The African Open Science Platform: The Future of Science and the Science of the Future

«This document presents a draft strategy and makes the scientific case for the African Open Science Platform (AOSP). It is based on an expert group meeting held in Pretoria on 27-28 March 2018. Its purpose is to act as a framework for detailed, work on the creation of the Platform and as a basis for discussion at a stakeholder meeting to be held on 3-4 September 2018, which will lead to a definitive strategy for implementation from 2019.

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The African Open Science Platform. The Platform’s mission is to put African scientists at the cutting edge of contemporary, data-intensive science as a fundamental resource for a modern society. Its building blocks are:

– a federated hardware, communications and software infrastructure, including policies and enabling practices, to support Open Science in the digital era;
– a network of excellence in Open Science that supports scientists and other societal actors in accumulating and using modern data resources to maximise scientific, social and economic benefit.

These objectives will be realised through seven related strands of activity:

– Strand 0: Register and portal for African and related international data collections & services.
– Strand 1: A federated network of computational facilities and services.
– Strand 2: Software tools and advice on policies & practices of research data management.
– Strand 3: A Data Science Institute at the cutting edge of data analytics and AI.
– Strand 4: Priority application programmes: e.g. cities, disease, biosphere, agriculture.
– Strand 5: A Network for Education and Skills in data and information.
– Strand 6: A Network for Open Science Access and Dialogue.

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