EOSC: shaping Europe’s digital future | EMBL

EMBL’s Rupert Lück is engaged in developing the European Open Science Cloud: the infrastructure that will support the future of data sharing and analysis in Europe

Facing the global scientific and societal challenges of the 21st century increasingly requires the ability to access, assemble, analyse, and share research data. Often this involves working with extremely large datasets and increasingly with data originating from different scientific disciplines. Researchers need to access an array of digital tools and services, and must have innovative technologies to exchange data, software, and other research outputs.

Research institutions can address these challenges by developing IT infrastructures that help collaborators share data or analysis tools. They often make use of cloud technology that allows users to access data and computational power remotely. EMBL has well-established systems of this kind, such as the Embassy Cloud at EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the EMBL 3D Cloud. EMBL is very active in advancing data science and data management strategies across the organisation. EMBL now has a Head of Data Science, and there are a variety of activities related to implementing and piloting software, services, and training to support data science across EMBL. This includes, for example, the data management tools being developed by EMBL’s IT Services or the Genome Biology Unit’s Computational Support, which are continuously being refined in collaboration with EMBL scientists. EMBL is also involved in an even more ambitious, pan-European project: the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).