OPENness initiative - the future is ’open’

Noreen Krause (TIB - Leibniz Information Centre for Technology and Natural Sciences), Claudia von der Linden (TU Graz), Martin Ebner (TU Graz), Alexander Schmölz (University of Vienna) at the awards ceremony for the OER part certification for Austrian universities ( from left to right ) . By Sarah Woywod - Providing orientation for open practices, making services and contact points better known and identifying challenges: these are the declared goals of the OPENness initiative at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz). The term openness in this context stands for open access to scientific results and findings (open science) as well as for a culture of open collaboration and knowledge transfer. The openness movement specifically calls for everyone to participate in scientific progress and for the results of publicly funded research to be freely accessible, regardless of institutional affiliations or educational background. These demands have now also reached Austrian politics and universities. With this in mind, in 2015 TU Graz adopted an which is intended to promote and sustainably implement open practices at TU Graz. This is increasingly demanded by funding bodies such as the European Commission or the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.