As we get ready for EGI2024, let’s take a look back at one of the key sessions from the previous year, which brought together the Data Driven Policy Cluster to explore the potential benefits of EOSC services for public authorities.

In the upcoming years, the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) aims to broaden its user base beyond the research community, as outlined in its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda. This expansion requires active engagement of EOSC exchange service providers with public authorities and other stakeholders. However, to effectively cater to this diverse user group, EOSC and EOSC exchange providers must tailor its services to understand and address their specific needs.

At the Data Driven Policy Cluster session during EGI2023, projects such as DECIDO and AI4PublicPolicy delved into how they can facilitate the utilisation of EOSC and EOSC exchange services by public authorities. These initiatives have undertaken various use cases to address key challenges and opportunities in enhancing public sector policy and decision-making processes, ultimately aiming to foster sustainable, citizen-centric urban planning and work environments.

During the workshop, these projects showcased the potential of EOSC services, including distributed computing technologies and artificial intelligence, in expediting digital transformation initiatives at the local level.This includes access and authentication services such as EGI Check-in, cloud & data handling services (such as EGI cloud compute and EGI Datahub), data preprocessing (such as Amnesia),  analytic tools (such as EGI Notebooks) and a repository for FAIR and open access sharing such as  Zenodo. By harnessing these tools, public authorities can streamline their operations and better address the evolving needs of their constituents.

A number of Use Cases (within AI4PP, and DECIDO) have been implemented in order to pilot the usage of EOSC and EOSC exchange services for optimising policy making initiatives and general management of public authorities, such as citizen feedback analysis, provision of Ukrainian refugee support provision efficient energy and power outage management, water-infrastructure maintenance, urban mobility planning, wild forest fire and flood prevention and emergency management. By addressing these key themes, the Data Driven Policy Cluster session at EGI2023 provided valuable insights into harnessing EOSC and EOSC exchange services for the benefit of Public Authorities and fostering sustainable development. 

In a subsequent session, emphasis was placed on ensuring the sustainability of the projects. It became evident that developing viable business models is crucial for the longevity of the use cases and pilots. Participants explored how co-creation methodologies were employed across different projects to incorporate diverse stakeholder perspectives. Additionally, discussions revolved around identifying and evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats pertaining to the business capabilities of each initiative. Finally, the EOSC Marketplace was presented as a valuable channel for onboarding public policy related services to start enabling the transition of the EOSC ecosystem towards addressing the needs of the public sector.

~“This session was very important to highlight the relevance of the public sector, an untapped market for the EOSC ecosystem. The public sector is not only able to leverage EOSC and EOSC exchange services, tools and data, but also provide real-life solutions to socially impactful challenges by exploiting the EOSC environment.” Xavier Salazar, Senior Strategy and Innovation Officer at EGI.