About EOSC
The European Open Science Cloud is a European initiative for developing a trusted and federated environment in which researchers can find, access, combine and reuse research data, software, tools and services across disciplines, institutions and national borders.
EOSC connects existing repositories, research infrastructures, e-infrastructures and scientific service providers rather than replacing them with a single central platform.
Its long-term objective is to establish a European web of FAIR research data and interoperable services that supports open, reproducible and data-intensive research.
Page information
Topic: European Open Science Cloud
Coverage: Purpose, policy context, governance, Federation, EOSC EU Node, stakeholders and current development
Primary audience: Researchers, data stewards, research organisations, repository managers, service providers, research infrastructures and project coordinators
Related topics: FAIR data, open science, research infrastructures, EOSC Nodes, OpenAIRE and Horizon Europe
Last reviewed: August 2026
What is EOSC?
European policy initiative
A European commitment to make open science, FAIR data and cross-border reuse of research resources part of normal research practice.
Stakeholder community
A community of researchers, institutions, funders, repositories, infrastructures, service providers and public authorities.
European Partnership
A co-programmed partnership coordinating European investment, priorities and community contributions to EOSC development.
Federated infrastructure
A system of interconnected Nodes that makes distributed research resources discoverable and usable through common arrangements.
What EOSC is not
Not a single central repository: research data remain managed by repositories, institutions and research infrastructures responsible for their preservation and access.
Not one commercial cloud platform: EOSC federates independently operated resources and services through common organisational and technical arrangements.
Not a replacement for national infrastructures: national, thematic and institutional services become components of the wider federated environment.
Not limited to storage: EOSC covers research data, publications, software, tools, computing, workflows and other digital research resources.
Not identical to the EOSC EU Node: the EU Node is the first operational Node and a reference implementation within the broader EOSC Federation.
Why EOSC is needed
European research data and services are distributed across disciplines, organisations, countries and technical platforms. Differences in metadata, access procedures, identifiers, authentication and service management make these resources difficult to discover and combine.
Reduce fragmentation
Connect resources that are currently distributed across independent repositories, infrastructures and scientific communities.
Support reuse
Improve the metadata, documentation, accessibility and interoperability required for responsible reuse.
Enable cross-border research
Allow researchers to discover and use resources beyond their home institution, country or scientific discipline.
Strengthen reproducibility
Connect data, software, methods and services needed to verify and reproduce research results.
Development of EOSC
| Period | Development stage |
|---|---|
| 2016 | The European Cloud Initiative introduced the policy direction for a European environment for open science data and services. |
| 2018 | EOSC entered its initial implementation phase and the first EOSC portal was publicly presented. |
| 2021 | The co-programmed EOSC European Partnership was launched under Horizon Europe. |
| 2024 | The EOSC EU Node was technically launched as the first operational Node and reference platform for the future Federation. |
| 2025 | The EOSC Federation entered its build-up phase and was formally launched in November through a shared Memorandum of Understanding. |
| 2026 | The Federation expanded to 28 first- and second-wave Nodes and advanced its organisational and technical transition towards production. |
EOSC architecture at a glance
Research communities
Create, manage, analyse and reuse research data and other digital research objects.
Resource providers
Operate repositories, data services, computing platforms, software tools and research infrastructures.
EOSC Nodes
Coordinate resources and services and connect them to the shared organisational and technical Federation environment.
EOSC Federation
Enables distributed Nodes and their resources to operate as an interoperable European system of systems.
EOSC Tripartite Governance
The strategic development of EOSC is coordinated through a tripartite governance model representing European institutions, participating countries and the research stakeholder community.
European Commission
Represents the European Union and supports policy coordination, European investment and implementation of EOSC.
EOSC Steering Board
Represents EU Member States and countries associated with Horizon Europe in strategic policy coordination.
EOSC Association
Represents research-performing organisations, infrastructures, service providers and the wider EOSC stakeholder community.
Tripartite coordination
Aligns European, national and community contributions and provides strategic direction for EOSC development.
EOSC Partnership and strategic framework
EOSC European Partnership: coordinates European Commission funding with contributions from the EOSC Association and the wider community.
Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda: defines the strategic objectives, principles and implementation priorities of EOSC.
Multi-Annual Roadmap: translates the strategic agenda into priority actions that inform Horizon Europe work programmes.
Current strategic baseline: SRIA version 1.3 with the Multi-Annual Roadmap for 2026–2027.
The EOSC Federation
The EOSC Federation is the operational model through which independently managed Nodes connect research resources and services into a shared European environment.
Federated: Nodes retain responsibility for their organisations, resources and services.
Distributed: research resources remain hosted by participating providers rather than being transferred to one central infrastructure.
Interoperable: common organisational, operational and technical arrangements enable resources to work across Node boundaries.
Expandable: national, thematic and e-infrastructure Nodes can be enrolled in successive waves.
Types of EOSC Nodes
National Nodes
Coordinate resources, institutions and services associated with a country or national research environment.
Thematic Nodes
Serve a scientific domain, research community or group of related research infrastructures.
e-Infrastructure Nodes
Provide pan-European computing, network, data or scholarly communication capabilities.
Infrastructure Node
Provides the Federation-level capabilities represented initially by the EOSC EU Node.
