D10.4 - First Testing and Evaluation Results of NanoCommons Sustainability Plan

Sustainability has become one of the hot topics in the past years. It is a complex, multidisciplinary field that encompasses many different aspects, considering environmental, social and economic factors that shall be taken into account. One crucial aspect of it can be described as “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level1”. For a research infrastructure project like NanoCommons, sustainability means that the services designed and developed during the project will continue to be maintained, and ideally further developed, beyond the end of the funded period of the project, ensuring future accessibility for users and potential customers. The Deliverable 10.4 “First Testing and Evaluation Results of NanoCommons Sustainability Plan” will refer to the economic level of sustainability, unless otherwise specified. Deliverable 10.4 builds on the previous deliverable D10.3 “Initial version of NanoCommons Sustainability Plan”, adding a first business plan and reflecting additional conceptualisation and operationalisation of the NanoCommons sustainability plan in the second and third year of the project runtime. It includes updates on the evolving landscape and the services that are available. The work done up to M35 of the project runtime is summarized, with references to the corresponding related documents (e.g., deliverables, webpage, etc.) and how this collectively builds towards the main objective of achieving a sustainable and open knowledge infrastructure for the whole nanosafety community. Furthermore, a business concept for NanoCommons has been developed, with the aim to ensure the sustainability of the project outcomes after the project’s end