The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is centrally based on FAIR principles, so is the Internet of FAIR Data and Services (IFDS). From a GO FAIR perspective, the EOSC is the major European contribution to the IFDS: a commons where machines and people can find and reuse each other’s research objects under optimal and well-defined conditions.
Everything that GO FAIR Implementation Networks (INs) will deliver is, as a matter of principle, a contribution to the EOSC and, thus, also to the IFDS – regardless of whether the IN takes part in EU projects and/or is restricted to Europe or not. At the same time, it is anticipated that there will be numerous aspects of the EOSC that have no direct bearing on FAIR principles and/or FAIR data and services. These will not be addressed in the context of GO FAIR.
GO FAIR will contribute to early development of EOSC modules, but EOSC is much broader than GO FAIR. Organisations can contribute to FAIR modules of the EOSC outside the GO FAIR initiative. Only when they see added value in joining GO FAIR, they are very welcome and will be logistically supported by international and national GO FAIR offices.
Working in the context of GO FAIR can be a mechanism to expand the uptake of solutions in a wider community and also to strengthen the influence of EOSC more rapidly beyond Europe. Reciprocally, it can be an opportunity to optimally benefit from best practices developed in non-EU regions for the EOSC implementation. GO FAIR can thus also support and be a functional part of the implementation strategy of the EOSC EB/GB secretariat, as presented during the GO FAIR’s country meeting by Jean-Claude Burgelman, Head of Unit Open Data Policies and Science Cloud at the Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission.