CHARME – harmonising standardisation strategies to increase efficiency and competitiveness of European life-science research 

In the last few years, the issues related to reproducibility problems in life sciences and biomedical research are gaining a lot of interest and traction in the scientific community. These problems are not limited to laboratory procedures and protocols but are also related to computational analysis of experimental data. Results of computational findings often cannot be reproduced because of problems associated with software versioning, packaging, installation and execution, and because of lack of proper documentation. By enabling the reuse of research assets, research becomes considerably more efficient and economical. This can only be achieved reliably and efficiently if these are generated according to standards and Standard-Operating-Procedures (SOPs). Thus, standards represent important drivers in the life sciences because they guarantee that data become accessible, shareable and comparable along the value chain. Several initiatives launched the development and implementation of standards. Unfortunately these efforts remain fragmented and largely disconnected, therefore efficient exchange of data and results is often not possible or is at least hindered.  The COST Action CHARME (harmonising standardisation strategies to increase efficiency and competitiveness of European life-science research) is focused on the problems of standardization in systems biology and computational modelling. Currently 29 countries are involved in this non-commercial initiative, which makes it one of the most widely recognized actions among all COST initiatives. CHARME consists of five interactively working groups: (i) community/platform-building, (ii) innovation transfer, (iiI) design, implementation, and incorporation of software solutions, (iv) development of a strategic dissemination and (v) educational advertising.  The main objective of CHARME is to create a common platform for sustainable and efficient cooperation on standardization. The CHARME aims to bridge and combine the fragmented areas of the various moves in the development of new norms and standards with a particular reference to systems biology and computational modelling. This will be done by identifying needs and gaps, and teaming up with other initiatives to avoid duplication and overlap of standardisation activities. The CHARME efforts are focused on increasing the awareness for the need of standards, promoting FAIR data, and data stewardship in scientific community. By active involvement of all stakeholders (from research, industry and policy), a common, long-term strategy will be developed to successfully assimilate standards into the daily workflow. Finally, CHARME will provide a common ground for researchers from academia, research institutes, SMEs and multinational organizations.  Your contribution participation is welcome. Please contact us via our website http://cost-charme.eu/.