At an EU Open Science Conference on 4 April, the EC Directorate-General for Research and Innovation announced the setting up of a new Open Science Policy Platform. The composition of the high-level advisory group will be announced in May. The purpose of the group is to advise the EC on how to formulate and implement open science policy in the European Union. Details of the Amsterdam conference are at this link. Supporting documentation on EU open science strategy is on this DG Research and Innovation page. In February 2016, the European Commission also published a report on Validation of the Results of the Public Consultation on Science 2.0: Science in Transition.

The OECD and the European Commission launched an upgraded version of HEInnovate – an online “self-assessment tool for higher education institutions looking for inspiration and guidance” on 18 November. “HEInnovate facilitates the assessment of an HEI in a systematic way, opening up discussion and debate on the entrepreneurial and innovative nature of higher education institutions… It is free, confidential and open to anyone to use. HEInnovate can be used by all types of higher education institutions.” The programme of the upgrade conference, held at the Bibliothèque Solvay, Brussels, is now available [PDF].