Belnet facilitates open science within the Federal Science Policy

• "Sharing the research conducted here in Europe more efficiently is crucial for keeping our economy competitive. Among other things, it ensures greater impact. It has already been proven that business innovations and commercial solutions develop much faster when research data is FAIR: findable, accessible, interchangeable and reusable."

• “"FedOSC is a federal initiative to promote open science within the Belgian federal scientific community. Specifically, the project will develop technical tools that encourage open science practices and FAIR data within Federal Scientific Institutions (FSI). 
• Belnet already makes tools available for this community now – such as DMPonline.be and Orfeo – but these were developed by other agencies and taken over by Belnet over the years. 
• Therefore, a new service offering will ultimately be developed at Belnet, in which we will not only offer existing services, but also upgrade tools ourselves and develop new services, known as ‘Above-the-Net Services’. Expanding on this new area of activity is fully in line with Belnet's broader strategy."

• "Our technical expertise is certainly an important aspect, but the choice fell mainly on Belnet because of our versatility: Belnet can act as a central hub that can take on market research as well as developing business cases and optimising or developing services that meet the needs of the FSI. 
• Belnet also plays an important role in data accessibility (the 'A' in FAIR): through the Belnet R&E Federation and EDUgain, we can ensure that not only the researchers at the institutions have the correct permissions for the right services, but also that smooth access nationally and internationally is made possible."

• "The F in FAIR poses a major challenge: providing data that is findable. There are online data, but also a lot of offline data within the FSI. What's more, data may also often be published on different platforms – at European, Belgian, or local levels. 
• Therefore, one of the most important actions of the FedOSC project is the creation of a metadata catalogue: one place where you can find all the data already available online now in the FSI. Currently, three data stewards have already been appointed within the project who are creating an inventory of all data within the FSI: sources, files, structures and strategies. 
• A second challenge when it comes to making data findable, and which the FedOSC project will work on, is a persistent identifier service (PID). Just like a book has a unique ISBN code, scientific research also needs a reliable reference that is independent of technical platforms, such as websites. We are exploring what the ideal solution is for our community in this respect. 
• Exploratory discussions further revealed that, in terms of data storage, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for the FSI. We may well investigate the option of some sort of Research Cloud, like the one the Netherlands research network offers to its clients. 
• Setting up a national or federal node is also not part of the scope of the project. Of course, all developments are being made EOSC compatible so we may be able to move in that direction in the longer term. It is not a goal in itself, but it is important, considering that this compatibility perpetuates the open science mentality."

• "Rollout of all new services is scheduled for 2026. This obviously requires a great deal of preparatory work by the various teams within Belnet that are involved in service development and support. 
• There is also provision within the FedOSC budget for hiring new colleagues to provide end users with the necessary support. These are support roles that understand the tools inside out from the user's point of view. 
• The FedOSC project runs until the end of 2026, but we are already looking with Belspo at how to fund it systematically after that."

What added value is there for our broader R&E community in the FedOSC project?

• "We will be able to offer the new Above-the-Net Services to more clients than just to FSI. For example, through the Belnet R&E Federation, we may be able to offer open science services to universities or research centres, for example."