Enhancing data sovereignty for research: Commission publishes new paper

The European Commission has today published an Opinion Paper by the EOSC Steering Board, presenting recommendations aimed at strengthening Europe's capacity to manage, govern and safeguard research data and data-services. The paper outlines options to enhance the resilience and sustainability of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), ensuring that European research data and services remains accessible, of high-quality and securely governed.

The document emphasises principles such as responsible openness, federation autonomy and strict data-quality control. It recommends, inter-alia, creating sovereign services, and closer alignment with common European data spaces. The overall objective is to enable Europe to manage its research data in a trusted and transparent manner, while remaining fully integrated in global scientific collaborations.

Data sovereignty for secure and efficient data sharing in scientific research is also a key element of the European Strategy on Research and Technology Infrastructures, adopted in September 2025. The strategy sets out a long-term approach for Europe's research and technology infrastructures ecosystem: from advanced laboratories and scientific instruments and data centres to testbeds and federated digital infrastructures. Its aim is to boost infrastructure capacities, improve access to infrastructure services, strengthen governance, and enhance the resilience of European infrastructures for R&I.

The newly published Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 includes funding opportunities in support of research data sovereignty. These include actions under the Research Infrastructures part supporting the development of trusted frameworks for secure and efficient data sharing, a mechanism for the sustained provision of digital services such as data storage and computing, and implementation of risk management plans related to access to critical data. Horizon Europe is also supporting the Global Biodata Coalition, reinforcing the long-term sustainability of essential biodata resources. These actions translate policy ambition into practical support for researchers and infrastructures across Europe.

The Commission stays committed to enhance Europe's sovereignty in critical research data and to strengthen an integrated and sustainable ecosystem of infrastructures that will drive scientific excellence, technological innovation and competitiveness.