From Project to Permanent Infrastructure: The DFG presents a position paper on the future of the NFDI

The National Research Data Infrastructure was launched in 2020 as a joint initiative of the federal and state governments. Since then, numerous scientific consortia have developed services and standards for research data management, metadata, repositories, software infrastructures, and reproducible research. 

So far, the NFDI has primarily been in a development and funding phase. Many of the services developed are funded on a temporary basis. With the position paper now published, the DFG makes it clear that the NFDI has now outgrown this project status. 

This development is also highly relevant for NFDIxCS. Over the past years, the consortium has developed and expanded a portfolio of services that support FAIR research data management in computer science. These include tools and infrastructures like the RDMC Container for publishing and citing research data and software, managing metadata, creating reproducible research workflows, and supporting researchers throughout the research data lifecycle.

In this position paper, the DFG now advocates establishing the NFDI as a permanent scientific infrastructure in the long term. Research data management and the services developed for this purpose should therefore not only be set up on a project-by-project basis, but also be operated and further developed on a permanent basis—similar to libraries, data centers, or other central scientific infrastructures.

The DFG considers an annual total budget of at least 115 million euros necessary for future funding. These funds are intended not only to ensure the operation of existing services, but also to enable further development, innovation, and international networking.
Among other reasons, the DFG cites:

• The growing need for sustainable research data infrastructures
• The increasing importance of AI and data-driven research
• Geopolitical tensions
• The heavy reliance on commercial platform providers

Against this backdrop, Germany needs resilient and, as far as possible, sovereign European data infrastructures in the long term.
 

The future governance of the NFDI also plays an important role in the paper. While there has recently been increased discussion of more centralized structures, the DFG expressly emphasizes that the NFDI must remain science-led and community-driven. The needs of the scientific communities should continue to be the focus in the future.

Starting in 2029, the NFDI is to be continued under a new federal-state agreement. However, organizational and legal issues still need to be clarified. The DFG therefore proposes the establishment of a transition team to prepare for the shift to a long-term structure.

You can read the full position paper here. (German only)