By preparing Switzerland for European and other international data-sharing initiatives, the SENPro initiative will enhance open science, accelerate collaboration and innovation, and strengthen national digital sovereignty. A prototype Swiss EOSC node will be created to unite research data, services and infrastructure across disciplines and institutions, under a common framework for interoperability, discoverability and reusability that aligns with European standards. SIB co-leads community testing of the prototype with the Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences (FORS) – and coordinates the development of one of its integrated research services, Swiss Galaxy.
A collaboration between Swiss research data pioneers
SENPro (Swiss EOSC Node Prototype) is a consortium between ETH Zurich (Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS), Library, Scientific IT Services, Research Initiatives and Infrastructures), FORS, SIB, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Switch, the University of Basel (Data and Service Center for the Humanities (DaSCH), Swiss Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH)), the University of Lausanne (Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Information Resources and Archives Department (UNIRIS)), and the University of Zurich (Library, Swiss Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure (CLARIN)). Funded by swissuniversities’ Open Science Programme II, the project builds on the partners’ extensive expertise in building national and European research infrastructure.
SENPro: Switzerland’s strategic step towards federated data leadership
Open science strengthens innovation and competitiveness by fostering scientific collaboration, transparency, and efficiency. Recognizing this, the international research community is working to enhance the sharing of research data and services as a key enabler of open science. In Europe, the EOSC Federation is creating an ecosystem of national and thematic nodes that will enable researchers to access and share such resources seamlessly across disciplines and borders.
A collaboration between Swiss research data pioneers
SENPro (Swiss EOSC Node Prototype) is a consortium between ETH Zurich (Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS), Library, Scientific IT Services, Research Initiatives and Infrastructures), FORS, SIB, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Switch, the University of Basel (Data and Service Center for the Humanities (DaSCH), Swiss Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH)), the University of Lausanne (Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Information Resources and Archives Department (UNIRIS)), and the University of Zurich (Library, Swiss Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure (CLARIN)). Funded by swissuniversities’ Open Science Programme II, the project builds on the partners’ extensive expertise in building national and European research infrastructure.
SENPro represents a strategic step by Switzerland to participate in EOSC and other evolving data-sharing ecosystems while safeguarding national sovereignty and competitiveness. The project will design and test a prototype Swiss EOSC node that unites nationally important research data and services under a common framework aligned with European standards, FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) practices, and Swiss and EU data-sharing regulations. This will:
- accelerate discoveries and innovation by providing researchers with streamlined access to interdisciplinary research data and services – including ‘long-tail’ resources that are not part of existing domain-specific research infrastructure;
- create a ‘future and AI-ready’ Swiss data ecosystem that can connect to EOSC as well as upcoming European Data Spaces and AI factories for transforming data into actionable solutions;
- support sustainable research infrastructure through improved reuse of public research and strategic investments by funders and institutions;
- raise the profile and competitiveness of Switzerland in Europe by bringing higher visibility to national data resources (see also below);
- support evidence-based policymaking built on transparent science and trusted data.
SIB is a partner in SENPro, along with other Swiss research infrastructure providers, higher education institutions, national research and education networks, and university hospitals that together span the social sciences, humanities, life sciences, linguistics, and health (see box). The national collaborative initiative builds on SIB and other partners’ roles in implementing EOSC as members of the EOSC Association and through other projects. It also helps deliver SIB’s mission to push the boundaries of data science, provide researchers and clinicians with outstanding data resources, and federate and represent Swiss bioinformatics.
Building a community-driven, sustainable Swiss EOSC node
SENPro is being developed in close collaboration with Swiss researchers to ensure it meets their needs. As part of this, SIB co-leads work with FORS to test and refine the prototype with both scientists and research infrastructures. This includes gathering feedback on usability, interoperability, and alignment with Swiss and European standards.
This community-driven approach will culminate in a roadmap for transitioning the prototype into a sustainable national hub. Once the initial phase is complete, universities and research institutions from across Switzerland will be invited to join and further develop the node, expanding its resources and ensuring its long-term impact.
Reinforcing Swiss competitiveness and sovereignty
One service that SENPro aims to integrate is Swiss Galaxy – an open, interdisciplinary platform that will enable seamless data analysis using tailored, Swiss-developed computational tools. Funded by swissuniversities, its development is led by ETH Zurich through the SIB Biomedical Informatics group, which also develops and will integrate the Metagraph tool. Swiss Galaxy additionally involves contributions from four SIB Resources: Bgee, OMA, OrthoDB, and SWISS-MODEL.
Together, SENPro and Swiss Galaxy will strengthen Switzerland’s competitiveness by:
- expanding access to high-quality research data and increasing the visibility of national services, resources and training, while reducing fragmentation and improving national and European alignment;
- enabling easy, cross-disciplinary analyses;
- fostering transparency, reproducibility and collaboration;
- supporting interdisciplinary research on pressing societal challenges.
The initiatives additionally safeguard data sovereignty by keeping data within the country and ensuring data owners retain control. The projects also ensure Switzerland’s ongoing, active contribution to shaping FAIR, transparent, and democratic data spaces.
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Image: SENPro consortium
