Memorandum of Understanding was established between 13 Greek leading research, technology and innovation organizations.
HOSI aims to implement Open Science policies in Greece and support the national representation and contribution to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) in a coordinated and participatory fashion.
Open Science is a critical priority of the European Union (EU), contributing to our sustainable development, increased production and exploitation of research output, and democratization of knowledge.
EOSC aims to develop a unified interdisciplinary online environment where scientists can easily publish, find, and reuse data, tools, and services to perform their research tasks according to set scientific standards.
The Memorandum of Understanding – MoU signed by these organizations, reflects the terms and operating procedures of HOSI and forms a collective achievement and product of intensive consultations of the national bottom up Open Science Task Force. According to Article 2 of the Memorandum of Understanding, within the scope of HOSI are:
- to manage the country’s National Representation in the EOSC Association, as well as in all its relevant bodies and actions. HOSI is the ‘National Open Science Cloud Initiative’ (NOSCI) according to the EOSC terminology.
- to formulate the national strategy, along with initiatives and actions, for implementing Open Science in Greece by updating and specifying the ‘National Plan for Open Science’ which describes the core Open Science policy and implementation axes for Greece and is addressed to the political leadership, research performing organizations, as well as all the Research and Development (R&D) organizations in the country.
Founding members of HOSI are the following organizations (in Greek alphabetical order): ATHENA Research Center, National Observatory of Athens (NOA), National Infrastructures for Research and Technology (GRNET), National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF), Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), National Centre of Scientific Research “Demokritos”, National Centre for Social Research (ΕΚΚΕ), Hellenic Pasteur Institute (HPI), Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), “Alexander Fleming” Biomedical Sciences Research Center (BSRC Fleming), Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas (FORTH), Open Technologies Alliance (GFOSS), Hellenic Academic Libraries Link (HEAL-Link).
Since 2019, this group has had a fruitful and productive collaboration on the development of the proposal for a National Plan for Open Science in Greece, part of which has been transposed in the National Digital Strategy of the Ministry of Digital Governance. Within the next steps for the HOSI are the convergence of the first General Assembly and the adoption of the National Plan for Open Science in Greece by its member organizations.
Open Invitation
The founding members of the HOSI address an open invitation to all stakeholders from the wider research and innovation ecosystem in Greece to join the initiative by co-signing the Memorandum. They also invite the country’s scientific and research workforce to study the National Plan for Open Science and actively contribute in the design and planning of new policies and actions. At the same time, they call on the Ministry of Development and Investments, the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, and the Ministry of Digital Governance to contribute to this shared vision by becoming observers and/or active members of the HOSI.