Czech Republic

The Czech Republic, which holds a dense scientific community working on different aspects of the landscape, is advancing towards the implementation of a full strategy for Open Science. Czech universities and further research institutions have created various fora to develop and adopt Open Science in all disciplines. The working groups that have been set up to study specific aspects of EOSC’s implementation in the Czech Republic resembles the Task Forces organised by the EOSC Association. CESNET, the country’s mandated organisation in the EOSC Association, is involved in several EOSC-related projects: PaNOSC, EOSC-Synergy, CS3MESH4EOSC, EGI-ACE, DICE, C-SCALE, and EOSC-FUTURE. This shows a good degree of integration in the EOSC community.

On the policy front, the Czech National Strategy for Open Access to Research Information for 2017-2020 was approved by the Government in 2017, followed by the corresponding Action Plan for the Implementation of the National Strategy of the Czech Republic’s Open Access to Scientific Information for 2017-2020 in 2019. While a full national policy is still in the works, the existence of all these initiatives, some of them with explicit support or initiated by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport indicate that this could be achieved in the near future.

Mandated organisation

CESNET (main contact: Luděk Matyska) is an association of universities of the Czech Republic and the Czech Academy of Sciences, and has been appointed the country’s mandated organisation by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. CESNET’s main activities lie in the operation and development of the national e-infrastructure for science, research and education which encompasses a computer network, computational grids, data storage and collaborative environment. It offers in addition several services to connected organisations

National structure

Since 2021, the EOSC Coordination Board, driven by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports as the national public authority responsible for R&D policy-making and public funding, including research infrastructures, has been operating. It is composed of leading Czech R&D stakeholders: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (lead policy-maker and funder), e-INFRA CZ (Czech national e-infrastructure), National Library of Technology (open science policy coordinator), Czech Rectors Conference (higher education institutions), Czech Academy of Sciences (public research sector), Czech Science Foundation and Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (grant agencies), and Council for Research, Development and Innovation (advisory board). The five-pager titled “Architecture of the European Open Science Cloud Implementation in the Czech Republic” from mid-2021 contains high-level policy orientations on the EOSC implementation in Czechia and sets out essential principles of EOSC-CZ. The document was co-created by policy-makers, e-infrastructure operators and R&D actors, and links architecture design, implementation plan and funding instruments.

Working groups

There are numerous working groups operated as inclusive platforms with fluid membership open to any interested stakeholder. Working groups deal with cross-cutting areas such as Architecture, Metadata, Core services, and Education and Training. There are also specific working groups addressing needs of individual R&D disciplinary domains, such as Physical sciences, Material sciences and technology, Data management for artificial intelligence and machine learning, Environmental sciences, Biological and medical sciences and food, Social sciences, Arts and humanities, and Sensitive data.

Open Access Initiative of the Association of Libraries of Czech Universities

The community around Open Access is active, and includes a working group of Open Access/Open Science Managers to share practical knowledge about its implementation. The working group is formed by institutions that took part in the Action Plan for the Implementation of the National Strategy of the Czech Republic’s Open Access to Scientific Information approved in 2019 that resulted from the Czech National Strategy for Open Access to Research Information for 2017-2020.

The National Information Centre for European Research

The National Information Centre for European Research is also active with the dissemination of knowledge and support in the area of Open Science. 
The Masaryk University represents OpenAIRE in the national network of open science experts. NOAD-CZ is supporting Open Science activities in the Czech Republic, e.g. investigators of H2020 projects with EU requirements, preparation of Data Management Plans and other duties. NOAD-CZ members are part of the Czech government working group on the implementation of the Action Plan of the National Strategy of Open Access. A survey on research data repositories is ongoing, as well as the cooperation with the EOSC-synergy project, currently support landscaping analysis in the Czech Republic.

Creative Commons in the Czech Republic

There is an active group supporting Creative Commons in the Czech Republic (members of NGO . This group is directly linked to the mentioned initiative of Assoc. of Libraries of Czech Universities and to the NOAD-CZ and also to the National Information Centre for European Research (National Contact Point for H2020). More about CC CZ can be found here: https://www.creativecommons.cz/ (only in Czech).