Belnet takes a pioneering role in Open Science at national and international level

At the European level, Belnet contributed to the development of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) as a Belgian-mandated organization. Belnet contributes to the strategic research and innovation agenda (SRIA) of the EOSC Association (EOSC-A), participates in the EOSC-A general assembly, advises on European funding programs, and actively participates in various (inter)national Open Science consultation bodies and symposia. These include the EOSC Winter School in Thessaloniki, the EOSC Taskforce on Long-Term Data Preservation, and the EOSC Symposium in Berlin. The latter was entirely dedicated to developing the EOSC Federation, the birthplace of the EOSC EU Node, the first node at the European level. Through our active contributions, we continued to represent the interests of the Belgian scientific community in 2024 and provided the necessary expertise.

At the Belgian level, Belnet also plays a crucial role in the FedOSC project, an initiative to promote Open Science within the Belgian federal scientific community. Specifically, the project will develop technical tools that stimulate Open Science practices and FAIR data within the Federal Scientific Institutions (FSIs). After an extensive study phase in 2024, several actions have already been defined. For example, the technically outdated products Orfeo and DMPOnline.be will undergo a thorough overhaul. In addition, a new product will be launched in the form of a central metadata catalog: a single location where you can find all the data currently available online at the FSIs. The FedOSC project will also work on a persistent identifier service (PID). Just as a book has a unique ISBN code, scientific research also needs a reliable reference, independent of technical platforms such as websites.