing the Assembly in external meetings and events will be decided upon mutual agreement.
The Assembly is committed to a synergistic, constructive and collaborative approach.
Duration
The Assembly will exist for at least 18 months following its formal constitution of the Assembly on 3 October 2024. The Parties will review the Assembly’s objectives and activities in due course prior to the termination of this MoU and decide whether and how to continue the collaboration. The revision and expansion of the Assembly’s objectives and scope of work, shall be considered as appropriate.
Signatures
| Organisation | Date | Signature |
| EGI Foundation, Netherlands | ||
| EUDAT Oy, Finland | ||
| GÉANT Vereniging, Netherlands | ||
| OpenAIRE AMKE, Greece | ||
| Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe AISBL, Belgium |
[1] https://european-research-area.ec.europa.eu/policy-agenda-2022-2024