Global competition and the emerging challenge to open data · Elephant in the Lab

It is not clear at this stage what this would mean in practice for the access requirements to research outputs. Is there a way to reconcile open access with the call for reciprocity? Will “global economic competitiveness” actually be applied to justify access restrictions to otherwise non-sensitive research outputs? Could there be “geo blocked” access regimes that depend on the geographic location of those who want to use certain research outputs? Are there (or can there be) truly “open” licenses that only work within Europe or select partner countries? Will the EU push back on openness in science to safeguard economic competitiveness – and thereby re-introduce the very barriers for EU-based researchers and innovators that the Open Data Directive and Horizon Europe originally sought to tear down? Will we see international negotiations on trade or research collaboration start asking for data sharing or using access to European data as negotiation matter in trade deals? Most of these questions cannot be answered today. But it stands that openness is intimately tied to irrevocable and world wide open licences and they don’t allow select exclusion of countries. Clarity over what should and what shouldn’t be open is urgent, which is why the European Commission and member states ought to explain how they intend to balance seemingly conflicting objectives. Global competitiveness should not turn into a default justification to restrict access. Its use should at least be monitored across the Horizon Europe areas that will be flagged as sensitive. And to minimise impact on the “free circulation of knowledge”, this should be accompanied by building infrastructure which makes controlled access to data as smooth as possible. It remains to be seen whether or not heightened concerns prove to be warranted. But for anyone interested in open science, this is a space to watch closely.