An overview of the CRIS infrastructure available in Europe - and (simplified) models for its development

Abstract

From a simplified perspective there are two basic approaches for the development of CRIS infrastructure at a national level in Europe: the top-down and the bottom-up models. This is indeed a simplification because these models rarely exist in a pure form; actual CRIS development strategies tend to be a mix of both models. However, this is a useful perspective for a general description of the CRIS landscape. The top-down model involves the use of a national CRIS as the main -- sometimes unique -- source of research information in a country. While institutional CRISs may also be available, they are not widespread or take a back seat to the national platform. The Norwegian CRIStin, the Portuguese PT-CRIS, ISVaVaI in the Czech Republic, the Estonian ETIS or the Slovak SK CRIS all fall in this category. The other simplified model (bottom-up) involves a widespread availability of institutional CRISs and -- often -- no national CRIS to aggregate the research information for the whole country. This is a frequent model in large, decentralised countries like Germany or the United Kingdom. And then there is a third model -- perhaps the most effective one -- which involves a merger of the two previous ones: there are widespread institutional CRISs at the bottom and a national or regional CRIS which collects research information from the former via specifically defined system interoperability mechanisms. This best practice scenario is present in countries like Finland, Poland or Italy and in regions like Flanders or Catalonia.

The presentation examines the CRIS infrastructure available in Europe in the light of these development models and explores potential initiatives for international research information exchange.