The intention of the national research data infrastructure (NFDI) is to systematically open up, sustainably secure and give access to the databases of science and research and to network them (inter-)nationally. It is currently being set up in a process driven by science as a networked structure of consortia acting on their own initiatives. True to the motto “Bridging boundaries among national research data infrastructures”, the consortium “Bridge4NFDI” under the leadership of Dr. Sonja Schimmler (Fraunhofer FOKUS) has set itself the goal of providing a (meta-) infrastructure that enables easy access to research data and offers a variety of generic services.

Several consortia focusing on interdisciplinary issues met in Leipzig on October 1. At the invitation of the “2linkNFDI” consortium, the representatives of “Bridge4NFDI”, “CompeNDI”, “NFDI4CS4NFDI”, “NFDI4HPC”, “NFDI4RSE”, “NFDI Web” and “ForumX” jointly prepared a coordination process on possible cross-sectional topics within the NFDI in a workshop.

At the first NFDI Conference in Bonn in May 2019, a number of interdisciplinary issues relevant to the functioning and success of the NFDI were already identified. As a result, it was established that these issues should initially be dealt with in cooperation with the consortia of experts. In addition, a coordination process is to be established in which a decision is to be taken on the further processing of interdisciplinary issues.

In addition to identifying cross-sectional tasks, the agenda of the workshop in Leipzig on October 1 included identifying the needs of specialist consortia, networking an interdisciplinary consortium with stakeholders and possible formal structures for a higher-level interdisciplinary consortium. The high number of participants and intensity of the discussions reflect the need to continue to coordinate on interdisciplinary issues as well as on overarching NFDI issues in the future. All participants have agreed on further cooperation in order to further develop the common position and consolidate it within the NFDI.

The “Bridge4NFDI” consortium led by Fraunhofer FOKUS will submit its application in fall 2020. The NFDI program, coordinated by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (”German research community“) and run by the federal and state governments, promotes up to 30 independent consortia in three call rounds.