Provide cross-disciplinary services to drive FAIR practices to underpin the transition to Open Science.

Our Mission

Base4NFDI serves as a framework to support the development of a basic service portfolio to meet the needs of the scientific community. Base4NFDI supports the NFDI Sections in identifying basic service candidates, involving relevant stakeholders and existing services, and ensuring their suitability and adoption. It accompanies the development and consolidation of the services in three successive development phases, at the same time leveraging synergies between the NFDI consortia. With a long-term perspective, Base4NFDI contributes to the evolution and innovation of the service landscape.

Our Objectives

Base4NFDI aspires to be a transparent framework to facilitate potential basic services

Base4NFDI supports the development of common federated services to underpin cross-cutting RDM activities.
A basic service is defined as a technical-organisational solution (typically including storage, compute, software, and personnel support) that provides added-value across all the NFDI consortia disciplines and brings together existing services.
The three Base4NFDI development phases contribute to the service landscape within NFDI and each phase generates worthwhile results
Each of the phases is rigorously quality assessed by the NFDI Sections and the Technical Expert Committee to allow a fair decision by the NFDI Consortia Assembly.
Base4NFDI steers the basic services with e.g. training activities for the potential services, technical specialists and Service Stewards
Base4NFDI will link the services from its service portfolio within the NFDI landscape; for service operation beyond Base4NFDI’s time horizon, longterm operational models will be developed but not deployed.

Base4NFDI establishes basic services that are interoperable and contribute to a federated NFDI data infrastructure. In doing so, Base4NFDI:

Ensures interoperability, both technical and organisational, between basic services and interoperability with the consortia’s existing services as much as possible. This will ensure the overall coherence of the basic services to guarantee efficiency.
Engages leading national infrastructure providers to maintain interoperability with and sustainability of potential services.
Contributes to developments and enables relevant discussions with European (e.g. EOSC) and international players (e.g RDA) to facilitate interoperability of services and disciplinary data-sharing standards. Base4NFDI is committed to ensuring that its services align with and are complementary to those delivered at European level and beyond.
Maintains community sovereignty over all basic services (e.g. all services are open source, with open APIs and are openly governed) and ensures security aspects of the services.

Base4NFDI fosters the participation of the whole NFDI community. Base4NFDI:

Is a jointly co-designed initiative. Decisions on the Base4NFDI portfolio lie with the NFDI community.
Encourages and facilitates take up of the services across consortia, with 75% of consortia-approval by Ramp-Up Phase.
Supports the work of the NFDI Sections and interacts closely with the NFDI Directorate to ensure smooth processes.
Contributes to the consolidation of the service landscape - with all infrastructure providers (e.g. computing centres, data centres, libraries) and related initiatives - within and beyond NFDI in Germany.

Beyond 2028 Base4NFDI will:

Be firmly embedded in NFDI and its international activities

Base4NFDI is integrated into the NFDI e.V. after 2028.
Base4NFDI will seek continuing basic service developments after 2028.
Base4NFDI will seek institutional commitment to the basic services and facilitate discussions around sustainability, including business models and quality criteria.
Base4NFDI will continuously contribute to the Open Science landscape.

Last updated in July 2024, approved by the Consortia Assembly on July 5, 2024. Subject to revision in July 2025.