EGI, a Key Asset for EOSC

The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is rapidly taking shape, and EGI is at the forefront of this important development. This webpage update highlights EGI's contributions to the recently launched EOSC EU Node and the overall EOSC technical architecture, showcasing its expertise and commitment to advancing open science in Europe.

About EOSC

EGI Federation and EOSC

Supporting projects

About EOSC

The ambition of EOSC is to develop a ‘Web of FAIR Data and services’ for science in Europe. EOSC will be a multi-disciplinary environment where researchers can publish, find and re-use data, tools and services, enabling them to conduct their work better. EOSC is enabled by the emerging EOSC Federation, which is envisioned as a network of interconnected autonomous nodes implementing a system-of-system type architecture, with all nodes operating under a common framework of standards, policies, and best practices.

About EOSC EU Node

The EOSC EU Node is the first European-level node of the emerging EOSC Federation. Its full deployment includes a robust set of services that address critical challenges in modern research workflows, allowing users to operate efficiently within data-intensive environments.

EGI Federation as an EOSC Node

The EGI Federation aspires to be part of the EOSC Federation as a Node contributing EOSC-dedicated distributed compute and storage capacity from its members to support the exploitation of research objects and services in EOSC. By federating research data centres to co-locate compute capacity and data holdings, the EGI Federation provides the critical infrastructure needed for the European Open Science Cloud, enhancing the ability to reuse and integrate research data across disciplines.

Computing, storage, and data analysis tools are essential components of the Open Science Commons, and EGI plays a pivotal role in making these resources accessible. EGI democratises access to AI and computing resources, offering user-friendly tools that empower researchers regardless of their technical expertise.

Furthermore, EGI is developing AI-based services for efficient data

discovery, analysis, and management—ensuring that researchers can navigate the research data lifecycle seamlessly while fostering collaboration across the European research landscape.

Through these efforts, EGI strengthens the Open Science ecosystem, supporting not only the current needs of European research but also paving the way for future advancements within the EOSC.

EGI's Role in the EOSC Landscape

Development and Operation of the EOSC EU Node

Leveraging its vast experience in federated services, EGI plays a crucial role in the design, architecture, delivery, and operation of the EOSC EU Node’s core services:
1. Core Service Delivery: EGI contributes a substantial portion (nearly half) of the core services, forming the backbone of the EOSC EU Node.
2. Key Components Integration: EGI’s contributions extend to critical components of the Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure (AAI) and deliver one of the six integrated application services within the Node.
3. Service Management System: EGI meticulously verifies and validates all components of the EOSC EU Node against industry standards and EOSC platform specifications. This ensures smooth integration and acceptance before deployment.
4. Security Coordination: EGI spearheads security coordination for the EOSC EU Node. This includes crafting a comprehensive security plan and establishing robust procedures for handling potential security incidents.
5. Contribution to Exchange Application Services: EGI provides Jupyter notebooks to facilitate interactive computing, enhancing researchers’ ability to analyse data and develop models within the EOSC ecosystem.
6. Understanding the Needs of Research Communities – EGI’s extensive experience serving both individual scientists and large research communities is invaluable for the EOSC EU Node.

EOSC Federation Architecture and Core Technical Solutions

EGI Coordinates the EOSC Beyond project, where we oversee key tasks such as the architecture of the EOSC Federation that will enable the implementation of the network of EOSC Nodes.
In particular, EGI leads the architecture work and the development and implementation of a new EOSC Core service: the EOSC Integration Suite with its initial set of adapters.

EGI is also a key role in the EOSC Federation Handbook writing team, an initiative launched by the EOSC Tripartite that is expected to give an important contribution to the definition of the EOSC Federation governance, legal and operational structures and architecture. The Handbook is defining clear policies and procedures to join the federation.

EOSC Taskforce support

EGI representatives contribute to EOSC Task Forces working on specific topics that are important for the realisation of EOSC. More concretely, Diego Scardaci is a co-chair of the EOSC Technical and Semantic Interoperability Task Force, while Ville Tenhunen contributes to the Health Data Task Force.

Contributions to EOSC Supporting projects

EGI actively participates in numerous projects that drive the development and implementation of the EOSC framework, ensuring that it meets the needs of diverse scientific communities.