EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for “EOSC Nodes with Federating Capabilities for the EOSC Federation” (HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-EOSC-01)

1. Single Market Access (EU-27 + Associated Countries)

• Pan-European User Base: By operating an EOSC node, consortia can immediately serve 2.0+ million EU researchers and 450 million citizens through FAIR data services, maximising uptake of scientific outputs and R&I datasets.

• Data Sovereignty Compliance: EOSC-aligned services satisfy GDPR, DGA and upcoming EHDS rules, giving suppliers a “passport” to all Member States without re-engineering legal compliance per country.

• Commercial Exploitation Pathways: Nodes can upsell premium compute, storage or AI analytics across borders under a unified EOSC service catalogue, lowering customer‐acquisition cost and shortening time-to-market.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Multi-National Consortia Eligibility: Horizon rules require ≥3 entities from 3 different countries, automatically incentivising cross-border governance models for nodes.

• Interoperability Testbed: Federating capabilities (AAI, catalogues, workflows) are co-developed with other nodes, enabling real-time experimentation with best-in-class tools from different national infrastructures.

• Talent Pool Enlargement: Consortium members gain privileged access to Europe’s 1 000+ digital research infrastructures (ERICs, ESFRI landmarks, e-Infrastructures), facilitating staff secondments and joint PhDs.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• Digital Europe Programme: EOSC nodes operationalise the European Data Spaces vision, acting as horizontal connectors between sectoral spaces (health, manufacturing, green deal).

• European Green Deal & Twin Transition: FAIR data & federated compute reduce duplication of experiments, supporting eco-design, climate modelling and circular-economy KPIs.

• AI Act Readiness: Nodes delivering trusted data/compute pipelines can be certified as “high-quality data providers” for AI model training.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• One-Stop Compliance Layer: Integration with the EOSC EU Node reference architecture embeds standardised licence frameworks (CC-BY, EUPL), PID policies and EOSC Rules of Participation, avoiding 27 separate negotiations.

• Seamless Cross-Border Authentication: Enabling EOSC-AAI leverages eduGAIN & eIDAS, eliminating local credential silos and easing onboarding of SMEs and citizen scientists EU-wide.

5. Innovation Ecosystem Leverage

• Gateway to 50+ KICs, Co-location Centres & DIHs: EOSC nodes are natural digital backbones for EIT, DIGITAL EDIH and NGI communities, accelerating technology transfer.

• Test-Before-Invest Services for SMEs: Via FSTP (up to €60 k/third party), nodes can finance SME pilots to integrate novel tools, creating a funnel for venture capital and EIC Accelerator follow-up.

6. Funding Synergies & Stackability

• Cascading Funding: The FSTP mechanism aligns with COST Actions, Interreg cross-border vouchers and Digital Europe CSA funding, creating multi-layered support for service onboarding.

• Structural Funds Complementarity: Cohesion Policy programmes (ERDF/ESF+) can co-finance regional compute centres that later upgrade into full EOSC nodes, ensuring CAPEX-OPEX continuity.

• EIC Pathfinder/Transition: Deep-tech prototypes matured in EIC schemes can be industrialised through EOSC nodes, providing market‐scale validation datasets and users.

7. Scale & Impact Potential

• Federated Resilience: Distributed node architecture mitigates single-point failure, ensuring pan-European business continuity for critical research missions (health emergencies, climate events).

• Economies of Scope: By re-using shared AAI, monitoring and helpdesk, each new node saves an estimated 30-40 % in operational costs versus standalone national infrastructure.

• Policy Voice Amplification: Node operators gain formal seats in EOSC Tripartite governance, influencing future European R&I and data legislation.

8. Strategic Value versus National-Only Initiatives

1. Critical Mass: EU-level federation aggregates data volumes unattainable at national scale, essential for AI/ML and advanced simulations.

2. Standard-Setting Power: Contributing to EOSC specifications positions consortia as de-facto standards leaders, opening consultancy and interoperability licensing revenues.

3. Global Visibility: EU branding enhances credibility when forming trans-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific data alliances, expanding export markets.

9. Actionable Opportunities for Applicants

• Map existing national or thematic infrastructure to the EOSC Minimal Node Requirements and highlight clear EU-level added value (unique dataset, high-end compute, language resources, etc.).

• Build a consortium that spans at least one widening country to maximise evaluation impact score and tap into smart specialisation funds.

• Allocate ~10 % of budget to FSTP for SMEs/RI service providers; prioritise those that bridge multiple data spaces (e.g. agrifood + climate) to demonstrate cross-domain synergies.

• Plan a sustainability model combining EOSC usage fees, national co-funding and Digital Europe Service Contracts to ensure post-grant viability.

• Engage early with EOSC Association Task Forces to co-author governance papers, strengthening the proposal’s credibility under the “Excellence” criterion.

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Delivering an EOSC node under this call is not just a technology project; it is a strategic foothold in Europe’s emerging federated data economy, offering unparalleled advantages that only a continent-wide initiative can unlock.