Does EOSC need a fundamental shift in mindset to become a fully fledged platform for science?

“EOSC must not remain merely a technical project. It needs to become an environment that researchers actually use because it makes sense in their everyday work,” said Jan Hrušák of the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, an active member of the ESFRI-EOSC Task Force.

The choice of venue offered a powerful metaphor. A building that once provided care to those in need became the setting for a discussion on how EOSC should serve the scientific community. It became evident here that EOSC has reached a point where building alone is no longer enough. Greater emphasis must now be placed on real-world use of services, user feedback, and overall usability.

Researchers need an environment that supports seamless work

In recent years, a comprehensive EOSC Federation framework has emerged, connecting data, services, and tools across Europe. While this approach has been essential, it often remains distant from the everyday practice of researchers. As Anca Hienola of ACTRIS ERIC pointed out in her reflection, scientists do not think in terms of EOSC architecture, but in terms of the continuity of their work - from data acquisition through analysis to the sharing of results. This highlights a growing gap between the expectations of the scientific community and what EOSC currently offers.

Research infrastructures occupy a unique position in this discussion. They are not only sources of high-quality scientific data but also environments where data are interpreted, shared, and reused. Their involvement is therefore crucial if EOSC is to become a living ecosystem. At the same time, users face a number of practical obstacles when trying to make use of research infrastructure data, including high data transfer costs and a lack of expertise in areas such as FAIR data, workflows, and artificial intelligence.

The discussion thus increasingly pointed to a deeper issue: EOSC today often resembles a catalogue of services, whereas researchers need an environment in which they can work seamlessly. What is missing is a layer of user experience that would provide simple and intuitive access to both data and tools.

Workshop conclusions

The final discussion of the workshop offered a sober assessment. The research infrastructure community needs, above all, a clearer understanding of what EOSC actually offers and reassurance that services are not only being developed, but are also continuously evolving and improving. Equally important is the emergence of a concrete vision of the platform that is both understandable and usable for its users. Achieving this will require not only continued development of the EOSC Federation, but also addressing funding, the advancement of metadata technologies, and the long-term sustainability of the entire system.

Research infrastructures are currently the most prepared and reliable producers of data on which EOSC can build. The EOSC Federation Handbook provides an architectural and conceptual foundation for EOSC, but on its own it does not yet demonstrate how the system can be fully brought to life in practice.

The Milan meeting did not deliver simple solutions, but it made clear that the next phase of EOSC should focus above all on creating an environment that becomes a natural part of research for scientists as users, offering them clear and easily accessible data and tools.