‘FAIRification’ of valuable data sets to share the wealth
Pharmaceutical companies, academia and SMEs generate a tremendous amount of life sciences data daily that has value far beyond its initial purpose. Ensuring data is created and managed in a way that makes it findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) is no easy task within a single organisation, let alone across organisations, sectors and borders. The EU- and industry-funded FAIRplus project has generated a scalable framework for data ‘FAIRification’ with guidance, tools and recipes to facilitate the process. It has already enhanced the FAIRness of public data from selected Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) projects and internal data from pharmaceutical industry partners. Widespread uptake will spur innovation with tangible benefits for society.
‘FAIRifying’ data is a common goal
Researchers from all sectors are aware of the impact of investing time and effort to share and reuse data. Even highly competitive industry has realised that sharing data can reduce research and development costs. But how to accomplish FAIRification? The financial, technical, legal and organisational challenges are myriad. FAIRplus has focused on the data itself, with impact on all. According to project coordinator Serena Scollen of ELIXIR Europe, “In FAIRplus, researchers from pharma, academia and SMEs came together to develop ways to make data FAIR in a scalable and research environment-agnostic way, bringing with it opportunities for innovation, especially for SMEs.”
FAIRplus simplifies the process
FAIRplus has created numerous tools and resources. To help non experts begin the FAIRification process, the FAIRification framework helps data analysts and owners understand the steps that must be taken to increase the FAIRness of their data. “The FAIR Cookbook is a key project outcome. The online open resource for the life sciences, with more than 80 recipes contributed by almost 100 data professionals, will help researchers make and keep data FAIR. The project and its Cookbook are recommended by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024 for Health,” adds Scollen. The FAIR Wizard suggests useful FAIRification materials based on user-specific FAIRification requirements and designs FAIRification solutions for those involved in FAIRification. The FAIRplus Dataset Maturity model guides decision-making and effective data management investment; metrics evaluate data assets’ FAIRness before and after investment. Similarly, the FAIR-Decide tool targets cost–benefit analyses of a FAIRification effort in a pharmaceutical setting.
Ensuring sustainable implementation of FAIR principles
FAIRplus has produced many publications, among which are two open-access articles in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Nature, describing the FAIRification framework and the FAIR Cookbook. The team organised three Innovation and SME Fora (networking events), conducted a webinar (publicly available on the website), and hosted 15 fellows in its 1-year fellowship programme to educate the next generation of FAIRification experts. The FAIR fellowship e-learning materials are available for reuse through the ELIXIR training materials platform TeSS. “One of the most exciting things about our project was the collaboration. Seven published case studies using data sets from other large IMI projects, including RESOLUTE, eTOX and APPROACH, illustrate FAIR Cookbook practical use,” Scollen notes. “FAIRplus has been a driving force for FAIR principles implementation. The consortia will take the knowledge and tools into the research, SME and pharmaceutical sectors to amplify impact,” she concludes. FAIRplus has levelled the data FAIRness playing field. Continued funding of follow-on projects will further strengthen FAIRplus’ impact with unprecedented benefits for research, industry and society.
Keywords
FAIRplus, data, FAIR, FAIRification, pharmaceutical, SMEs, life sciences, IMI, Innovative Medicines Initiative, Horizon Europe
