EOSC Nodes with federating capabilities for the EOSC Federation

The main goal of this grant is to further develop the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) as a robust, interconnected system by establishing a network of independently managed EOSC nodes. These nodes will work together to support researchers, enhance technical interoperability, and strengthen the resilience of the overall system. The opportunity focuses on improving governance, sustainability, and federating capabilities such as authentication, research catalogues, and monitoring. Training and collaboration among node operators are also key priorities. The grant is open to projects based in Horizon Europe participating and associated countries, with nodes representing specific thematic or geographic areas within these regions.

• Projects must follow the specified application format and page limits.
• They must involve eligible countries and comply with participation requirements.
• Applicants need to show both financial and operational capacity.
• Proposals are evaluated on coordination with other EOSC projects and governance.
• Projects must address gaps at technical, legal, and organizational levels, and propose sustainable solutions.
• They should meet minimal node requirements, including legal compliance, large-scale service provisioning, onboarding third-party services, and adherence to federation rules.
• Proposals may include financial support to third parties (FSTP) for onboarding, up to EUR 60,000 per third party.
• Digital research data must be deposited in a trusted EOSC repository.

Example Projects:

• A project that connects national research infrastructures to the EOSC, ensuring technical compatibility and legal compliance.
• A thematic EOSC node focused on life sciences, onboarding multiple third-party services and providing training for node operators.
• A project that develops and implements new federating capabilities, such as improved research catalogues or knowledge graphs, and ensures their sustainability beyond the grant period.

• Costs related to onboarding value-added data, tools, and services to the EOSC node (for third parties, up to EUR 60,000 each).
• Expenses for training EOSC node operators.
• Costs for developing and refining federation specifications and technical interoperability.
• Expenses for collaboration activities among node operators.
• Costs for integrating research environments with the EOSC federation.
• Development and implementation of federating capabilities (e.g., authentication, catalogues, monitoring).
• Operational expenses for ensuring node sustainability.
• Legal and organizational compliance activities.
• Data management and repository-related expenses.

Restrictions: Financial support to third parties is strictly for onboarding costs, with a maximum of EUR 60,000 per third party.

• Budget for this Call: 30,000,000€
• Number of Grants attributed: 4
• Maximum value per project: 8,000,000€
• Minimum value per project: 6,000,000€

• Applicants must be based in eligible countries (EU Member States, Associated Countries, and certain non-EU/non-Associated Countries with Horizon Europe provisions).
• Applicants must comply with conditions for protecting European communication networks.
• Applicants must demonstrate legal, financial, and operational capacity.
• Beneficiaries must deposit digital research data in a trusted EOSC-federated repository.
• Proposals must align with the specific requirements of the topic.
• Eligibility is open to networks or partnerships representing thematic or geographic EOSC nodes.