The relationship between science and society is undergoing significant change. Increasingly, publicly funded researchers are expected to explain their results more clearly, to do more to highlight the societal relevance and impact of their research, to include citizens and social groups in their knowledge-building pro-cesses, and to make their publications freely accessible to all. The next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation aims to reflect this change by adopting Open Science as a universal principle. EU funding measures under the Missions and Innovation areas also aim to focus even more strongly on their immediate benefits.

In the Alliance’s view, the criteria of an open science should be applied in a nuanced manner appropriate to the needs of science, and the new Framework Programme should take into account the various functions of research and the diversity of the European scientific and research institutions.