EUDAT and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)

Building EOSC from the beginning

EUDAT has been a key contributor to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) since the initiative's earliest stages. Long before EOSC became an operational federation, EUDAT helped shape its vision by developing trusted, cross-border research data management services and by promoting FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data practices across Europe.

EUDAT was established to provide researchers with interoperable, sustainable and federated data services that enable the sharing, preservation and reuse of research data across scientific disciplines and national boundaries. This vision closely aligned with the emerging EOSC initiative and positioned EUDAT as one of its foundational e-Infrastructures.

Over more than a decade, EUDAT has actively contributed to the design, implementation and evolution of EOSC through a succession of European Commission-funded projects, helping transform the original EOSC vision into today's operational European research data ecosystem.

From EUDAT to EOSC

Even before EOSC was conceptualised, EUDAT was already working towards what EOSC would envision to achieve. This then provided a solid foundation to be contributed towards EOSC. Several EU-funded projects enabled EUDAT's services, governance and sustainability to be established. 

EUDAT (2011–2015)

The original EUDAT project laid the foundations for a pan-European Collaborative Data Infrastructure by developing the first generation of trusted data management services. During this period, the B2 service suite—including services such as B2SHARE, B2SAFE, B2DROP and B2ACCESS—was established to support secure data storage, sharing, replication, publication and identity management across Europe.

These services would later become important building blocks for EOSC.

EUDAT2020 (2015–2018)

EUDAT2020 consolidated and expanded the infrastructure by increasing service maturity, integrating additional research communities and strengthening interoperability between national and European research infrastructures.

The project significantly advanced FAIR data management, service sustainability and community engagement, providing many of the operational concepts that later informed EOSC implementation.

Implementing the European Open Science Cloud

EOSC-hub (2018–2021)

EOSC-hub represented the first major implementation phase of EOSC. Bringing together EUDAT, EGI and INDIGO-DataCloud together with numerous European research infrastructures, the project created the first integrated service catalogue and established the operational foundations of the EOSC Portal and service ecosystem. EUDAT contributed its mature B2 services, expertise in research data management and experience in federating services across multiple providers.

EOSC-Enhance (2019–2021)

EOSC-Enhance further developed the EOSC Portal into a comprehensive access point for researchers and service providers. EUDAT contributed to improving user experience, service onboarding, stakeholder engagement and the overall evolution of the EOSC ecosystem, helping to transform EOSC into a more accessible and user-oriented platform.

DICE (2021–2024)

Through the DICE project (Data Infrastructure Capacities for EOSC), EUDAT and its partners strengthened Europe's data infrastructure by delivering large-scale storage capacity and advanced data management services for EOSC. The project expanded capabilities for long-term preservation, sensitive data management, FAIR data stewardship and integration between data and computing resources, providing essential infrastructure for the next phase of EOSC development.

EOSC-Future (2021–2024)

EOSC-Future brought together Europe's major e-Infrastructures to integrate, consolidate and further develop EOSC-Core, EOSC-Exchange and the EOSC Portal into a coherent production environment. EUDAT led stakeholder engagement, outreach and marketing activities while contributing to technical integration, service interoperability and strategic alignment across the EOSC landscape.

Supporting the next generation of EOSC

As EOSC evolves from project-based implementation towards a sustainable federation, EUDAT continues to contribute through several Horizon Europe projects.

FAIRCORE4EOSC

FAIRCORE4EOSC develops core EOSC components that strengthen the FAIR research lifecycle, including persistent identifier (PID) services, research software interoperability, metadata schema registries and advanced discovery capabilities. EUDAT contributes its long-standing expertise in FAIR data management and interoperable research data services to help build the future EOSC-Core.

EOSC-ENTRUST

EOSC-ENTRUST addresses one of the most important emerging challenges for European Open Science: enabling secure, federated access to sensitive data through Trusted Research Environments (TREs). EUDAT contributes to developing interoperable technical and organisational frameworks that will allow researchers to analyse sensitive data across institutional and national boundaries while maintaining high standards of security and governance.

EOSC Beyond

EOSC Beyond focuses on the next generation of EOSC interoperability by enabling machine composability, dynamic resource deployment and advanced scientific workflows across federated infrastructures. The project aims to simplify how researchers discover, combine and use distributed EOSC resources while supporting increasingly automated and interoperable research environments. EUDAT contributes its expertise in federated services, FAIR-by-design data management and cross-infrastructure interoperability.

EUDAT and the EOSC Federation

Today, EUDAT is helping shape the operational EOSC Federation through the development of the EUDAT EOSC Node.

As one of the first Candidate EOSC Nodes, EUDAT is building upon more than a decade of operational experience to provide a FAIR-enabling node offering collaborative workspaces, trusted data management services, federated identity, data publication, preservation, replication and access to storage and computing resources. The EUDAT EOSC Node is designed to interoperate seamlessly with the EOSC EU Node and other EOSC Nodes, contributing to a federated European infrastructure that enables researchers to access and reuse research data and services across disciplines and national borders.

Continuing the journey

EUDAT's contribution to EOSC spans the complete evolution of the initiative—from the early development of pan-European research data services, through the implementation of the EOSC Portal and EOSC-Core, to today's emerging EOSC Federation.

By combining trusted services, operational expertise and close collaboration with research communities, e-Infrastructures and European projects, EUDAT continues to support EOSC's mission of enabling Open Science through FAIR data, interoperable services and sustainable digital research infrastructures.

See EUDAT's contributions across not only EOSC but the wider European landscape.

Access the showcase of EUDAT projects now OR check our the EOSC EUDAT Node