A comprehensive skills and education strategy is needed to make the vision of a strong European data ecosystem of the Open Science Cloud (EOSC) a reality. Skills and training are essential for integrating FAIR and Open Science practices to drive innovation that ultimately brings societal benefits.
However, there are significant challenges in creating and maintaining the workforce with the digital skills needed to ensure the realisation of the vision of the European Open Science Cloud and to ensure that Europe maintains its leadership in open science. To achieve the vision of a strong research ecosystem with data and software at its core, the European Open Science Cloud plays an important role in ensuring the recognition of professionals with digital skills, disseminating FAIR opportunities and open scientific skills, facilitating access to relevant educational and educational resources andinfluencing strategic agendas at national and European level.
This independent expert report builds on the work of the EOSC Executive Board Task Force on Skills and Training.