Open research policies need nuance, says business group

Open-closed dichotomy is inadequate, group says

The industry group Business Europe has called for “a renewed debate” on the positives and negatives of making research data openly available, suggesting that a middle ground will often need to be found between data being fully open or completely closed.

In a position paper published on 14 May, the group said there is “a considerable grey zone” between the extremes of types of academic research that can be made fully open and military research that must remain secret. This applies in particular to the interface between academic research and industrial R&D, it said.