Value of e-IRG and prospect

Recalling the work of the e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG) on the e-Infrastructure Commons based on the “e-IRG Roadmap 2012”, the “e-IRG White Paper 2013”, and the “Marketplace for e-Infrastructure Services” document which paved the way to the establishment of European Open Science Cloud (EOSC); the e-IRG Roadmap 2016,5 defining a clear route on how to evolve the European e- Infrastructure ecosystem, with clear recommendations to all related stakeholders including the national governments and funding agencies, which also contributed to further evolution of the EOSC concept; the e-IRG response to the EOSC Staff Working Document (SWD) in 2018; and the May 2018 Council Conclusions on EOSC6 that encouraged Member States to “get organized so as to prepare them for the connection to EOSC” and called on “the Commission to make optimal use of ongoing projects, existing expertise and knowledge available via existing initiatives, such as ESFRI, eIRG, GO FAIR and others”, which resulted in the e-IRG National Nodes document7,8 ”National Nodes - Getting organised; how far are we?” in May 2019; the work of e-IRG providing guidance and advice on the electronic needs to the ESFRI Roadmaps’ proposers through dedicated documents and guides.

Reaffirming the autonomy, neutrality and openness of e-IRG as advisory body for the EC, the Member States and Associated Countries, in the whole spectrum of e-Infrastructures, comprising EOSC, HPC/EuroHPC, network, data and connected services, addressing short-term aspects, but also facilitating discussions and reflections on long-term aspects in the e-Infrastructure area, providing a platform for all stakeholders to debate their views, and offer perspectives, analyse and propose approaches and consolidate ways forward.