Evaluation of Base4NFDI
Publicatiedatum: 28 augustus 2025 | Taal: EN
Base4NFDI is a joint initiative of all consortia of the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) to develop basic services that are potentially relevant to all consortia as well as the wider scientific community. Base4NFDI was launched in 2023 and is currently being funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for five years until 2028. As of July 2025, there have been eight fully completed submission rounds for basic services.
The main focus of this evaluation has been on the processes, the project structure of Base4NFDI, and its relevance to its stakeholders. For each evaluation level, specific questions regarding relevance, coherence, effectiveness, and efficiency were developed and addressed.
The evaluation finds that Base4NFDI’s internal structures are generally effective. Internal communication within Base4NFDI functions well overall, with team members coordinating tasks efficiently and delivering on their responsibilities. However, coordination with and among the Co-Spokespersons remains a challenge. Job profiles within the project are demanding, reflecting the complexity of Base4NFDI’s multi-stakeholder, bottom-up structure. External stakeholders report generally good collaboration with the Base4NFDI team but express a need for more streamlined communication and clearer coordination structures.
Common needs for basic services are mainly identified in section working groups. The bottom-up process enhances acceptance and is very popular among the stakeholder groups. The criteria used to evaluate basic service submissions are generally appropriate, but the weighting of criteria could be communicated more clearly. The three-phase funding model is widely accepted by stakeholders and provides a clear structure, albeit the timeline and deliverables in the initialisation phase are often seen as too rigid, imiting the flexibility needed for efficient development.
Base4NFDI has successfully enabled collaboration across consortia, and all basic services currently under development are considered relevant by their respective target groups. Sustainability of basic services presents a “chicken-and-egg” problem: consortia require confidence that services will reach completion before committing long-term support, while development teams need binding commitments from consortia to justify continued investment.
We recommend
1) to establish clear and differentiated funding pathways to ensure long-term sustainability,
2) to re-evaluate the current three-phase model,
3) to refine evaluation criteria,
4) to balance bottom-up processes with strategic alignment;
5) to improve coordination and input legitimacy within NFDI’s bottom-up model, 6) to introduce brief online pitch presentations in front of the TEC and
7) to strengthen operational-level coordination by appointing task leads to clarify responsibilities.
