Context.
​Almost all the domains of life sciences rely on a diversity of high-throughput technologies that produce exponentially growing amounts of data, which need to be stored, processed, transferred, integrated, secured, properly annotated with metadata and made available within repositories in order to operate a concrete change towards open science. Since 2012, the “Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir” funding has provided life scientists with a diversity of cutting-edge data-producing technologies (sequencing, proteomics, metabolomics, imaging, 3D structure). The Institut Français de Bioinformatique (IFB) was commissioned to develop a national network of bioinformatics resources to support life and health sciences, and to deploy innovative resources to address the challenges of integrative bioinformatics. IFB federates 30 facilities ensured by 20 member and 10 associated teams (“platforms of services” in the French context) that provide well-structured and recognized services including compute and storage facilities, methodological developments, software implementation, software packaging and deployment, virtualisation, database design and curation, systems interoperability, scientific support, training, and innovative approaches for integrative bioinformatics. IFB covers all the domains of expertise in bioinformatics as well as its application to different scientific and technological sectors: fundamental biology, agriculture, health, environment. As the national bioinformatics infrastructure, it stands at the cross-road between the various data types produced by high-throughput technologies. IFB is also the French node of the European Bioinformatics infrastructure ELIXIR, which federates similar services from 23 European countries.

Scientific objectives​.
The main goal of MuDiS4LS (Mutualized Digital Space for FAIR data in Life and Health Sciences) is to develop a framework that will rely on the national and regional data centers to enable scientists controlling the flow of biological data, from their origin (data-producing national infrastructures) to their public release in national or international repositories, while ensuring their mid-term securing during the intermediate phases of analysis and exploitation.
The basis of MuDiS4LS will be the ​National Network of Computing Resources (​NNCR​) launched by IFB in 2017 with a mutualized task force contributed by permanent staff from 9 platforms located in 6 regions of France. Our objective is for the 20 member platforms of the IFB to collaborate in the operation of the NNCR, making it possible to extend its scope of action to 9 regions of France.