OSR: The agility of commercial infrastructures versus the sluggishness of institutional infrastructures / November 14 & 15, 2023 / Apply now - Deadline October 19

[Guido Scherp]

Dear colleagues, 

With the Open Science Retreat (OSR) the ZBW brings together international Open Science supporters from different stakeholder groups. Again, we are planning two sessions where we will dive deeply into the topics that are of burning interest to us all.

We cordially invite you to join our sixth Open Science Retreat that will be held virtually on 14 & 15 November 2023, 13:30-15:30 CET.

It is dedicated to the theme:

The agility of commercial infrastructures versus the sluggishness of institutional infrastructures: How to reach fruitful and trustworhty collaboration?

Data and technology sovereignty is a precious commodity in science. However, the development of institutional infrastructures comes at a high price in terms of time: To reach the broadest possible consensus lengthy coordination processes are necessary to develop and introduce such infrastructures. On the other hand, commercial providers such as Elsevier, OpenAI or Amazon Web Services can develop such services according to their strategies in a much shorter time which are readily used by scientists. However, restrictions on data and technological sovereignty seem to be accepted by the users.

"The good, patient science system and the agile but evil commercial providers?" No! We deliberately want to move away from black and white thinking and focus on how academia and commercial providers can cooperate successfully when it comes to the development and operation of infrastructures:

• How could collaboration between commercial and institutional partners be designed to connect the best of both worlds?
• What could the division of labour and roles look like?
• How can Open Science, with Open Infrastructures/Interfaces and Open Source Software, help to resolve these tensions between agility and usability on the one hand, and sustainability and sovereignty on the other hand?

We are thrilled to invite you to an engaging and thought-provoking virtual event that aims to delve deep into the heart of this issue and to highlight the effects Open Science may have in this equation. 

The OSR will kick off with insightful keynote statements of distinguished experts from the institutional and commercial sector. The following interactive discussions shall focus on sharing experiences of best practices and lessons learnt, and on identifying ways to solve the addressed challenges. 

Don't miss out on this opportunity and apply now for free for this unique networking event: openscienceretreat.zbw.eu

Deadline for application: 19 October 2023

The Open Science Retreat is an interactive event. Participants are expected to commit to active contribution during the entire retreat. The number of participants is limited (random selection, however, balanced with regard to geographical distribution and diversity aspects).

We are looking forward to an exciting retreat – be part of it!

Best,
Guido