Information Networking in the Scientific Research Process

BW-eLabs - Information Networking in the Scientific Research Process

The BW-eLabs project is aimed at a wider access to experimental resources, both physical or virtual, from remote locations; this includes the enduring exploitation and usage of scientific data and experiments for research and teaching purposes. A central requirement of the project is not only to establish remote access to laboratory equipment, but also to record the process flow along with the research data to ensure reproducibility and transparency of the research process. An important feature of the BW-eLabs concept is the close mapping of the collected data along its lifecycle, from their generation in the lab to publication up to the archival of the resulting scientific results, in the library. This process is embedded into the overall process flow in the laboratory.

The project focuses on scientific communities and the advancement of cooperation and collaboration in high-tech research fields. High equipment costs in the field of nano technology made this discipline especially attractive as a pilot; it is here were we see most benefits for sharing resources in the scientific community and establishing an assured access to professional equipment. Existing infrastructures like digital libraries, data repositories and other decentralized tools are embedded into the overall concept of the project. BW-eLabs is available under an open access policy and considers itself as an open federation for experimental setups and scientific data.