2026-05-19 –, Plenary room
Do you collaborate daily in tools like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace? And do you ever wonder how much control the research sector still has over the digital environments where research happens?
In this session you discover how Dutch research and education institutions are exploring an alternative: a sector-wide collaboration environment based on open-source technology. Instead of relying entirely on commercial ecosystems, institutions are experimenting with a shared platform that combines file sharing, document editing, communication and collaboration in one environment.
More than thirty institutions are currently participating in a pilot to test how such an open collaboration platform can work in practice. The goal is not to replace existing tools overnight, but to explore how the sector can gain more strategic choice and influence over the digital infrastructure used for research and education.
During this session you will discover:
- what digital autonomy means in practice for research institutions
- what it takes to build a shared collaboration environment across organisations
- what lessons we are learning from the current multi-institution pilot
Curious whether a sector-driven collaboration platform can really work? Join this session and explore what the future of digital collaboration in research could look like.
This session is relevant for CIOs, IT architects, research IT professionals, information managers and policy advisors involved in digital collaboration environments and research infrastructure. It is also interesting for researchers, project coordinators and research consortia that collaborate across institutions and rely on shared digital tools for communication, data sharing and joint work. We particularly invite those interested in digital autonomy, open technologies and sector-wide collaboration platforms.
What is the key take away of your session?:Learn how a sector-wide pilot explores open collaboration infrastructure to strengthen digital autonomy, support cross-institution collaboration and give research organisations more influence over their digital tools.
I work on digital autonomy in research and education, focusing on how digital infrastructure can support collaboration while giving researchers and educators more control over their data and tools.
I am currently project manager of the SURF Nextcloud pilot, a national initiative in which multiple institutions build and test an open collaboration platform for research and education.
My background is in educational sciences, where I worked as a PhD candidate, postdoc and university lecturer. Today I work at the intersection of research, education and IT, focusing on open technologies and shared infrastructure for the sector.