Promoting access to public research data for scientific, economic, and social development

It is now commonplace to say that information and communications technologies are rapidly transforming the world of research. We are only beginning to recognize, however, that management of the scientific enterprise must adapt if we, as a society, are to take full advantage of the knowledge and understanding generated by researchers. One of the most important areas of information and communication technology (ICT)-driven change is the emergence of escience, briefly described as universal desktop access, via the Internet, to distributed resources, global collaboration, and the intellectual, analytical, and investigative output of the world’s scientific community.The vision of e-science is being realised in relation to the outputs of science, particularly journal articles and other forms of scholarly publication. This realisation extends less to research data, the raw material at the heart of the scientific process and the object of significant annual public investments.Ensuring research data are easily accessible, so that they can be used as often and as widely as possible, is a matter of sound stewardship of public resources. Moreover, as research becomes increasingly global, there is a growing need to systematically address data access and sharing issues beyond national jurisdictions. The goals of this report and its recommendations are to ensure that both researchers and the public receive optimum returns on the public investments in research, and to build on the value chain of investments in research and research data. To some extent, research data are shared today, often quite extensively within established networks, using both the latest technology and innovative management techniques. The Follow Up Group drew on the experiences of several of these networks to examine the roles and responsibilities of governments as they relate to data produced from publicly funded research. The objective was to seek good practices that can be used by national governments, international bodies, and scientists in other areas of research. In doing so, the Group developed an analytical framework for determining where further improvements can be made in the national and international organization, management, and regulation of research data.The findings and recommendations presented here are based on the central principle that publicly funded research data should be openly available to the maximum extent possible. Availability should be subject only to national security restrictions; protection of confidentiality and privacy; intellectual property rights; and time-limited exclusive use by principal investigators. Publicly funded research data are a public good, produced in the public interest. As such they should remain in the public realm. This does not preclude the subsequent commercialization of research results in patents and copyrights, or of the data themselves in databases, but it does mean that a copy of the data must be maintained and made openly accessible. Implicitly or explicitly, this principle is recognized by many of the world’s leading scientific institutions, organizations, andagencies. Expanding the adoption of this principle to national and international stages will enable researchers, empower citizens and convey tremendous scientific, economic, and social benefits. Evidence from the case studies and from other investigation undertaken for this report suggest that successful research data access and sharing arrangements, or regimes, share a number of key attributes and operating principles. These bring effective organization and management to the distribution and exchange of data. The key attributes include: openness; transparency of access and active dissemination; the assignment and assumption of formal responsibilities; interoperability; quality control; operational efficiency and flexibility; respect for private intellectual property and other ethical and legal matters; accountability; and professionalism. Whether they are discipline-specific or issue oriented, national or international, the regimes that adhere to these operating principles reap the greatest returns from the use of research data. There are five broad groups of issues that stand out in any examination of research data access and sharing regimes. The Follow Up Group used these as an analytical framework for examining the case studies that informed this report, and in doing so, came to several broad conclusions: • Technological issues: Broad access to research data, and their optimum exploitation, requires appropriately designed technological infrastructure, broad international agreement on interoperability, and effective data quality controls; • Institutional and managerial issues: While the core open access principle applies to all science communities, the diversity of the scientific enterprise suggests that a variety of institutional models and tailored data management approaches are most effective in meeting the needs of researchers; • Financial and budgetary issues: Scientific data infrastructure requires continued, and dedicated, budgetary planning and appropriate financial support. The use of research data cannot be maximized if access, management, and preservation costs are an add-on or after-thought in research projects; • Legal and policy issues: National laws and international agreements directly affect data access and sharing practices, despite the fact that they are often adopted without due consideration of the impact on the sharing of publicly funded research data; • Cultural and behavioural issues: Appropriate reward structures are a necessary component for promoting data access and sharing practices. These apply to both those who produce and those who manage research data.The case studies and other research conducted for this report suggest that concrete, beneficial actions can be taken by the different actors involved in making possible access to, and sharing of, publicly funded research data. This includes the OECD as an international organization with credibility and stature in the science policy area. The Follow Up Group recommends that the OECD consider the following: • Put the issues of data access and sharing on the agenda of the next Ministerial meeting; • In conjunction with relevant member country research organizations, o Conduct or coordinate a study to survey national laws and policies that affect data access and sharing practices; o Conduct or coordinate a study to compile model licensing agreements and templates for access to and sharing of publicly funded data; • With the rapid advances in scientific communications made possible by recent developments in ICTs, there are many aspects of research data access and sharing that have not been addressed sufficiently by this report, would benefit from further study, and will need further clarification. Accordingly, further possible actions areas include: o Governments from OECD expand their policy frameworks of research data access and sharing to include data produced from a mixture of public and private funds; o OECD consider examinations of research data access and sharing to include issues of interacting with developing countries; and o OECD promote further research, including a comprehensive economic analysis of existing data access regimes, at both the national and research project or program levels.National governments have a crucial role to play in promoting and supporting data accessibility since they provide the necessary resources, establish overall polices for data management, regulate matters such as the protection of confidentiality and privacy, and determine restrictions based on national security. Most importantly, national governments are responsible for major research support and funding organizations, and it is here that many of the managerial aspects ofdata sharing need to be addressed. Drawing on good practices worldwide, the Follow Up Group suggests that national governments should consider the following: • Adopt and effectively implement the principle that data produced from publicly funded research should be openly vailable to the maximum extent possible; • Encourage their research funding agencies and major data producing departments to work together to find ways to enhance access to statistical data, such as census materials and surveys; • Adopt free access or marginal cost pricing policies for the dissemination of researchuseful data produced by government departments and agencies; • Analyze, assess, and monitor policies, programs, and management practices related to data access and sharing polices within their national research and research funding organizations. The widespread national, international and cross-disciplinary sharing of research data is no longer a technological impossibility. Technology itself, however, will not fulfill the promise of escience.Information and communication technologies provide the physical infrastructure. It is up to national governments, international agencies, research institutions, and scientists themselves to ensure that the institutional, financial and economic, legal, and cultural and behavioural aspects of data sharing are taken into account

