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Annex 2:
Report of the Group of Senior Officials on Global Research Infrastructures

Turin, Italy, September 28, 2017
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See also
G7 Science Ministers Communiqué
Annex 1: G7 Future of the Seas and Oceans Working Group — Progress Since May 2016
Annex 3: G7 Working Group Neglected Tropical Diseases and Poverty Related Diseases
Annex 4: G7 Expert Group on Open Science

Exeutive Summary

This report summarizes the activities and results of the work of the Group of Senior Officials on Global Research Infrastructures following the extended mandate received from the G7 Science Ministers in October 2015 in Berlin. It stems from the 9th GSO Meeting, held on 15-16 May 2017 in Naples, and it is presented to the G7 Science Ministers' Meeting in September 2017 in Turin as well as to all the Ministers of the GSO members.

The GSO proactively works to identify opportunities for international collaboration among Research Infrastructures that are proposed by its members: it has identified five Case Studies and has carried out an analysis on their potential as Research Infrastructures for global collaboration. A specific roadmap for implementation has been identified for two of the Case Studies — the Underground Laboratories Global Research Infrastructure-UG GRI and the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium Global Research Infrastructures-IMPC GRI — considered by the GSO as mature to proceed to the next stage of implementation.

The GSO has further developed the relevant Policy Areas — also identifying the most advanced international good practices — and, on this base, has updated its Framework — the list of reference criteria for the establishment of GRIs — that is a living document, firstly approved by the G8 Science Ministers' Meeting in June 2013 in London.

The updated GSO Framework contains a refined definition of global Excellence-driven Access to GRI that recognises scientific merit as the principal criterion of access. Furthermore GSO developed and agreed upon a "Declaration of Intent" concerning global Excellence driven Access to GRI which is recommended to be signed by future GRI meeting the GSO framework criteria. An updated definition of global Open Innovation that refers to the specific direct contributions of the GRI to innovation and open innovation has been proposed. The GSO is also currently addressing the global Open Research Data issue including the key criteria for data management, data quality control and access to data, and sketching a preliminary set of potential guidelines for implementation by GRIs that builds on the results and good practices of, among others, the Research Data Alliance.

The Matchmaking Exercise, which is based on the list of potential GRIs identified by the GSO Members, continued since the last GSO Report in 2015. It has stimulated dialogues among the stakeholders at the international level, from bilateral to multilateral. The GSO, since March 2011, has been chaired once by the European Commission, the United Kingdom and Australia, and twice by South Africa, Germany and Italy. The Chairman hosts the plenary meeting and coordinates the work until the next plenary meeting. The EC is a member of the GSO and provides its secretariat and archive. The current Chair is Italy; forthcoming hosts will be the Russian Federation for the 10th GSO Meeting in October 2017 in Dubna, followed by the United States of America in Spring 2018 and the United Kingdom in Autumn 2018.

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Source: Official website of the 2017 Italian G7 Presidency


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