Overview

Open Science is a topic of considerable interest for the global research and scientific community and an important area of possible future co-operation between the EU and Japan. From various angles, it has been addressed in international fora such as the OECD, the Global Research Council and the G7 Science Ministers meeting.
Open Science, or what the European Commission called until recently "Science 2.0", describes the on-going evolution in the way of doing and organising research. These changes are enabled by digital technologies and driven by the globalisation and growth of the scientific community, the exponential growth of data, as well as the need to address the Grand Challenges for our time.
With an aim to bring more clarity to the concept and identify possible policy measures, the European Commission conducted between July and September 2014 a public consultation on "Science 2.0: Science in Transition", as well as a series of associated workshops. An analysis of the results of this consultation was published by the European Commission in February this year (link) and will be summarised in this lecture.
The European Commission has already been implementing various Open Science policies in the context of its Research and Innovation Framework Programmes. As one of the largest funding schemes in the world, Horizon 2020, the European Union's current funding programme for research and innovation (2014-2020), has embraced the principle of open access to all publications receiving its support. In addition, it is implementing an ambitious pilot scheme on open access to research data.
By making more data, results and findings open, it holds the promise to make science more productive, reproducible, transparent and accountable. This ever greater openness that is now sweeping across the research landscape will undoubtedly bolster the scientific endeavor from hereon.