(Published on 23.09.2022)The second NFDI Parliamentary Event on 22 September 2022 in Berlin focused on “Health, Climate, Economy”.

With high-quality research data, we can, for example, better understand and treat diseases, make more accurate predictions about the weather and climate and use them to develop targeted actions, or use networked corporate data to foster innovation. The German National Research Data Infrastructure has taken research data management a big step forward since it was founded almost two years ago. Institutions that were separate from each other have become partners within consortia and sections that jointly manage important processes for the development of standards.

At the Parliamentary Breakfast under the title “Health, Climate, Economy: How Research Data Help to Initiate Innovations”, an interim balance was drawn. Use cases from the three thematic areas of health, climate and economy were presented to the politicians, highlighting the opportunities of good research data management. Members of the Bundestag and their staff were present.  

After a welcoming address by Mario Brandenburg, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, NFDI Director York Sure-Vetter introduced the title topic.

The focus of the event was on the joint dialogue between politicians and the NFDI, moderated by Eva Lübke, Administrative Director of the NFDI. The participants had the opportunity to address their questions directly to experts from NFDI: Prof. Dr. Juliane Fluck (NFDI4Health), Prof. Dr. Peter Braesicke (NFDI4Earth), Prof. Dr. Florian Stahl (BERD@NFDI) and Prof. Dr. Andreas Witt (Chairman of the Consortium Assembly/Text+) reported in a question and answer session on milestones, opportunities and numerous to-dos that still need to be addressed. Discussions were held, for example, on the balance between the protection of data and the possibility of fuelling innovations by linking them. Legal barriers and unresolved issues were named as problems in this area.

New job profiles such as data stewards, a necessary cultural change in science towards data sharing and the role of publishers in the publication of data were also discussed.

Overall, many topics that are relevant not only for science but also for society as a whole could be called up.

NFDI would also like to continue the dialogue with politicians in the future and act as a contact for questions about research data management and the necessary framework conditions.

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