NFDI as a Learning System. Results and Lessons Learned from the Evaluation of Base4NFDI

Infrastructure projects are often complex structures involving multiple stakeholders, building on existing structures as well as innovating around them. Therefore, it is essential to adapt these structures to the needs of the community in order to ensure their effectiveness. But how to identify these needs? One possible solution is to carry out an external evaluation - as in the case of Base4NFDI. This contribution presents data from the Technopolis Group's evaluation of Base4NFDI, the joint initiative of all consortia in NFDI to develop and establish basic services for RDM. Therefore, the Base4NFDI Office and Technopolis would like to present the process and re-sults of the evaluation in a joint presentation. The goal of the evaluation is to assess the pro-gress and outcomes of that initiative thus far, as well as to identify areas for improvement, ensuring that the infrastructure continues to effectively support the research community. Base4NFDI has opted for this unique and open approach to involve the NFDI community and beyond in its organizational development. Its framework is organized in a multi-phased pro-cess with a large number of stakeholders involved: Proposals for Basic Services must come from community processes within NFDI Sections which develop cross-cutting solutions relevant for the domains of multiple NFDI consortia. These proposals are evaluated by a technical expert committee. After a successful submission, Base4NFDI assists these pro-jects, offers value adding services (like training assistance), administers the funding, and monitors the process. In view of the complexity of the project, but also the novelty of its framework, in its project proposal Base4NFDI has committed to an external evaluation of its decision-making and work processes after two years. This comprehensive evaluation will form the basis for rec-ommendations for adapting and correcting these processes. After a public tender procedure, the Technopolis Group has been commissioned to carry out the evaluation of Base4NFDI in the period from December 2024 to August 2025. The concept is set to explore three aspects: the efficiency of the project structure and in-ternal organisation, the relevance and coherence of the process for developing a Basic Ser-vice and the relevance of the project for the NFDI community. Based on the project proposal and the experience gained during the project so far, the follow-ing points are of particular interest for the evaluation: - Assessment of cooperation and support between Base4NFDI and stakeholders - Analysis of process and resource management - Review of the work program and task distribution - Analysis of the submission and evaluation process for Basic Services This is an ongoing project, results are expected by June/July 2025. Dialogue and transparen-cy are indicators of good scientific work. As the outcome of the evaluation is based on feed-back from the community, we want to present not only the results, but also suggestions for improving Base4NFDI's processes. We also like to openly share the lessons we have learned from evaluating a complex infrastructure context. This aims to demonstrate that NFDI is a dynamic and adaptive system.