Die  Rede der EU-Kommissarin für die „Digitale Agenda“ Neelie Kroes zum heutigen Launch von OpenAIRE ist sehr lesenswert. Ein Auszug:

The right to access freely the results of science does not only benefit citizens but also the public funding bodies. I believe public scrutiny of research results will improve how we allocate research funds. It will also increase the citizens‘ confidence in research spending. The long-term effect will be to help governments to make the investments we need to secure a sustainable and inclusive future. Open access can thus be understood as supporting the Open Government principle, helping to bring about better public services.

Open access is a legal and technical reality today. The question is no longer ‘if’ we should have open access. The question is about ‘how’ we should develop it further and promote it.

This „how“ is indeed a challenge. It is an organisational and business challenge as the internet revolution disrupts the established models for scholarly dissemination. Open access is also a social challenge. As with all revolutions, the privileges of gatekeepers are revealed and put in doubt. Both knowledge producers and gatekeepers– the publishers and those doing the science – are forced to rethink their roles. All stakeholders will need to participate in this change. Also the funding bodies have an important role because they must ensure that deposit obligations are honoured.

Im Rahmen des OpenAIRE Projekts wird eine Infrastruktur aufgebaut, um das Open-Access-Pilotprojekt der Europäischen Kommission zu unterstützen. Das Transkript der Rede ist online.