[Edinburgh, January 31^st, 2024] - Research Space, provider of RSpace, a digital research platform that facilitates and manages FAIR research data workflows, is excited to announce the transition of RSpace to an open-source software project in Q2 2024.  

This strategic initiative reflects Research Space's dedication to fostering collaboration, innovation, and accessibility within the research community, while also ensuring a sustainable service-based business model for RSpace. Research Space will continue to support research organizations through certified services provided by their dedicated team of experts who have in-depth knowledge of the platform. These services include managed and on-premises hosting, comprehensive technical support, training, and consulting, to ensure that organizations and researchers maximize their research productivity and effectively utilize the features and capabilities of RSpace.

The open-source transition naturally extends Research Space’s approach to product development, which always involved close collaboration with research organizations, communities, and researchers, to empower them with innovative tools and services that seamlessly integrate and interoperate with their existing research tools and infrastructures. By embracing open-source principles, Research Space aims to further enhance the interoperability and capabilities of RSpace while fostering a sustainable business model for long-term growth and continuous innovation. Together, Research Space and the open-source community will shape the future of digital research ecosystems, making them more accessible, interoperable, and impactful.

“We are excited to embark on this transition to open-source software, which aligns with our commitment to open science and interoperability,” said Rory Macneil, CEO of Research Space. “By transitioning RSpace to open-source, we ensure that RSpace will benefit from input and contributions by the open-source community to accelerate the development of new features and integrations. By offering vendor-certified services, we ensure that institutions receive reliable and expert support, enabling them to consistently leverage the full potential of an open-source research data management platform, and focus on what matters most to them: their research."

“We are excited about this important development. RSpace already plays a critical role in our research infrastructure and has been enthusiastically adopted by researchers across UCL. The transition to open source will open the door to contributions by our research software engineers to the development of RSpace in ways that accelerate UCL’s vision of enabling our data to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). This in turn supports the acceleration of research through AI and an inclusive, open approach to scholarship and discovery." -James Hetherington, Director of the UCL Advanced Research Computing Centre.

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About Research Space:

Research Space is the provider of RSpace, a leading digital research platform that empowers researchers and institutions by streamlining their research workflows to produce FAIR research data.

Website:                www.researchspace.com  

Press inquiries: press@researchspace.com

Open-source contact: opensource@researchspace.com

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