EOSC National Tripartite Event in Croatia

As part of the annual SRCE DEI 2023 conference, which is also the final conference of the Croatian Scientific and Educational Cloud (HR-ZOO) national strategic project, the national tripartite meeting of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) was held. The meeting was organised with the aim of establishing national coordination of the implementation of EOSC policy and defining national priorities and needs in this area. The goal of tripartite events is to bring together key stakeholders from all three sides - national financiers and policy makers, the European Commission, and the community - to encourage and support their coordination. The focus of tripartite meetings is on common challenges such as exchanging good practices, further strengthening dialogue, defining national priorities, and concrete actions necessary for implementing EOSC.

The first part of the tripartite meeting focused on policies and activities of organisations related to EOSC. Speakers included experts from Croatia and the European Commission, as well as representatives of organisations involved in managing EOSC - Ivan Marić (SRCE, EOSC), Anna Panagopoulou (European Commission), Michel Schouppe (European Commission, EOSC), Giorgio Rossi (Università degli Studi di Milano, EOSC) and Sarah Jones (EOSC). The discussions revolved around important topics for the development of open science, where the state of the movement in Croatia was evaluated from the perspectives of researchers, policy makers, and funders.

In the second part of the event, the discussion shifted towards research data, their management and role in open science, and the draft of the Croatian Open Science Plan was publicly presented for the first time. This plan was prepared as part of the work of the Croatian Open Science Cloud Initiative. Antica Čulina, a senior scientific collaborator at the Ruđer Bošković Institute, spoke about the researcher's perspective on open science. Sanja Jurković and Lovorka Čaja presented the concept of research data management at the Ruđer Bošković Institute, while Marijana Glavica talked about current plans and challenges faced by the Croatian Social Science Data Archive (CROSSDA). Draženko Celjak from SRCE presented the perspective of service providers in the field of open science and open research data, while Bojan Macan spoke about open science from the perspective of OpenAIRE NOAD (National Open Access Desk).

In the final part of the three-part event, the focus was on discussing Croatia's position within the EOSC and the support provided by the Croatian Science Foundation to the open science movement. A presentation was also given on the draft of the Croatian Plan for Open Science, which was prepared as part of the work of the Croatian Cloud for Open Science (HR-OOZ) Initiative. This was followed by a panel discussion on the topic of "Who, What, and How to Further Open Science in Croatia?" which featured renowned experts from the fields of science and academia. Among the panellists were Dr. Antica Čulina, a scientist who specialises in ecology and the study of open science and research processes at the Ruđer Bošković Institute, Lea Lazzarich, the Director of the University Library in Rijeka who coordinates open science activities at the university, Prof. Dubravko Majetić, the Vice-Rector for Science at the University of Zagreb, and Dr. David Smith, the Director General of the Ruđer Bošković Institute. The participants agreed that open science brings many benefits and new quality to science and research. The need for a quality system and various forms of support for researchers in the application of open science principles was emphasised, as well as the need to adapt institutional and project evaluation systems and scientist reward and advancement systems. Additionally, the continuation of the Croatian Cloud for Open Science Initiative as a platform for promoting and coordinating activities related to the application of open science in Croatia and connecting with the European Open Science Cloud was supported.

To support coordination, exchange of best practices, and define concrete actions for the implementation of the EOSC, it is necessary to encourage and hold such events more frequently. In addition to serving as a platform for knowledge exchange and consideration of issues faced by all stakeholders, tripartite meetings play a crucial role in strengthening dialogue. As such, they are essential for enhancing collaboration and success in creating a common European cloud for research.