A coordination group to support the availability and use of electronic research data

30.01.2012

The Ministry of Education and Culture has appointed a cross-sector coordination group for the Research Data project (in Finnish: Tutkimuksen tietoaineistot, TTA). The aim is to improve the potential for utilization of electronic research data. Improving research data resources will boost Finnish research and innovation.

The task of the coordination group is to define the services, goals and practices of the information infrastructure with respect to how research data produced by public funding is managed. Additionally, this group is mandated to improve the availability and usability of research data and define the necessary legislative and administrative needs for development. The coordination group should also create the necessary administrative structures and define what further activities will be needed to ensure the availability and usability of research data beyond 2013.

The Research Data project results will be a federated storage solution for research data; support the production of metadata and a best practice solution for processes relating to the production and maintenance of the data. It will also study a shared long-term storage solution together with the National Digital Library of Finland.

Pirjo-Leena Forsström from CSC has been nominated the project’s Secretary General and Annu Jylhä-Pyykkönen from the Ministry of Education and Culture will chair the coordination group.

The project is based on a roadmap report completed in 2011 (in Finnish: Tieto käyttöön. Tiekartta tutkimuksen sähköisten tietoaineistojen hyödyntämiseksi). According to the report, some publicly funded data are difficult to utilize. The storage and management of the data are scattered. Furthermore, legislation is ambiguous, and the terms of use and payment practices are incoherent.

The steering group responsible for the roadmap report has proposed that legislation be developed to support the availability and utilization of electronic data in research and decision-making without any charge. Additionally, data confidentiality issues should be taken into consideration in such a way that these do not hinder high-quality research.

More information:

Juha Haataja, Counsellor of Education (Ministry of Education and Culture), tel. +358 9 160 77363

Pirjo-Leena Forsström, Director, Data Services for Science and Culture (CSC – IT Center for Science), tel. +358 9 457 2273

CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd. provides IT resources, efficient supercomputers and extensive data storage capacity for universities and research institutions. CSC is a non-profit company, administered by the Ministry of Education and Culture.