Open Science

Open Science is an approach to the scientific process that focusses on spreading knowledge as soon as it is available using digital and collaborative technology. Open Science is a policy priority for the European Commission as it improves the quality, efficiency and responsiveness of research

EU's Open Science Policy

Principles

Open Access

Ensuring research publications are freely accessible to anyone, anywhere (detailed below).

Open Data

Making research data openly available for analysis and reuse (use GitHub).

Transparency

Providing clear documentation of research methods and results

Collaboration

Encouraging interdisciplinary and international collaboration among researchers

Benefits

Increased Visibility

by reaching a wider audience, consequently producing a higher research impact

Accelerated Innovation

by enabling researchers to build upon each other's work

Public Engagement

by promoting to a broader community, including policymakers, educators, and the general public

Reproducibility

by improving transparency, quality and trustworthiness of scientific outputs

Our Approach

Data Management Plan (DMP)

Data curation/Cost of data curation. DIGITAL will recommend DMP storage and backup best practices. Data will be permanently archived in OpenAIRE to support European research even after the project. A detailed DMP inline with GDPR will be written that follows open access principles to research data, being updated regularly according to new types and volumes of data used in each IRP. The DMP must contain documentation of data and metadata, data workflows, software licensing, privacy policies, and intellectual property rights.
A template for a DMP

Applying the FAIR Principles

Findability. DOIs and PIDs issued by platforms compliant with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) initiative (e.g. Zenodo, DataCite)
Accessibility. Anonymized data sharing may be permitted online access to databases via NDA and VPN tools depending to the requirements of the research ethics committee and legal counsel service of the beneficiary.
Interoperability. The data used in each IRP will be described using Dublin Core and Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) metadata to ensure interoperability.
Reusability. The research outcomes of DIGITAL will be published on GitHub/Gitlab as open-source libraries and tools. Proper documentation, licenses, user guides, examples, and evaluation results will be provided.

As Open as Possible, as Closed as Necessary

Open access may not be possible in certain case, for example:

Against the beneficiary's legitimate interests, including regarding commercial exploitation
Contrary to any other constrains, such as data protection rules, privacy, confidentiality, trade secrets,

Note: In Horizon 2020 both Green and Gold Open Access was allowed. This is no longer the case in Horizon Europe

Educating Open Science

MSCA DIGITAL takes part in multiple events advocating for Open Science:

The European Researchers' Night
Annually attend an Open Science Festival
DIGITAL provides a course on Open Science Principles (with mandatory attendees for PhD candidates)

Q&A about Open Science in MSCA DIGITAL

Open Science

Data may be kept closed if:

Providing open access is against the beneficiary's legitimate interests, including regarding commercial exploitation
Contrary to any other constrains, such as data protection rules, privacy, confidentiality, trade secrets, Union competitive interests, security rules, intellectual property rights or would be against other obligations under the Grant Agreement

Under Horizon Europe there are some mandatory and recommended Open Science practices.

What?	How?	Mandatory*/recommended
Early and open sharing of research	Preregistration, registered reports, preprints etc.	Recommended
Research output management	Manage responsibly in line with FAIR (including a management plan)	Mandatory for research data. Recommended for research outputs other than publications and research data
Measures to ensure reproducibility of research outputs	Information on outputs/tools/instruments & access to data/results for validation of publications	Mandatory
Open access to research outputs through deposition in trusted repositories	Open access to publications Open access to data Open access to software, models, algorithms, workflows, etc.	Mandatory for peer-reivewed publications Mandatory for research data but with exceptions Recommended for other research outputs
Participation in open peer-review journals/platforms	Publishing in open peer-reviewed journals or platforms	Recommended
Involving all relevant knowledge actors	Involvement of citizens, civil society and end-users in co-creation of content (e.g. crowd-sourcing, etc.)	Recommended

*Mandatory in all calls: Model Grant Agreement or call requirement; all the rest recommended

Source: Shana Impens (8 November 2023). Open Science in Horizon Europe Coordinator's Info Day, Open_Science_CoordinatorsDay_DN_2022.mp4

This answer focusses specifically on how Open Data relates to interest protected under intellectual property (IP) rights. Data itself is not protected by copyright. However, once arranged as a database (legally defined as a collection of independent works, data or other materials arranged in a systematic or methodical way and individually accessible by electronic or other means) the content is protected by copyright and 'sui generis' right.

According to the regulation 2021/695 (establishing Horizon Europe) article 8, exceptions to providing open data/open access are possible:

[...]. Provisions should be laid down to ensure that beneficiaries provide open access to peer-reviewed scientific publications. Likewise, it should be ensured that beneficiaries provide open access to research data following the principle 'as open as possible, as closed as necessary', while ensuring the possibility of exceptions taking into account the legitimate interests of the beneficiaries. More emphasis should in particular be given to the responsible management of research data, which should comply with the principles of 'findability', 'accessibility', 'interoperability' and 'reusability' (the 'FAIR principles'), in particular through the mainstreaming of data management plans. Where appropriate, beneficiaries should make use of the possibilities offered by the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and the European Data Infrastructure and adhere to further open science principles and practices. Reciprocity in open science should be encouraged in all association and cooperation agreements with third countries

Consequently, the FAIR principle might sometimes conflict with the interests of a legal person protected by intellectual property rights. To address this, various degrees of data openness can be implemented. An example are the creative commons (CC) licences, where you have multiple licenses allowing the owner to control the openness; The interest of a company can be protected by for example only licensing under non-commercial use (NC).

For more information:

Open Science

Principles

Open Access

Open Data

Transparency

Collaboration

Benefits

Increased Visibility

Accelerated Innovation

Public Engagement

Reproducibility

Our Approach

Data Management Plan (DMP)

Applying the FAIR Principles

As Open as Possible, as Closed as Necessary

Educating Open Science

Q&A about Open Science in MSCA DIGITAL

What does ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’ mean in practice?

How does Open Science related to Intellectual Property Rights?

What tools are provided to facilitate Open Science?

How is Open Science contribution of MSCA DIGITAL measured?

Where can I find more information on the Open Science policy of the EU?

Follow us