EUT+ and OpenAIRE – Advancing Open Science and Research Information and Collaboration

The European University of Technology Plus (EUT+) is a pioneering alliance of nine technological universities working to enhance research collaboration, transparency, and openness across European higher education. Faced with the challenge of building a collaborative platform for the alliance’s repositories with limited resources, EUT+ leveraged a strategic partnership with OpenAIRE to develop the EUT+, CONNECT Gateway—a customized, interoperable platform designed to unify research outputs and promote cross-institutional collaboration, and a Monitor Dashboard to track open science practices. This session will explore how pooling resources and expertise across institutions enabled the rapid deployment of an open research infrastructure, overcoming financial and technical barriers. We will highlight how OpenAIRE services support University Alliances in fostering Open Science practices, by making interoperable repositories and enabling the tracking of research practices by providing indicators on collaboration, open access, FAIR principles, and impact. The discussion will also address the interoperability challenges encountered while integrating various institutional repositories into a unified platform. By examining EUT+’s experience, attendees will gain insights into best practices for building sustainable, secure, and standards-compliant digital research infrastructures that support Open Science and European Higher Education Alliances. This session is relevant for academic leaders, research managers, librarians, and IT professionals involved in developing open research policies, managing digital repositories, and ensuring data security in collaborative environments.