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Open Science: A Key to Digital Resilience
Controlling its research intelligence is a critical pillar of European digital sovereignty. We explored this intersection at the European Economic and Social Committee's Civil Society Week 2026 during the Media and digital resilience as safeguards of democracy session. Despite the large amount of research generated by European academics, the infrastructure, analytics, and metadata that steer our scientific focus (research intelligence) are frequently controlled by foreign companies with their own commercial interests. Open infrastructures, like the OpenAIRE Graph, give control of research outputs, digital maintenance, and reusability back to Europe.
It's remarkable how the need to reclaim our data mirrors a broader societal challenge discussed throughout the event. Petko Georgiev, Chair of ProInfo (an organisation focused on countering disinformation) noted that in today's digital environment there are "small parts of information across a zillion platforms"; a trend commonly observed in the research space, and one of the challenges OpenAIRE addresses with a centralised and trusted, European-level system. Because when people are forced to cross-reference multiple, fragmented sources, the risk of consuming manipulated or inaccurate information greatly increases.
This fragmentation puts democracy under threat, and the growing adoption of AI and disinformation campaigns targeting EU countries and neighbours increases this risk. If we cannot verify the quality of the research we consume or produce, democratic dialogue fractures.
This is one of the reasons why OpenAIRE works to protect and foster access to research and related outputs. At the moment, not all EU countries have the same access to resources to access vital research. This leaves a vacuum for other powers and interests to intervene by funding alternative research which they can then present to global policymakers and academics. A move that can shift perceptions away from core EU values.
But access alone isn't enough. Open digital infrastructures like the OpenAIRE Graph can provide access to research outputs and information surrounding them. However, if the research itself isn't openly available, a significant piece of the puzzle is missing. One can still gather vital information, like affiliations, funding, and projects. Nevertheless, access to the research itself, may be restricted if it wasn't published as Open Access. That's why it's important for countries to up efforts on advancing Open Science, so that these black boxes don't remain. This is essential not only for informed policy-making, but also for academics who need access to such information to advance their research, and by doing so, public knowledge. Notable examples of countries taking big strides in this area are Ireland, who aims for all publicly funded research outputs to be Open Access by 2030 and the Netherlands who recently announced €35 million in funding to improve Open Science infrastructure within the country.
By building resilient digital infrastructures, and improving efforts to advance Open Science, we can actively protect democratic processes. Efforts that OpenAIRE fundamentally stands behind as we continue to build an open research intelligence ecosystem.
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