What does it take to turn Open Science policies into something researchers can actually use? How do you move from principles and requirements to a national service that works across institutions, disciplines, and workflows?
In Portugal, this transformation is now unfolding under a clear and shared name: POLEN Blueprint.
From concept to reality: building Portugal’s national DMP service
OpenAIRE, together with CITE and the University of Minho, has been selected by FCCN, the digital services unit of the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), to support the implementation and evolution of POLEN Blueprint as Portugal’s National and Institutional Data Management Plan (DMP) platform. The collaboration officially kicked off in November 2025, marking the start of a multi-year effort to consolidate research data management into a sustainable, nationally governed service.
Just a few weeks later, by January 2026, the project reached its first concrete milestone: the delivery of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
The delivery of the MVP marks an important step. It means that POLEN Blueprint is no longer just a project or a roadmap, it is a working national platform, deployed on Portuguese infrastructure, branded and configured to national needs, with its core functionalities in place. Researchers and institutions can access the system, pilot institutions can operate within their own dedicated environments, and key integrations and authentication mechanisms have been tested and validated. In other words, POLEN Blueprint has moved from concept to reality.
A platform designed for the whole research ecosystem
POLEN Blueprint did not start as a platform with this name or scope. Before POLEN Blueprint, Portuguese researchers were already supported through a DMP service based on ARGOS, developed within the European OpenAIRE infrastructure. That solution played a crucial role in introducing FAIR-aligned data management practices and in supporting compliance with European funder requirements. Over time, however, new national policies, growing institutional diversity, and the need for deeper integration with national systems made one thing clear: Portugal needed more than a hosted tool. It needed a national service.
POLEN Blueprint represents that shift. It is designed to serve the entire research ecosystem, while still allowing institutions to shape their own templates, workflows, and support structures. For researchers, this means clearer guidance and less friction when preparing Data Management Plans. By connecting to the OpenAIRE Graph via its APIs, ARGOS allows researchers to reuse validated information on projects, publications, datasets, funders, repositories, and journals when preparing Data Management Plans, resulting in clearer and more consistent descriptions of their research context. It's a combination of your last text and ours. For institutions, it means ownership, visibility, and alignment with both national and European frameworks. For funders, it offers a reliable way to monitor, support, and improve research data practices at scale.
Combining policy expertise, technology, and community support
OpenAIRE was chosen for this journey because of its unique position at the intersection of policy, infrastructure, and community. As the organisation behind ARGOS and OpenCDMP, OpenAIRE brings continuity and long-term expertise, ensuring that POLEN Blueprint remains aligned with European Open Science developments while being firmly rooted in national priorities. This is reinforced by CITE’s enterprise-grade technical delivery and by the University of Minho’s longstanding role in supporting Portuguese institutions through training and frontline assistance.
What comes next for POLEN Blueprint
With the MVP delivered, the focus now shifts from building the foundation to expanding and consolidating the service. Over the coming phases, POLEN Blueprint will progressively onboard additional institutions, strengthen interoperability with repositories and national information systems, and evolve its reporting and monitoring capabilities. The ambition is not simply to comply with today’s requirements, but to build a platform that can adapt as policies, practices, and community needs to evolve.
What makes the POLEN Blueprint experience particularly relevant is that it reflects a broader European question: how can national research systems build open, interoperable services without sacrificing local control or sustainability? POLEN Blueprint offers one answer: a platform built on open technologies, governed nationally, and connected by design to the wider Open Science ecosystem.
As the service continues to grow, the voices of those involved, from FCCN and FCT to the technical teams and the research community, will be key in shaping its future. Their experience will not only guide POLEN’s next steps, but also offer valuable insights for other countries considering a similar path.
“The implementation of POLEN Blueprint within the National Programme for Open Science and Open Research Data reflects FCT’s strong commitment to Open Science. As a national Data Management Plan service, POLEN Blueprint supports compliance with data management policies, promotes good research data management practices, and adapts to the diversity of institutional ecosystems. By doing so, it leverages the full potential of institutional research support services and empowers researchers across the Portuguese scientific community throughout the research lifecycle.” Sara Pestana, FCCN
“Our collaboration with FCT and FCCN has been one of the most rewarding partnerships over the years. What makes POLEN Blueprint remarkable is seeing a funder actively invest in giving institutions the tools and autonomy to support their researchers rather than simply requiring DMPs as deliverables. By embedding accountability at the institutional level, Portugal is demonstrating what DMP services should ultimately achieve: not plans written to satisfy funders, but genuine research data management support that helps researchers throughout their work.” Elli Papadopoulou, OpenAIRE
