The Project is a two-day Open Science Presidency Conference, which is to be held on 4-5 April 2016 and organised in the Netherlands. Its core theme is ‘Open Science: from Vision to Action’. On day one, the focus will be on: 1. Creating Awareness for the need to make a transition towards an open science system. 2. Raising Political Support for Open Science, the Open Science Agenda and the start of the EC Open Science Policy Platform. On day two, the focus will be on: 3. Presenting a European Action Agenda on Open Science The key objective of this Conference is to bring together stakeholders (universities incl. libraries, researchers, funding organisations, publishers) and member states and EC to agree upon a joint perspective and view on realizing open access to scholarly publications by 2020 and to set up a platforms and infrastructure to make optimal (re-)use of research data possible. At the conference there will be the announcement of an Open Science Policy Platform (by EC) and an Action Agenda on Open Science (with focus on open access and open data) that addresses short/medium/long term goals for stakeholders, member states and European Commission. - Science is about curiosity, understanding, discoveries, new knowledge and maximum transfer of knowledge, not only within science but also to transfer knowledge to society and innovative businesses. - We should invest in science and increase its returns (which is more than going for maximum impact factor scores in a ‘publish or perish’ culture), because research is at the basis of innovation, growth and welfare. The results of the Conference will be used as input for the Council Conclusions of the Competitiveness Council in May 2016, and as input for the Open Science Policy Platform. These Conclusions will be the start of concerted action in Europe on Open Science, raising the impact of science on science itself, on economy and on society by defining concerted actions to change the science system in Eur

e-IRGSP6 will provide the core services to the e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG). The project will support e-IRG in its activities producing high-level policy recommendations towards the implementation of EOSC, EDI and the e-Infrastructure Commons overall. The activities include the operation of the secretariat, i.e. organisation of e-IRG and outreach events and provision of secretarial support to e-IRG, its Chair and Executive Board. The provision of editorial support during the preparation of policy documents, as well as the support to e-IRG working groups and task forces are also vital services needed by e-IRG. The communication and lie-IRGSP6 will provide the core services to the e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG). The project will support e-IRG in its activities producing high-level policy recommendations towards the implementation of EOSC, EDI and the e-Infrastructure Commons overall. The activities include the operation of the secretariat, i.e. organisation of e-IRG and outreach events and provision of secretarial support to e-IRG, its Chair and Executive Board. The provision of editorial support during the preparation of policy documents, as well as the support to e-IRG working groups and task forces are also vital services needed by e-IRG. The communication and liaison activities include the dissemination of the outputs of e-IRG, liaison with its various stakeholders, in particular ESFRI, the operation of the external and internal e-IRG web presence and maintenance of the social media outlets. e-IRGSP6 will also assist the EC, the Members States and Associated Countries with communication activities around EOSC and EDI/EuroHPC. Through these supporting activities by e-IRGSP6 and in its capacities e-IRG will contribute to the implementation of EOSC and promote the cultural change towards Open Science principles. The consortium is very experienced and well-connected in the field through long-term involvement in previous e-IRG support projects.

Project Summary The proposed project e-IRGSP5 is intended to provide support to the e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG). The support activities include: • operation of the secretariat, e.g. organisation of events and provision of secretarial support to the e-IRG Chair and Executive Board; • provision of editorial support during the preparation of policy documents, input to the Commission and support e-IRG working groups and task forces; • liaison with e-IRG’s various stakeholders and maintain e-IRG’s social media channels • communication of e-IRG’s output; • operation of the external and internal e-IRG web presence; • collection and aggregation of policy information to enable assessment of e-infrastructures.

The BANOS CSA addresses the call topic ‘Towards a Baltic and North Sea research and innovation programme’. The overarching objective of the project is to create the necessary conditions for durable coordination of research and innovation efforts in the Baltic Sea and North Sea region by preparing a framework for launching a joint Baltic Sea and North Sea research and innovation programme. The outcome of BANOS CSA will ensure that the future joint programme achieves high level of scientific, administrative and financial integration, and generates strong EU added value and impact. The BANOS CSA consortium is coordinated by BONUS EEIG – the dedicated implementing structure of BONUS - the ongoing TFEU Art. 185 initiative – and it represents the leading research and innovation funders of the EU member states and associated states surrounding the Baltic Sea and the North Sea: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and United Kingdom (four of these are represented as 3rd parties linked to the coordinator). These states have already expressed their political and financial commitment to create a joint, transnational research and innovation programme supporting sustainable blue growth within and around two interconnected Northern European sea basins. Three work packages of BANOS CSA build the three main pillars of the future programme: its strategic research and innovation agenda (WP1), mechanisms and instruments of its implementation (WP2) and solid communications, dissemination and engagement strategies and platforms (WP3). An array of mutually interlinked tasks that will enable new research and innovation programme to deliver powerful positive impact are included in the fourth work package (WP4). Finally, the governance and management package (WP5) is designed to flawlessly run the proposed action overcoming challenges posed by complexity of its work plan and diversity within the consortium.

The main objective of the proposal is to contribute to a better harmonisation and synchronisation of priority-setting-, funding- evaluation and life-cycle management of Research Infrastructures (RI through the exchange of best practices among the main stakeholders in member states, associated countries and at European level. The regional dimension will explicitly be taken into account by integrating, where appropriate, smart specialisation strategies in the work carried out. InRoad will achieve this by a) the identification and dissemination of best-practices and common trends of national RI roadmapping procedures and of ex-ante, interim (monitoring) and ex-post evaluation of RI in Europe, b) establishing a trustful dialogue and an intensive exchange of information about national RI roadmapping procedures, RI monitoring and evaluation and sustainable approaches for RI, in line with the objectives laid out in the European Research Area communication and c)fostering a dialogue with the European Commission, ESFRI, the e-IRG and all relevant stakeholders at regional, national and European levels in order to discuss the project findings and promote the dissemination of its recommendations. The InRoad activities and objectives contribute to the specific challenge highlighted in the work programme by a) promoting comparability and synchronisation of national procedures and a possible harmonisation of ex-ante and ex-post evaluation mechanisms through a survey, case studies, interviews and theoretical analyses of current frameworks in use, in close cooperation with the relevant stakeholders, b) supporting RI policy development in terms of exchange of best practices for national roadmap drafting and evaluation procedures and c) support the information sharing with stakeholders in charge of priority-setting, evaluation, funding and operation of RI through their inclusion in a dedicated Reflection Group.