This strategic roadmap is a guideline for university leaders and regional and national science and innovation policy makers that will ensure the openness of science in the research systems of Unite! universities. The objectives and recommendations encompass the international framework of policies and practices set by the UNESCO Recommendation on how to advance open science, adopted on 23 November 2021, and promote transparency, accessibility, legitimacy and the participation of researchers, students, staff, teachers, citizens and other professional groups in science.
"The adoption of these open science practices, principles and goals in the digital era among Unite! research communities will improve the quality of academic and learning processes, dissemination and creation of new knowledge. It will also increase social trust in science, while more people will be encouraged to innovate and be entrepreneurial and the research and innovation process will be accelerated to find solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the United Nations".
Why open science and innovation?
Open science is transparent and accessible knowledge that is shared and developed through collaborative networks. It involves sharing ideas, data, methods and results with local, national, regional and global collaborative networks of research participants. It also goes beyond this to encompass the production and use of this scientific knowledge among these collaborative networks.
The first recommendation urges universities to develop or align their open science policies on the basis of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, which implies defining a common set of principles, standards, objectives, career evaluation system, incentives and funding for the implementation of open science at university level.
Universities should invest in digital infrastructures to share and produce knowledge among their research communities to ensure open, ethical, legal and secure access to scientific knowledge. In addition, universities should open up their physical infrastructures for research, teaching and innovation for all (by developing the necessary infrastructure access policies and training requirements).
Methodology
"Unite! now has a strategic roadmap that provides agreed recommendations among the 7 universities. Each university is free to decide how to promote them in its community. UNITE.H2020-WP6’s team is exploring the present of a new institution of science in the digital era, to build our open future as European Universities.
