The Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission has published in 2018 a cost-benefit analysis for FAIR research data - “Cost of not having FAIR research data”.

Research projects are becoming increasingly demanding when concerning the generated data not only because of its huge volume but also because of its complexity. Therefore, establishing secure and effective ways to create, store, and communicate data is now imperative and can only be accomplished if certain data management and data stewardship practices are adopted (e.g. FAIR principles).

The almost global non-adherence of research data to FAIR principles is a well-known reality between the European research community. This report plays an important role in promoting awareness between decision-makers regarding the estimation of the cost of not having FAIR research data for the European data market and economy.

The authors estimate that the absence of FAIR research data costs the European economy at least €10.2bn every year together with many other consequences, such as economic turnover or machine readability of research data, whose value cannot be accurately measured but certainly increase this huge economic burden.

Read the full report here.