Speaker
Description
e-IRG is a policy advisory body composed of national delegates with the aim to facilitate integration in the area of European e-Infrastructures and connected services, within and between Member States, at the European level and globally. e-IRG is overlooking the whole e-Infrastructure spectrum, from networking and computing to data and other services (such as middleware, software and related tools/services), covering not only short-term but also longer-term aspects, advising both Member States and the European Commission.
e-IRG has established informal liaison with the EOSC Steering Board. There has been a meeting between two sub-groups of the two bodies, which came up with some initial areas of cooperation and potential gaps (see below). This initial (setting the scene) meeting is being followed-up with this open e-IRG Workshop session jointly organised between the two bodies, while there have been a few more preparatory meetings for this session.
Some of the areas of cooperation between the two bodies and potential policy gaps relevant to EOSC that have been identified are the following:
- EOSC is mainly focusing on data and thus the links with the underlying networking and computing infrastructures which e-IRG is representing are less evident. Overall, the (almost 20 years of) experience of e-IRG over so many years in providing advice/recommendations and supporting policy making is vital for a sustainable EOSC ecosystem. And the e-IRG recommendations worked out together with EOSC can be brought for implementation via the EOSC SB.
- The role of institutional, national (regional) and EU levels that e-IRG is working on, which are required for a proper analysis and the envisaged sustainability of the infrastructure ecosystem and of its services. The national mandates from the e-IRG delegates need to be also taken into account.
- The need to have better understanding of data and the underlying e-Infrastructure costs in EOSC, both Capital Expenditures (CapEx) and Operational Expenditures (OpEx), as we are moving towards the next phase of the operationalized EOSC that will be come out of a tender, including agreed methodologies and common approaches across Europe.
- Several countries’ e-Infrastructures are expanding their services beyond research, into the provision of services for the digital governance (education, health, culture, other public sector areas/citizens etc.) and digital transition and this may be an opportunity but also a threat for EOSC.
