At the 9th EOSC Tripartite Event, held in Cyprus on April 21, 2026, the candidates for the second wave of EOSC Node establishment were confirmed. The European Commission, EOSC Association, and EOSC Steering Board approved 14 new candidates for EOSC Nodes, including the Croatian national EOSC Node. SRCE, as the mandated institution, will coordinate the new Croatian national EOSC Node, with participation from member institutions of the Croatian Open Science Cloud Initiative (HR-OOZ). SRCE is carrying out the establishment process with the support of the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth and as a member of HR-OOZ.
With this expansion, the EOSC Federation enters a new phase of growth, now including a total of 27 Node candidates (13 from the first wave and 14 from the second wave) alongside the main EOSC EU Node.
The inclusion of Croatia in the EOSC Federation represents an important step toward strengthening national and European scientific excellence and confirms the key role of open science in the future development of research and innovation systems.
The new candidates will begin the integration process in May 2026. The process includes integration into the EOSC Federation, adaptation of technical and organizational frameworks, and active participation in knowledge exchange and best practices.
The EOSC Federation is recognized as a joint European data space for research and innovation. The goal of its expansion is to ensure a reliable and interoperable infrastructure for sharing research data and scientific services across Europe. With the confirmation of the second wave of national Nodes, the Federation continues to grow and include increasingly diverse research communities.
The second wave establishes eight national EOSC Nodes, further including the following EU member states and associated countries: Czechia, Croatia, Latvia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. In addition to national Nodes, pan-European e-infrastructure EOSC Nodes (EGI) and thematic EOSC Nodes — EBRAINS RI, ENVRI, and METROFOOD-RI — are being established, covering various scientific fields.
The Croatian national EOSC Node will contribute to strengthening national capacities in open science, research data management, and international cooperation. Within the Federation, Croatia is developing two key use cases focused on enhancing capacities in research data management and research software.
The first use case is aimed at integrating SRCE’s PUH service (Storage and Data Management) into EOSC’s Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing (EFSS) infrastructure. This will enable secure storage, synchronization, and sharing of PUH users’ research data in accordance with EOSC standards and FAIR principles, as well as their exchange with other EOSC Nodes.
The second use case focuses on increasing the visibility of research software through the integration of GitLab with EOSC, implemented via the OpenCode.HR platform on SRCE’s infrastructure. This will enable better linking of research software with associated data and publications within the EOSC ecosystem.
