Dilemmas for sustainability Magchiel Bijsterbosch, EOSC-hub week , 11 April 2019, Prague

1. Dilemmas for sustainability Magchiel Bijsterbosch, EOSC-hub week , 11 April 2019, Prague

2. EOSC sustainability • Understand EOSC drivers • Data and services • The commons challenge • Sustainability beyond the cash • Instruments The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563 Diverse set, ranging from Open Science ambitions to industrial politics Interweaved, but separate economies Openness or free-at-the-point of the user, federating core and long term preservation Partnerships and visibility in an a system adopting market thinking and a repositioning of government intervention Information, accountability, transaction systems and governance arrangements

3. Understand EOSC drivers • Diverse set, ranging from Open Science ambitions to industrial politics The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563 Open Science policy: giving Europe a competitive advantage through open access data Industrial politics: utilise public sector force to counterbalance US and Chinese cloud service industry Users in the driver’s seat, with transaction-based funding as the most straightforward KPI Increase efficiency by reducing fragmentation Post-New public management thinking Single digital market agenda and Four Freedoms

4. Data and services • Interweaved, but separate economies The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563 Electronic services are perishable and rivalrous Value chain is fairly straight forward with a symmetrical distribution of transaction and value. Infrastructures are build-up through capital funding and federated through a combination of GDP-based contributions and EC funding Data can be considered as a product from research investments The use of data is inherently non-rivalrous Data economy is often based on value added services (e.g. tooling or methods for analytics, enrichment) or two-sided market models Value of data is increased through network effects. Data lives and is processed on electronic services, potentially part of (research) infrastructures. Technological advancement raises the marginal production rate and Information technologies speed up the codification of knowledge based on this data.

5. The commons challenge • Openness or free-at-the-point of the user, federating core and long term preservation The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563 Data under Open Access is non-excludable, classifying it as a public good Scarcity of supply-oriented funding associated with services free-at-the-point-of-the-user push the service to a common-pool-resource Supporting services e.g. federating core are prone to free-rider behaviour Long-term preservation requires custodian institutions to balance preservation decisions with active research budgets

6. Sustainability beyond the cash • Partnerships and visibility in an a system adopting market thinking and a repositioning of government intervention The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563 Many collaborations are based on a notion of partnership and trust. A transactional mentality may not be adequate here. Political support for supply-oriented funding depended on visibility of impact Funders require stronger indicators evidence of value-for-money Ambition in governments to reduce dependency of supply-oriented funding for structural activities Adoption of private sector techniques to drive efficiency in public sector Solidarity question between Member States to allow yield of national investments outside borders Fundamental discussion in Europe on the extend of interventions at the Federal level

7. Instruments • Information, accountability, transaction systems and governance arrangements The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563 Ensuring a level playing field Catalogue to lift information asymmetry between users and services providers on warrantees Rules of Participation should govern public and private sector: predatory pricing, state aid, … Transaction mechanisms fit for maturity level of supply and demand side Institutions to deal with common pool resources and conflict

8. Dilemma 1 “A demand-oriented funding model puts the user in the driver’s seat allowing for allocative efficiency, … while …the potential demand failure doesn’t allow for long-term planning for full productive efficiency and increases registration costs.” The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563

9. Dilemma 2 “Commercial providers may provide services more efficiently, … while …full freedom of choice may ultimate erode publicly funded infrastructure.” The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563

10. Dilemma 3 “Instruments at the Federal level (portals, non-monetary based transaction systems) may catalyse convergence in EOSC, … while …the imposed changes may obscure and frustrate the underpinning infrastructures.” The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563

11. Dilemma 4 “Cloud coins or vouchers may help to simplify transaction in cases where capabilities to support financial transactions are not in place while …it requires a duplication of systems e.g. allocation of funds, exchange rates, accounting, reimbursement, audit frameworks, … .” The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563

12. Recommendations • Follow the organisational structure of research and digital infrastructures: utilise subsidiarity by default. • Make institutional commitments at the Member State-level for supply oriented funding models explicit and visible. • Stimulate demand-oriented funding models with symmetrical value transactions for easier transcending organisational, national and disciplinary boundaries. • Don’t replicate the financial markets to support transactions: default to Euro, while keeping registration costs to the minimum by supply oriented funding level. Vouchers-like systems can be an intermediary step. • Preserve the culture and values in academia while introducing private sector techniques: keep room for partnerships that have trust, go beyond of what is and accept risks. • Ensure through Rules of Participation that demand-oriented funding cannot erode the public infrastructure through market imperfections. • Tackle collective action problems by designing institutions in such a way that they deal with common-pool-resource-problems. • Fund structural activities through structural instruments, e.g. tender operational infrastructures instead of through project calls. The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563

13. Thank you! The European Open Science Cloud for Research pilot project is funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation under contract no. 739563