D6.2 Strategic Roadmap (Release 1)

The Horizon 2020 Blue-Cloud (B-C) project launched in October 2019, aiming to demonstrate the potential of web-based Open Science in the marine domain. To deliver on this objective, it is piloting the development of a web-based cyber platform that will provide marine scientists with enhanced analytical capabilities. It will facilitate their engagement in collaborative research and will provide them with access to powerful cloud-computing resources, a range of analytical tools and simplified access to multi-disciplinary data from in situ and satellite-derived observations to model outputs. B-C is co-designed by, and builds on, existing European capability, including trusted data services EMODnet, CMEMS and other key research and data infrastructures and e-infrastructures. In the short-term, the project is building this cyber platform by means of a smart federation of selected, multidisciplinary data repositories, analytical tools and computing facilities. The added-value of web-based Open Science will be demonstrated by five specific, multidisciplinary "demonstrators" or use-cases. In the medium- and long-term future, B-C aspires to upscale this cyber platform, its resources, services and applications, together with a thriving community of Open Science service providers and users. B-C will evolve to further align with wider developments at European level to catalyse transformative solutions to priority societal challenges and unravel new opportunities for innovation, in support of the EU Green Deal and UN Agenda 2030. To guide the long-term capitalization and further development of this ambition into the future, the Blue-Cloud Project is producing a roadmap to 2030, which is being developed as a co-designed, community-oriented policy document with substantial stakeholder consultation and input. This document is a first draft Blue-Cloud Roadmap to 2030, that will be further updated and summarised in Spring 2021, ready for public consultation in June 2021. For this reason, this document should not be seen as a preliminary blueprint, but rather as an intermediary step towards gathering input, feedback and insight from the B-C Community towards its evolution and grounding, benefiting from wide stakeholder consultation. Sections 1 and 2 introduce the process followed towards the development of the roadmap, as well as the policy context, opportunities and challenges that motivate the Blue-Cloud's efforts, exploring the emergence of Open Science in the context of the digital age and how it can contribute to support the European Green Deal and the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. It analyses relevant developments shaping Europe's marine knowledge value chain and reflects on some of the outstanding challenges currently hindering its potential to leverage on Open Science to deliver on the objectives of these policy frameworks. Section 3 describes the added value that Blue-Cloud will bring to this landscape by 2022, and the overarching, strategic objectives guiding its realization. Sections 4 and 5 look deeper into the practical, technological and demonstrative assets that the project will deliver. Section 6 reflects on the community of "early practitioners" of Open Science that is emerging around these efforts in the marine domain, as another key asset into the future. Section 7 reflects on the overarching vision that could guide the future capitalization and further development of these results, as well as strategic, high-level actions towards achieving a shared vision. As the first early draft "roadmap", this document is extensive and does not yet include policy recommendations, which will be the core content of the final roadmap. The final version of the B-C Roadmap to 2030 (see box below) will be more concise, focusing on translating the road ahead in practical terms of policy actions and recommendations, bringing its key messages forward. This current format is used for a better understanding of the Blue-Cloud efforts, inviting feedback and contributions from the B-C Project Consortium, the B-C External Stakeholder Expert Board, the myriad of related projects and initiatives with whom the project is in dialogue, but also from organizations and professionals not yet directly engaged in its efforts, but who could be interested in joining in the future. The policy recommendations for the final B-C Roadmap to 2030 will be drafted from community responses to the public consultation, in particular to the following key questions: How should Blue-Cloud evolve to support a thriving environment for web-based Open Science and Open data in the marine domain? What governance mechanisms are most appropriate and desirable to ensure broad engagement of the marine community and to ensure widely accepted rules of participation? What applications of Open Science in the marine domain could have a higher probability of success, given current availability of data, models and actors willing to engage in collaborative science, across a broad range of topics? Which of such applications should be prioritized towards addressing current user needs and delivering highest societal impact? How should B-C's Open Science environment and services evolve to be fit-for-use not only for scientists, but also for other Open Science users such as policy makers and blue economy SMEs and industry? What needs do these users have that B-C could evolve to address? What incentives can contribute to bring Open Science practitioners on board? How can B-C evolve to further connect with marine data infrastructures and research infrastructures to deliver full interoperability of marine data through the B-C Data Discovery & Access Service, aligning and in collaboration with other international efforts? What actions would be required to enable B-C's Catalogue of analytical methods, algorithms and applications to be deployed in EOSC, but also in other infrastructures -closer to data- or across supercomputing platforms in Europe? How should B-C's assets evolve to align with future EU pilot DTO and DestinE developments?