Open Science and Data at the AI in Science Summit 2026

The AI in Science Summit 2026 (AIS26) will gather in Dublin from 15-16 October the European research, innovation and policy communities to explore how artificial intelligence can transform the way scientific research is conducted. Held under the overarching theme “Reaching a New Level of Ambition in Research and Innovation”, the annual summit serves as the flagship EU conference for advancing the implementation of the European Strategy on AI in Science.

AIS26 is coordinated by University College Dublin and Taighde Éireann–Research Ireland, under the auspices of Ireland’s EU Presidency Programme, and is integrated in the European AI Innovation Month. The summit will examine how AI can move beyond its role as an incremental enabler of existing research methods to support fundamentally different approaches and open up entirely new areas of scientific discovery.

BDVA, together with Research Ireland Alliance, is curating the Strand 4 of the programme — “Open Science and Data for the Era of AI Research”, a parallel strand meant to address one of the most pressing challenges facing AI-enabled science: the quality, interoperability and availability of data.

Data has long provided the underlying infrastructure for scientific research, but the rapid development of advanced analytics and AI is placing unprecedented demands on data systems and research infrastructures. The strand will explore how the principles of Open Science can evolve to meet these new requirements, while ensuring that the growing use of AI does not lead to increasingly closed or proprietary data pipelines.

The discussions will focus on the convergence of open research data and AI capabilities, including data sharing, governance and the future development of data infrastructures. A central question will be whether existing platforms, data spaces and public investments can be adapted to support AI-driven research, or whether entirely new architectural and governance models will be required.

As our association is part of the SCIANCE project consortium, BDVA’s contribution to Strand 4 reflects its broader role in shaping Europe’s Data and AI ecosystem. This is an European initiative dedicated to strengthening coordination and strategic direction for AI in Science and laying the foundations for the Resource for AI in Science in Europe (RAISE). BDVA is helping to ensure that discussions around AI in Science address not only technological capabilities, but also the data foundations, governance frameworks and collaborative structures required to turn those capabilities into sustainable scientific progress.

SCIANCE brings together scientific communities, research infrastructures, AI centres of excellence and policy stakeholders to develop a coherent framework for AI-enabled science. The project is working across five pilot areas – fundamental physics and astronomy, materials science, life sciences, earth sciences, and social sciences and humanities – while also identifying research and innovation priorities and piloting the future RAISE Secretariat.

Among its key outputs will be a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for AI in Science, an implementation roadmap for infrastructure upgrades and the establishment of the RAISE Secretariat to support long-term collaboration and capacity building across Europe.

BDVA brings its experience in ecosystem building, data governance and cross-sector coordination into the debate on the future of AI-enabled research. To achieve the ambitious goals of the AI Continent Action Plan, the European Data and AI ecosystem requires strong connections between research, innovation, industry and policy.

Our association is committed to developing a sustainable European Data and AI ecosystem, supporting excellence in research. as it aims to help align scientific excellence, technological capacity and societal impact as Europe develops a coherent and future-oriented framework for AI-enabled science.