New EU Initiative: Opening up Scientific Data

In Stockholm on Monday, 18 March, 2013, Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, announced that all scientists receiving funding from European Union sources will be required to publish their results as Open Access. She also discussed the launch of the global Research Data Alliance.

Extracts from Ms. Kroes's speech:

First, the EU is supporting open science. Because I know that we can advance these goals through our policies and platforms. And because I know that our society and our future are best served through science that is faster, better and more open. 

The EU has long invested in research and innovation. Now, even in these difficult times, EU leaders have agreed to significantly increase that investment. It's the right thing to do: faced with weak growth, we must all the more focus on future growth, and all the more ensure the tools and knowledge that can make us more productive. 

But taxpayers who are paying for that research will want to see something back. Directly – through open access to results and data. And indirectly – through making science work better for all of us. 

That's why we will require open access to all publications stemming from EU-funded research. That's why we will progressively open access to the research data, too. And why we're asking national funding bodies to do the same.

More specifically, we are investing in the iCordi project: a leading global forum to chart, demonstrate and drive convergence between emerging data infrastructures. And of course iCordi also supports this Alliance. 

All in all, we are putting openness at the heart of EU research and innovation funding.

Commentary about this new initiative is available in today's Wall Street Journal. More about the global Research Data Alliance is available here.