Technology, governance, and a sustainability model for small and medium-sized towns in Europe

New and cutting-edge technologies causing deep changes in societies, playing the role of game modifiers, and having a significant impact on global markets in small and medium-sized towns in Europe (SMSTEs) are the focus of this research. In this context, an analysis was carried out to identify the main dimensions of a model for promoting innovation in SMSTEs. The literature review on the main dimensions boosting the innovation in SMSTEs and the methodological approach was the application of a survey directed to experts on this issue. The findings from the literature review reflect that technologies, governance, and sustainability dimensions are enablers of SMSTEs’ innovation, and based on the results of the survey, a model was implemented to boost innovation, being this the major add-on of this research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Are research data a common resource?

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Policies Supporting Innovation In The European Union In The Context Of The Lisbon Strategy And The Europe 2020 Strategy

In the context of increasing globalization, global competition and rapid change the EU sees innovation and its commercialization as an effective way to build long-term global competitive advantage. Innovation policy is a link between research and technological development policy and industrial policy and makes it possible to create conditions conducive to bringing ideas to the market. It is also closely linked to other EU policies regarding e.g. employment, competitiveness, environment, industry and energy. This paper presents the evolution, conditions and objectives of the innovation policy of the European, and describes the main assumptions of the Lisbon and Europe 2020 strategies. Additionally it indicates possible ways of assessing the measures undertaken within the above-mentioned policies and of determining the tools necessary to implement the strategies

Disaster Resilience Education and Research Roadmap for Europe 2030 : ANDROID Report

A disaster resilience education and research roadmap for Europe 2030 has been launched. This roadmap represents an important output of the ANDROID disaster resilience network, bringing together existing literature in the field, as well as the results of various analysis and study projects undertaken by project partners.The roadmap sets out five key challenges and opportunities in moving from 2015 to 2030 and aimed at addressing the challenges of the recently announced Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. This roadmap was developed as part of the ANDROID Disaster Resilience Network, led by Professor Richard Haigh of the Global Disaster Resilience Centre (www.hud.ac.uk/gdrc ) at the School of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield, UK. The ANDROID consortium of applied, human, social and natural scientists, supported by international organisations and a stakeholder board, worked together to map the field in disaster resilience education, pool their results and findings, develop interdisciplinary explanations, develop capacity, move forward innovative education agendas, discuss methods, and inform policy development. Further information on ANDROID Disaster Resilience network is available at: http://www.disaster-resilience.netAn ANDROID Disaster Resilience Network ReportANDROI

Promoting Academic Entrepreneurship in Europe and the United States: Creating an Intellectual Property Regime to Facilitate the Efficient Transfer of Knowledge from the Lab to the Patient

In 2014, the European Commission announced the launch of a study of knowledge transfer by public research organizations and other institutes of higher learning “to determine which additional measures might be needed to ensure an optimal flow of knowledge between the public research organisations and business thereby contributing to the development of the knowledge based economy.” As the European Commission has recognized, the European Union (“EU”) needs to take action to “unlock the potential of IPRs [intellectual property rights] that lie dormant in universities, research institutes and companies.” This article builds on our earlier work on structuring efficient pharmaceutical public-private partnerships (“PPPPs”), but focuses on the regulatory infrastructure necessary to support the efficient commercialization of publicly funded university medical research in both the European Union and the United States (“U.S.”). Our comparative analysis of the EU and U.S. approaches to translational medicine shows that there are lessons to be shared. The EU can apply the experiences from the U.S. Bayh-Dole Act and PPPPs in the United States, and the United States can emulate certain of the open innovation aspects of the European Innovative Medicines Initiative and the tighter patenting standards imposed by the European Patent Office. Thus, a secondary purpose of this article is suggesting amendments to the U.S. laws governing the patenting and licensing of government-funded technology to prevent undue burdens on the sharing of certain upstream medical discoveries and research tools

The Role of Social and Institutional Contexts in Social Innovations of Spanish Academic Spinoffs

Social innovations developed by academic spinoffs (ASOs) are acquiring an ever-increasing relevance in the literature on academic entrepreneurship. Previous studies have considered the importance of the social and institutional contexts of entrepreneurial ecosystems for the development of these innovations, although a greater depth of analysis is required in this field of study. This research analyzes the influence of the frequency of contact with agents of social and institutional contexts of the entrepreneurial ecosystem on the social innovations of ASOs. From a sample of 173 Spanish ASOs, the results indicate that frequent contact with government and academic support units improves this type of innovation of ASOs. Regarding social context, an increase in the frequency of contact with customers, suppliers, and competitors favors the development of social innovation. However, frequent contact with venture capital firms inhibits the development of this type of innovation

European Arctic Initiatives Compendium

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