Empowering Research Communities: Accelerating RDI Maturation in Switzerland

Open Research Data (ORD) is gaining momentum in Switzerland, driven by the Swiss National ORD Strategy. To accelerate progress, the Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC) has established a dedicated ORD team to support research communities in maturing their Research Data Infrastructures (RDIs) through a structured approach and targeted initiatives.We recognize that RDIs evolve through distinct levels: from isolated data, code, and models to standardized and findable digital research assets, then interoperable building blocks, culminating in an integrated ORD ecosystem. To facilitate this journey, we offer a flexible blueprint compatible with multiple domains and the latest good practices in data science. This blueprint serves as a practical starting point for communities to establish and evolve their RDIs. To demonstrate our RDI maturation framework, we introduce ORD hackathons focused on agile, cost-efficient and community-centric solutions. By bringing together RDI builders and users, these hackathons offer a platform for rapid collaborative prototyping and the evaluation of new systems. This combined approach of a structured framework and hands-on hackathons empowers researchers to create FAIR, interoperable, and integrated RDI ecosystems.