European and international initiatives lead the way for Flanders to align with strategic choices on open science.
International organizations (e.g., EOSC, UNESCO, the European Commission) are striving to make Open Science a reality. They each contribute to this goal in their own way, e.g. through policy recommendations, through supporting the development of infrastructure or by setting standards for researchers and research institutions. The FRDN working groups and project groups strive to align with these international developments.
The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) aspires to provide European researchers, innovators, companies and citizens with a federated and open multi-disciplinary environment where they can publish, find and re-use data, tools and services for research, innovation and educational purposes.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is the legitimate global organization enabled to build a coherent vision of Open Science and a shared set of overarching principles and shared values. To support this goal, UNESCO published a Recommendation on Open Science which provides an international framework for open science policy and practice that recognizes disciplinary and regional differences in open science perspectives.
Open science is a policy priority for the European Commission and the standard method of working under its research and innovation funding programmes as it improves the quality, efficiency and responsiveness of research.That is why the Commission requires beneficiaries of research and innovation funding to make their publications available in open access and make their data as open as possible and as closed as necessary. It recognises and rewards the participation of citizens and end users.