EOSCpilot

EOSCpilot
Name	EOSCpilot
Type	Research infrastructure project
Start	2015
End	2017
Funder	European Commission
Participants	Multidisciplinary consortia

EOSCpilot EOSCpilot was a two‑year European Union pilot project that prepared a prototype for the European Open Science Cloud initiative. It coordinated stakeholder consultations, technical pilots, and policy recommendations to inform the design of a pan‑European research data infrastructure. The project acted as an intermediary between research organisations, funding bodies, and technical providers to accelerate implementation of a federated cloud for science.

Overview

EOSCpilot was launched following strategic discussions within European Commission directorates and built on previous programmes such as Horizon 2020, CORDIS, and the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures. The consortium included universities, research organisations, and industrial partners from multiple member states including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and United Kingdom. Activities interfaced with initiatives like OpenAIRE, ELIXIR, EUDAT CDI, and national research infrastructures such as SURF and GÉANT. EOSCpilot engaged stakeholders represented by entities including the European Research Council, European University Association, and the European Science Foundation.

Objectives and Scope

The project set out objectives aligned with policy instruments such as the European Commission's open science agenda and the European Cloud Initiative. Core aims included defining an interoperable service catalogue, establishing governance recommendations for a federated platform, and prototyping technical building blocks in collaboration with domain infrastructures like CERN, ESA, EMBL-EBI, and ECMWF. EOSCpilot scoped cross‑disciplinary workflows spanning fields represented by Copernicus Programme users, Life Sciences infrastructures, and Social Sciences and Humanities consortia, while liaising with funding agencies including Horizon 2020 programme managers.

Partners and Governance

The consortium brought together academic partners, research infrastructures, and industry stakeholders including organisations such as Forschungszentrum Jülich, CNRS, CSIC, TIB Hannover, and private companies active in cloud services. Governance frameworks were designed to coordinate with bodies like the European Commission's Directorate‑General for Research & Innovation, the OECD, and national ministries responsible for research. Project boards and working groups included representatives from European Research Council grantees, technical leads from PRACE, and policy experts from Science Europe.

Services and Architecture

EOSCpilot defined an initial service portfolio addressing authentication, authorization, metadata, and data transfer. Architectural work referenced standards and protocols used by W3C, OGC, ISO, and RDA to ensure interoperability with infrastructures such as Zenodo, DataCite, EUDAT CDI, and EMBL‑EBI resources. Core components included identity federation building on eduGAIN, metadata catalogues aligning with Dublin Core practices, and data preservation approaches consistent with ISO 16363 and trusted repository models used by Portico and CLOCKSS.

Pilot Activities and Use Cases

EOSCpilot ran technical pilots and community consultations across multiple domains. Use cases involved workflows from large facilities such as CERN experiments, earth observation pipelines tied to the Copernicus Programme, and genomics pipelines overlapping with ELIXIR services. Demonstrators included integration of repositories like Zenodo with compute platforms used by PRACE and regional clouds operated by organisations such as SURF and GARR. Stakeholder engagement events connected national research infrastructures, university libraries including Bodleian Libraries, and funders like Wellcome Trust and European Research Council programme officers.

Achievements and Deliverables

Deliverables produced by EOSCpilot included a service catalogue, governance recommendations, architecture blueprints, and maturity models for federated services. The project issued policy recommendations referenced by subsequent initiatives including the European Open Science Cloud governance board and informed the structure of platforms such as EOSC Association. Technical outputs interoperated with community services like DataCite, ORCID, OpenAIRE, and national e‑infrastructures, and supported standardisation dialogues with RDA and W3C working groups.

Legacy and Impact on EOSC

EOSCpilot influenced the transition from conceptual strategy to operational ecosystem for the European Open Science Cloud by providing concrete models for federation, service certification, and stakeholder governance. Its recommendations were adopted or adapted by successor projects and institutional frameworks including the EOSC Association, EOSC Secretariat, and follow‑on Horizon projects. The project helped align practices across infrastructures such as ELIXIR, EMBL, CERN, and regional providers, shaping policies embraced by funders like European Commission directorates and organisations such as Science Europe.

Category:European research projects Category:Open science