Data Summit in Paris
28.01.2020
The world's leading networks of research-intensive universities are committed to opening up research data and demanding a legal framework and resources.
The international Research Data Rights Summit was held at Sorbonne University on Monday, 27 January. This initiative brought together nine major networks of research-intensive universities from major regions of the world. It was an opportunity to sign the "Sorbonne Declaration" on the rights of research data. This text strongly affirms the willingness of universities to share their data while firmly calling on governments to adopt a clear legal framework to regulate this sharing and to provide the means to put it in place.
Co-organized by Sorbonne University, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and University College London (UCL), this data summit is unprecedented in its scale: nine networks representing more than 160 of the main research-intensive universities in the world. The signing of the “Sorbonne Declaration” is an ambitious message to the international scientific community and to research funding bodies and governments. This framework document, intended to promote the sharing and proper use of data, calls on the public and private research communities to join this commitment. It also confronts governments and research funders with their responsibilities of providing universities with the financial means and the appropriate legal framework to open data.
This is an essential issue for the quality and transparency of research. It is also a crucial economic issue: funded largely by public money, research data represents tens of billions of euros worldwide. The objective is therefore to make these data accessible in order to accelerate scientific discoveries and economic development. For example, in Europe, according to a PwC [1] report produced for the European Commission, sharing and better managing research data would save 10.2 billion euros per year in Europe, with an additional potential of 16 billion euros of added value by the innovation generated.
Participants are driving this change by proposing concrete solutions to restore confidence in public research and accelerate the development of knowledge and the economy.
Download the Sorbonne Declaration
The signatories : Association of American Universities (AAU): Founded in 1900, the Association of American Universities is composed of America’s 65 leading research universities. African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA): ARUA was inaugurated in Dakar in March 2015, bringing together sixteen of the region’s leading research universities. Coordination of French Research-Intensive Universities (CURIF): The CURIF brings together the leading French universities in terms of research (18 members). German U15: German U15 represents 15 leading research-oriented universities, among the most distinguished and internationally visible institutions in the German academic system. League of European Research Universities (LERU): League of European Research Universities>span class="st"> (LERU) is a network of 23 leading European universities pushing the frontiers of innovative research. RU11 Japan: RU11 is a consortium which was established in November 2009, consisting of 11 of the top Research Universities in Japan, highly active in the international academic community. Russell Group: The Russell Group represents 24 leading research-intensive UK universities. The Group of Eight (Go8): The Group of Eight (Go8) is a coalition of world-leading research-intensive universities based in Australia. U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities: The U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities is a collective of some of Canada’s most research-intensive universities. |
[1] Cost of not having FAIR research data, PwC EU Services, March 2018
Picture by VVK-LERU
Picture by VVK-LERU
