Workshop on research data with the BDI and NFDI

On Tuesday 20 September, a virtual workshop was held with the BDI, the Federation of German Industries, and the NFDI, the National Research Data Infrastructure.
The aim of the workshop was to establish an exchange between industry and the NFDI by identifying and addressing common challenges.

After welcome addresses by Prof. York Sure-Vetter, Director of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) e.V., Iris Plöger, Member of the Executive Board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) e.V. and Mario Brandenburg, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), various impulse presentations by individual NFDI were given.

In this format, Dr Andreas Förster, NFDI4Cat spokesperson, explained NFDI4Cat’s ambition to develop concepts for cooperation between science and industry in the field of digital catalysis. Thus, NFDI4Cat intends to act as an enabler for the sustainable production of chemicals and energy sources.

Even at this early stage, science and industry in the NFDI4Cat consortium are using and sharing data from various sources within the framework of Open Science and protected workspaces.

NFDI4Cat formulates the following hypotheses based on the current status:

Open Science will fundamentally change research and development in academia and industry

Only if the gap between Open Science and the Digital Economy can be bridged can the full potential of data generated in science be unlocked and used for society as a whole

Collaboration between industry, academia and stakeholders from the different digital domains is needed

According to Förster, the following challenges exist accordingly:

Implementation of Open Science in catalysis research and chemical engineering

Definition and optimisation of interfaces for data exchange between academia and industry

Harmonisation of data standards and platforms

Developing a culture of data sharing between academia and industry

For this reason, NFDI4Cat recommends strengthening the interaction between NFDI and industry and identifying and defining common goals and purposes. In addition, the link between open science and the digital economy should be addressed through funding programmes in which partners from science and industry can participate.