FIZ Karlsruhe & OpenAIRE: Connecting Infrastructures

Karlsruhe, March 25, 2026 – FIZ Karlsruhe and OpenAIRE have formalised a partnership to strengthen the integration, quality, and interoperability of research information across Europe. A central focus of this collaboration is to connect Germany’s Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (NFDI) more closely with European Open Science ecosystems - an important priority for FIZ Karlsruhe.

By contributing curated, authoritative data and aligning metadata standards, FIZ Karlsruhe helps ensure that information from NFDI contexts and German research organisations is accurately represented within infrastructures such as the OpenAIRE Graph and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). This improves consistency, reduces fragmentation, and strengthens interoperability across national and European systems.

The collaboration also enables FIZ Karlsruhe to create tailored datasets from the OpenAIRE Graph for the German research community, supporting services such as the Competence Network of Bibliometrics. By strengthening the links between publications, datasets, software, and organisations, these efforts enhance the usability of NFDI-related data for analysis and strategic decision-making.

Through this partnership, FIZ Karlsruhe brings NFDI perspectives into the European landscape, while OpenAIRE further enriches the OpenAIRE Graph with high quality, curated information from the German research ecosystem. Together, the partners contribute to a more connected and reliable resarch information space, providing researchers, institutions, funders, and policymakers with better access to high-quality, interoperable data. The collaboration reinforces a shared commitment to advancing science through openness, quality, and international cooperation.

Quotes

Quote from FIZ Karlsruhe: 
“This collaboration with OpenAIRE is a key step in connecting Germany’s Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur with the broader European Open Science landscape. By contributing our expertise in high-quality data curation and knowledge graph technologies, we aim to ensure that research information from Germany is accurately represented, interoperable, and reusable across infrastructures such as the European Open Science Cloud. Ultimately, this partnership enables us to provide better, more connected data to researchers, institutions, and policymakers, and to actively shape the future of Open Science in Europe.”

Quote from OpenAIRE:
“This partnership with FIZ Karlsruhe is instrumental in bridging Germany's Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur with the European Open Science ecosystem and, more generally, the global scholarly communication infrastructure. By enhancing data quality and interoperability, we are not just improving access to research information for researchers and policymakers, but also actively shaping the future of Open Science in Europe, paving the way for other countries to move towards open data-based research intelligence. Together, we can ensure that valuable research data is connected, reusable, and accessible across borders.

About FIZ Karlsruhe: FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure is one of the large infrastructure institutions in Germany and member of the Leibniz Association.It provides information to researchers in science and industry worldwide and develops very large volumes of patent and research information. For precise research and intelligent analysis, FIZ Karlsruhe develops and operates innovative information services and e-research solutions, e.g. for research data management and digital preservation. Since 2013, the institute also has been conducting research in the subjects Machine Learning & Knowledge Graphs, Copyright & Data Privacy Law, Mathematical Information Infrastructure and Patents & Scientific Information. 

About OpenAIRE: OpenAIRE is a Non-Profit Partnership, established in 2018 as a legal entity, OpenAIRE AMKE, to ensure a permanent open scholarly communication infrastructure and support research in Europe and beyond. OpenAIRE is making Open Science happen. Collectively and in practical ways. Its fields of expertise and activities include services, policies and training. Operating since 2009, OpenAIRE is an integral part and a leading force behind the European Open Science Cloud developments.