The SoBigData Research RI has generated impact across three main dimensions: methodological, educational, and ethical. Methodologically, it advances standardisation through shared tools, open datasets, and reproducible analytical workflows. Educationally, it enhances skills and community capacity via training, collaboration, and open research access. Ethically, it provides a model environment for compliant, fair, and transparent data-driven research, embedding governance, auditing, and privacy mechanisms.
During the SoBigData RI PPP—complemented by SoBigData++ and SoBigData.it—the infrastructure strengthened an open research and innovation ecosystem, attracting new users and fostering co-designed experiments with industry, public bodies, and academia. It contributes to societal challenges addressed by Horizon Europe Pillar II clusters, particularly through responsible data science, AI, and computational social science. The RI also helps reduce duplications and operational costs, enabling the reallocation of resources toward innovation. Building on the PPP service portfolio, SoBigData will expand its offerings in the implementation phase, ensuring transparency, accountability, and sustained engagement with stakeholders. This includes promoting FAIR principles and educational initiatives that improve public understanding of big data and AI. In its latest phase, the project refined governance mechanisms and consolidated its distributed network of national nodes—Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, and Greece—unifying them under a shared strategy. These nodes now coordinate with governmental bodies to establish the Board of Governmental Representatives (BGR) and secure long-term political and financial support.
