SUCCESS STORY: SHARING OPEN RESEARCH DATA WITH TYCHO

by Orvium team

The Challenge

Science is the force behind some of the most revolutionary changes in human history. Today science results and its data are kept under paywalls and are not fully accessible, mainly due to the model imposed by a few large private publishers. Over the past few years, important public initiatives have been created to break down this unfair and inefficient model.

The European Commission Horizon 2020[1], the Plan-S[2] and multiple funding agencies worldwide, mandates all research performed with their funds to be published under Open Science (OS): making science more efficient, reliable and responsive to societal changes. A key area on OS, is Open Research Data (ORD), data underpinning scientific research with no restrictions on its access.

The Solution

ORD introduces important benefits. A recent study[3] performed by EMBL-EBI estimates the benefits of ORD at 1.3 b€/year. Orvium believes that scientific knowledge is a human heritage and therefore needs to be globally open and accessible. Orvium’s Tycho platform aims to remove the current inefficiencies of ORD offering a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable) model that solves the existing challenges and barriers. Tycho allows researchers to request data for their research and carry out transactions in a secure and identified manner.

DAPSI support

DAPSI has provided us with the necessary tools to develop Tycho in the best possible way. Thanks to the technical and business training, we have been able to get the most out of it and structure our project. Without DAPSI, all this development would not have been possible and Tycho as a project would not be the same. In addition, having made it to phase two has helped us to further complete our MVP so we can provide this service to all universities in our network.

DAPSI journey – Achievements from first phase of the DAPSI programme

The main achievements during the first phase of the DAPSI program are quite important.

Following a list with the main features we want to highlight. Achieved:

  • Research, Analysis & Design
  • Gather inputs from real users
  • Platform architecture design diagram
  • Tycho frontend (wireframes)
  • API endpoints definition and design
  • Blockchain smart contracts design
  • Created a repository to keep all documentation using MkDocs
  • Deployed documentation to static website in the cloud
  • Documentation structure
    • Research: In this section we have summarized the main findings about core research areas of the project, including Open Research Data, GDPR, and Consent Management tools
    • Use Cases: This section explains the use cases and the functional and technical requirements for the prototype. To keep the focus, we have defined the use case of a university (consumer) studying sport performance for bikers (donor)
    • Architecture: Explains the architecture design and technologies selected to implement the frontend and backend services for the prototype
    • Prototype: This section contains most of the tech deliverables, including the UI wireframes, API documentation, and code repositories for the project

Implementation

  • Implemented first version of Tycho user interfaces in Angular application using backend mockups (Tycho UI app)
  • Login/logout
  • Donor interfaces: profile edit/view, join to calls for data, view joined calls for data
  • Consumer interfaces: profile edit/view, create calls for data, historic calls for data, donor list
  • Designed schema implementation for MongoDB
  • Created Data Access Objects (DAOs) for API endpoints
  • Implemented API endpoints using NestJS framework (Tycho API)
  • Implemented donor endpoints
  • Implemented consumer endpoints
  • Implemented call for data endpoints
  • Implemented login
  • Created OpenAPI specification v3 for API endpoints
  • Integrate and connect Tycho UI app with Tycho API
  • Define blockchain smart contract
  • Implemented blockchain smart contracts
  • Testing frontend and backend

DAPSI journey – Achievements from second phase of the DAPSI programme

During the second phase of the programme, we’ve managed to complete the MVP and finalized one of the most important parts of the platform: the open research data storage. This part has some special requirements that we had to cover before going live to fulfil the needs of the different stakeholders: data donors and consumers (universities).

Lessons learnt

During the entire DAPSI project, we have been improving the way we guide our work. Having an idea is a great step, but to realise it, you need to create a structure and maintain order in the different development stages. DAPSI has helped us to stay on the right track and make the platform take form. Although it has not been easy at all times, with good organisation and communication, many of the obstacles have been overcome. In addition, maintaining good contact with the team has meant that we have been able to see different approaches and improve the final result.

With all that we have learnt, we hope to be able to continue progressing with Tycho, as well as with different projects that we can develop in the future.

 What’s next

Our focus now is on spreading awareness on the platform among universities in our network. Network is key at this point, so we’ll focus on increasing Tycho’s user base among our social media channels and paid advertisement network.

More information

http://docs.tycho.s3-website.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/

 

 

[1] Prompting an EOSC in practice – Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (European Commission), 2018

[2]Plan-S: https://www.coalition-s.org/why-plan-s/

[3] The Value and Impact of the European Bioinformatics Institute – Charles Beagrie Ltd. 2016