Riding the wave / How Europe can gain from the rising tide of scientific data

«The High-Level Group on Scientific Data presented today their final report to Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda. The report `Riding the Wave: How Europe can gain from the rising tide of scientific data` is the result of six months of intense brainstorming and consultations with experts around the world to prepare a `vision 2030` for Scientific Data e-Infrastructures.

The report describes long term scenarios and associated challenges regarding scientific data access, curation and preservation as well as the strategy and actions necessary to realise the vision. The High-Level Group is composed of twelve top-level European experts in different fields of science and is chaired by Prof John Wood, also chair of ERAB.

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Final report of the High Level Expert Group on Scientific Data

A submission to the European Commission

Executive Summary

Our vision is a scientific e-infrastructure that supports seamless access, use, re-use, and trust of data. In a sense, the physical and technical infrastructure becomes invisible and the data themselves become the infrastructure – a valuable asset, on which science, technology, the economy and society can advance. Our vision is that, by 2030:
– All stakeholders, from scientists to national authorities to the general public, are aware of the critical importance of conserving and sharing reliable data produced during the scientific process.
– Researchers and practitioners from any discipline are able to find, access and process the data they need. They can be confident in their ability to use and understand data, and they can evaluate the degree to which that data can be trusted.
– Producers of data benefit from opening it to broad access, and prefer to deposit their data with confidence in reliable repositories. A framework of repositories work to international standards, to ensure they are trustworthy.
– Public funding rises, because funding bodies have confidence that their investments in research are paying back extra dividends to society, through increased use and re-use of publicly generated data.
– The innovative power of industry and enterprise is harnessed by clear and efficient arrangements for exchange of data between private and public sectors, allowing appropriate returns to both.
– The public has access to and can make creative use of the huge amount of data available; it can also contribute to the data store and enrich it. All can be adequately educated and prepared to benefit from this abundance of information.
– Policy makers are able to make decisions based on solid evidence, and can monitor the impacts of these decisions. Government becomes more trustworthy.
– Global governance promotes international trust and interoperability.

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