EOS and Open Access in Europe

The European Commission hosted a large conference in Brussels this week on the future of science in Europe. Four members of the EOS Board were invited to participate in a session to discuss Open Access and preservation policies to strengthen science in the European Research Area. Sijbolt Noorda was one of the speakers and Bernard Rentier and Keith Jeffery were discussion participants. Alma Swan was in the chair and presented the conclusions and recommendations to the final plenary session of the conference on the last morning.

The programme covered a range of twelve topics of core importance to the future progress of science in the European Research Area (ERA).  These included research careers, large-scale infrastructures, knowledge transfer, progress indicators and priorities for future national and Community research policies. There were 650 invited participants altogether, who heard speeches by José Manuel Silva Rodriguez, Director General of the Directorate-General for Research, Tobias Krantz, Swedish Minister for Higher Education & Research, Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for Science & Research, and Cristina Garmendia, Spanish Minister for Science & Innovation.

Speakers' papers are available on the conference blog for comment.