Last week, more than 500 representatives from across Europe’s research and innovation landscape gathered in Florence for the EOSC Symposium 2026. Coming from 35 countries and representing national research and education networks (NRENs), e-infrastructures, research infrastructures, national initiatives, policymakers and service providers, they shared a common objective: shaping the next phase of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) as the EOSC Federation moves from ambition to operations.
Throughout the three days, a shift in the conversation could be observed: Europe’s digital research ecosystem is moving beyond building individual services and platforms. The focus is now on connecting infrastructures, enabling seamless access to resources, and creating an environment where researchers can move effortlessly between data, services and computing capabilities across disciplines and across Europe. Discussions repeatedly returned to Europe’s need for digital sovereignty, research resilience and competitiveness in an increasingly data-driven and AI-enabled world. Speakers from the European Commission, national ministries and research organisations highlighted the growing importance of trusted European infrastructures that can support researchers while safeguarding European values and scientific autonomy.
For NRENs and GÉANT, this is a very familiar territory.
The foundations of a federated European research ecosystem rely on capabilities that the GÉANT community has developed for many years: trusted connectivity, federated identity, secure access and cross-border collaboration. As the EOSC Federation becomes operational, these capabilities are becoming increasingly visible as critical enablers of the wider ecosystem.
This was particularly evident in sessions dedicated to the EOSC EU Node and the EuroHPC Federation Platform, which included a powerful demonstration on the interoperatbilty between the two systems. Speakers highlighted the reliance on eduGAIN and MyAccessID, underlining the central role that the GÉANT community already plays in enabling the federation.
The EOSC Symposium also highlighted the growing maturity of the EOSC Federation itself. National and thematic EOSC Nodes presented their progress, demonstrating how communities across Europe are contributing to a shared ecosystem while retaining their local strengths and priorities. Europe’s NRENs and GÉANT were among the organisations contributing to these discussions, alongside research infrastructures, thematic communities and national nodes.
Florence showed that the future of the EOSC federation will not be built by technology alone. It will be built by communities working together across borders, disciplines and infrastructures. This is where GÉANT and the NRENs have a unique responsibility. We already provide many of the foundations on which the federation depends, ensuring that Europe’s researchers can access the data, services and opportunities they need to innovate, collaborate and compete on a global stage.