The EOSC EU Node
The EOSC EU Node is the first operational European-level Node and the initial reference implementation of the EOSC Federation.
Gateway for users
Provides access to research data, publications, software, tools and services through a shared European platform.
Research workspace
Supports the creation and execution of multidisciplinary and multinational research workflows.
Contributor environment
Enables repositories, infrastructures and service providers to contribute research outputs and digital services.
Federation blueprint
Provides technical and administrative patterns that can be reused by other EOSC Nodes.
Research resources in EOSC
Data and publications
Datasets, publications and other documented research outputs available through repositories and catalogues.
Software and workflows
Source code, computational tools, notebooks, workflow specifications and executable research processes.
Computing and storage
Cloud, high-performance computing, data-processing and storage resources provided by participating infrastructures.
Scientific services
Domain platforms, analytical tools, catalogues, visualisation, collaboration and data-management services.
FAIR data and interoperability
FAIR principles provide the common direction for preparing research resources, but participation in EOSC requires their translation into concrete metadata, identifiers, access mechanisms and service interfaces.
Findable
Resources are described with searchable metadata and stable identifiers.
Accessible
Access conditions and standard procedures are clearly represented.
Interoperable
Metadata, vocabularies, interfaces and authentication mechanisms work across systems.
Reusable
Resources include licences, provenance, documentation and sufficient scientific context.
Who participates in EOSC?
Researchers
Find, access, analyse, combine and publish research data and other digital outputs.
Research organisations
Develop institutional policies, competencies, repositories and services aligned with EOSC.
Resource providers
Contribute repositories, computing, storage, software, tools and scientific services.
Public authorities and funders
Coordinate policies, investments, open-science requirements and long-term sustainability.
How researchers may use EOSC
1. Discover
Search for datasets, publications, software, tools and services from multiple providers.
2. Access
Obtain open resources or follow documented authentication and access procedures.
3. Process
Use computing, analytical tools and workflow environments to work with research resources.
4. Publish and connect
Deposit new outputs and connect them with software, publications, projects and responsible organisations.
Benefits for research organisations
Wider discovery: institutional resources can become visible beyond a local repository or national catalogue.
Shared implementation practices: organisations can reuse Federation policies, technical patterns and service-management approaches.
Cross-infrastructure workflows: users can combine resources supplied through different institutions and Nodes.
Stronger metadata and service quality: Federation requirements encourage the adoption of structured metadata, persistent identifiers and documented service procedures.
European cooperation: institutions can participate in national, thematic or infrastructure communities that contribute resources to EOSC.
EOSC in 2026
The EOSC Federation was formally launched in November 2025 and is progressing from its build-up phase towards production operations.
By July 2026, 28 first- and second-wave EOSC Nodes were participating in the Federation build-up process.
The second edition of the EOSC Federation Handbook was published in February 2026 to guide organisational, operational and technical integration.
The current strategic baseline remains SRIA 1.3 and its Multi-Annual Roadmap for 2026–2027.
Additional national, thematic and e-infrastructure Nodes are continuing their enrolment and technical integration.
EOSC and the European Research Area
EOSC is part of the European Research Area policy framework and is recognised as the Common European Data Space for research and innovation.
Its purpose is to improve the circulation of research data, services and knowledge across institutional, disciplinary and national boundaries.
EOSC also connects research and innovation data with the wider European data-space policy while preserving the specific requirements of scientific quality, trust, provenance and reproducibility.
Preparing for EOSC
FAIR research resources
Data, software and workflows with suitable metadata, identifiers, licences and documentation.
Trusted services
Repositories and digital services with defined ownership, support, security and operational procedures.
Technical interoperability
Standard interfaces, authentication, metadata exchange and monitoring compatible with the intended Federation role.
Organisational readiness
Governance, responsibilities, service policies, user support and sustainable resource commitments.
Common misconceptions
“EOSC is a European Dropbox.” EOSC supports a much broader ecosystem of research resources, services, computing and workflows.
“All data in EOSC must be completely open.” EOSC follows the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” and supports documented access restrictions.
“A repository automatically becomes an EOSC Node.” A repository may contribute resources, while a Node requires wider organisational, operational and technical capabilities.
“EOSC replaces existing infrastructures.” EOSC depends on existing institutional, national, thematic and pan-European infrastructures.
“Joining EOSC is only an IT task.” It also requires governance, policies, service management, user support, metadata quality and sustainable commitments.
How to use this page
Start with the concepts
Use this page to understand the relationship between EOSC policy, governance, the Federation and the EU Node.
Explore Nodes and services
Continue to the dedicated page for Node functions, capabilities, service onboarding and Federation integration.
Review project requirements
Consult the Horizon Europe and FAIR project pages when planning research outputs and data-management activities.
Examine implementation
Use MATSCI-NASU as an example of organisational, metadata and service preparation for EOSC.
Explanatory status
This page provides a general introduction to EOSC based on official European Commission, EOSC Association and EOSC EU Node sources.
It does not replace the EOSC Federation Handbook, current Node enrolment documentation, official governance decisions or technical specifications.
EOSC is developing rapidly. Node participation, operational structures, policies and technical requirements should therefore be checked against the current official sources before making institutional or project decisions.
The section “EOSC in 2026” is time-sensitive and should be reviewed when new Nodes are enrolled or the Federation enters a new operational phase.