The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO), in partnership with some of Europe’s biggest facilities in physics-related disciplines, has just recommitted to a long-term deal to collaborate on Open Science topics, from science data management to developing science tools, services and research software, among others. The agreement was signed at the “ESCAPE to the Future” conference on October 25-26, 2022, where partners of the European Science Cluster of Astronomy & Particle physics ESFRI research infrastructure (ESCAPE) project, as well as members of the scientific community and the European Commission, gathered at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science in Brussels (Belgium).
ESCAPE, which began in 2019, has brought together a cluster of ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) projects and other world-class research organizations with the aim of implementing a section of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) to foster Open Science in astrophysics and particle physics. As the ESCAPE project, funded by the H2020 grant, is coming to its end, the members of the cluster came together at the conference to share their results and achievements and to discuss the next challenges and their outlook for the future. The “ESCAPE to the Future” event is also the starting point of a new era: after the successful experience of the ESCAPE project, the CTAO and a further eight core ESCAPE Research Infrastructure partners signed a new Open Collaboration Agreement, which consolidates their cross-border action towards Open Science, the implementation of the EOSC and the establishment of new collaborations on common topics in the area of data management and research software. These actions benefit the European Strategy for data and excellence in science, as well as the data management approaches of the ESFRIs, themselves.

Dr. Giovanni Lamanna, ESCAPE Coordinator, during the announcement of the new agreement at the “ESCAPE to the Future” conference. Credit: ESCAPE.