Expanding the research graph underpinning the implementation of Open Science: research instruments and facilities

Research instruments and facilities constitute an area of ever-growing relevance for research-performing organisations, research funders and research information managers alike. However, initiatives to gather the data on this equipment at an institutional or a national level are often working in isolation. Offering an opportunity for an international discussion on the matter was the main driver for the round table on emerging information collection workflows for research instruments and facilities held during the Autumn 2024 euroCRIS membership meeting at the INRAE in Paris last November. The panellists were representatives of various national and regional research information portals across Europe. This paper summarises certain areas of the discussion and examines the way this additional research entity would fit into the steadily expanding research graph underpinning research information collection and its structure. Emphasis is made on the still early steps for the persistent identification of instruments and facilities and on the side-benefits that the consolidation of this additional area of research information might represent for institutions in the area of technician recognition.