Why is the project
necessary?
Research is increasingly based on big data, computing power, and international collaboration. However, Latvia’s research digital infrastructure and data services are currently fragmented across institutions. Data is often stored locally or on separate cloud services, and the procedures for describing and accessing it vary; and the capabilities of the existing academic data transmission network no longer fully meet today’s requirements for working with large data sets.
The project addresses these challenges as a unified system. It will connect research organizations through a secure and high-performance academic network, providing shared data storage, processing, and publishing services, as well as reliable authentication, cybersecurity, a service catalog, and user support.
Latvia’s national node will serve as a connection point to the EOSC federation. This will give Latvian researchers access to European data, tools, and infrastructure, while making research resources created in Latvia more discoverable and usable on an international scale. In April of 2026 year, Latvia was invited to join the second wave of candidate nodes in the EOSC Federation.
The European Common Data Space for Research and Innovation
The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is not a single, centralized data cloud. It is a federation of interconnected national, thematic, and infrastructure nodes—a “system of systems”—where researchers can find, publish, and reuse data,
software, tools, and digital services across institutional, sectoral, and national boundaries.
The EOSC is based on the principles of open science and FAIR: research resources must be discoverable, accessible in accordance with applicable rules, interoperable, and reusable. Open science does not mean that all data is public, but rather that controlled access and appropriate security measures are applied to sensitive or restricted-access data.
Latvia’s EOSC national node will serve as the local entry point to this federation—with infrastructure, services, support, and governance maintained in Latvia.
National targets to be achieved as part of the project
National infrastructure for the entire research ecosystem
Primary target groups
A wider range of beneficiaries
From a Secure Network to a Researcher’s Work Environment
EOSC Node Latvia is not a single, standalone platform, but rather a network of interconnected infrastructure, security, data, and support services. Its operations and researchers’ access to the necessary resources and tools are ensured by several interconnected elements.
