e-IRG White Paper 2021

With the e-IRG White Paper 2021 e-IRG is following up on its previous policy paper entitled “National Nodes – Getting organised; how far are we? - Implementing the e-Infrastructure Commons and the European Open Science Cloud.” The e-IRG White Paper 2021 responds both to the 2018 Council Conclusions on EOSC that called for the e-IRG expertise, and also to the 2020 Council Conclusions on the new ERA, both of which encouraged the EC and the Member States/Associated Countries “to increase the level of national and European coordination, in particular on research infrastructures and e-infrastructures”.

The e-IRG White Paper 2021 is envisaged as a collection of separate but interrelated topics and starts with the area of “Good practices of coordination within and across e-Infrastructures and thematic Research Infrastructures''. It presents a set of paradigms at institutional, national, and regional level, showcasing either integral and holistic views or highlighting specific aspects, which may be useful for other institutions, countries, or regions. The good practices section is thus not considered complete or exhaustive. It is not an outcome of yet another questionnaire to all EU countries, rather a proactive response from some countries who came forward providing their experiences, which may be helpful for others. A set of guiding questions was prepared, yet the individual contributions that can be found in the annexes do not have the exact same structure, as it is clear that a one size fits all is not the case around Europe.