How Open Science Can Fulfill SOTEU’s Sovereignty Promises
Considering that Europe aims for full ownership and control of its own research data, it is crucial to turn towards open scholarly communication networks, which are often treated as an unseen utility. If there is a lack of a publicly governed research intelligence layer, the risk of strategic decisions regarding science, innovation, assessment and AI being outsourced to closed systems increases, allowing Europe no control over its own data.
European AI & Technological Sovereignty
Sovereign AI capacity cannot be built on closed systems. For AI to support trustworthy research, it needs access to high-quality scientific information with clear provenance, transparent metadata and conditions for responsible reuse. Open Science infrastructure can help provide this foundation through FAIR-by-design frameworks, machine-actionable data pipelines and an ethical access layer for Large Language Models (LLMs).
This gives researchers, institutions and technology developers a more transparent basis on which to build and assess AI applications, while helping ensure that publicly funded research remains traceable and reusable as new technologies emerge.
Driving Competitiveness by Cutting Administrative Red Tape
Open infrastructure can help translate these requirements into practical research workflows. Machine-readable licensing and rights information, attribution tracking and specialised techno-legal support can make it easier for researchers and institutions to understand how outputs may be accessed and reused, freeing them to concentrate on innovation rather than regulatory red tape.
Defending Democracy & Scientific Integrity
Open research information offers a different model: one in which the evidence used to understand and assess research can be examined, corrected and governed by the communities it serves.
A global, interlinked map of science, such as the OpenAIRE Graph, shows what this can look like in practice. By openly connecting research outputs with people, organisations, funding and other entities, it provides a shared research information layer that can support transparent monitoring, assessment, discovery and reuse.
For Europe, this means greater agency over the information used to understand its own research landscape, while giving researchers, institutions, funders and policymakers a common and transparent evidence base.
Investing in Sovereign Infrastructure
Turning ambitions around sovereignty and competitiveness into lasting capacity requires more than individual projects or short-term technical solutions. The infrastructures underpinning research information need sustainable investment, shared governance and long-term commitments if they are to operate as public goods.
This means recognising open research infrastructure as part of Europe's wider strategic capacity: infrastructure that connects national and European research ecosystems, supports new services and technologies, and allows communities to retain agency over their research information.Investing in this shared foundation would help ensure that Europe's scientific knowledge remains not only open, but also trustworthy, reusable and governed in the public interest.
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