We live in the age of the ‘data deluge’, where digital technology enables us to store petabytes of data and to make that available for sharing as open data. Sharing data has the potential to revolutionise the way that researchers work. It avoids costly duplication in the collecting of data and enables research collaborations across the world which otherwise would not be possible. The purpose of this bid is to take the LERU Roadmap for Research Data produced by the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and to develop this in order to build a coordinated e-infrastructure across Europe and beyond. LEARN will deliver a model research Research Data Management (RDM) policy, a Toolkit to support implementation, and an Executive Briefing in five core languages so as to ensure wide outreach. LEARN will hold a series of Workshops within four European countries and one international country. The workshops will serve to advocate the Recommendations on RDM and open data made by the LERU Roadmap, and gain feedback from Workshop attendees for a new Toolkit of best practice. Furthermore, guidance to implement the Roadmap will be provided following identification of Best Practices supported by case studies identified through the workshops. By producing an exemplar RDM policy, which could then be tailored by any university or research institution to meet their needs, LEARN aims to address the challenges of the Work Programme concerning the fragmentation of e-infrastructures and the need to maximize on global research data. Specifically, LEARN will address Stakeholder initiatives; Policy coordination; Take-up of digital infrastructures; and Support cooperation with developing countries. LEARN thus delivers support actions to quicken the take-up of RDM and the move to open data in the emerging world of Science 2.0.

The exponential growth of data in the digital age has led to the development of powerful techniques for effectively harnessing digital information and discovering new knowledge. In this context, Text and Data Mining (TDM) enables researchers from different disciplines to analyse, extract insights and knowledge, and exploit diverse and complex datasets from various digital media. However, the present use of TDM in Europe is significantly lower than in the US and Asia, most probably due to limitations imposed by the European legal framework. In this light, the FutureTDM project identifies and reduces the barriers that inhibit the uptake of TDM for researchers, and innovative businesses. FutureTDM provides critical up-to-date assessments of legal regulations and policies impacting TDM in the EU, and places them in the international research and innovation context. It adopts a bottom-up approach by initiating dialogue between all relevant stakeholders, engaging them via knowledge cafés, workshops and representation on the advisory board to help identify barriers, common solutions and increase awareness of TDM practices and their potential. This combined approach will lead to developing novel policy frameworks and interdisciplinary case-driven practitioner guidelines facilitating the spread of TDM activities. Key to success will be the engagement of actors in the broader community (libraries, publishers, funders, etc.), who will be mobilised through workshops and will be provided with targeted recommendations in the Roadmap for TDM’s uptake. The knowledge distilled from quantitative and qualitative research will be integrated into a Collaborative Knowledge Base and Open Information Hub (www.FutureTDM.eu) using insightful visualisations. This dynamic platform will showcase excellence in TDM research and data-driven innovation and serve as reference for current and future TDM practitioners ensuring broader TDM uptake to boost Europe’s research and innovation capacities.