FAIR Digital Objects (FDO) are autonomous information units that virtually bind all information in a machine-actionable way that is required to make data FAIR, including various kinds of metadata and globally unique and resolvable persistent identifiers (PIDs). 

FDOs provide a conceptual and implementation framework to develop scalable cross-disciplinary capabilities, deal with increasing data volumes and their inherent complexity, build tools that help increase trust in data, create mechanisms to efficiently operate in the domain of scientific assertions, and promote data interoperability. In addition, FDOs play a foundational role in implementing widely accepted trust frameworks, which are characterised by the STAP principles (Sovereignty, Transparency, Accountability, Persistence). These principles underpin large-scale data exploration supported by AI.

About the Conference

For the third time at this scale, the FDO2026 Conference (link) will bring together leading experts from science and industry, technologists, data stewards/managers, and policymakers engaged in advancing FAIR Digital Objects (FDOs). The conference will feature a mix of invited presentations, panels, posters and demonstrators. It will be associated with a day of tutorials and a newcomer session. 

The first conference focused on discussing and finalising basic specifications, while the second conference concentrated on practical implementations of the FDO concept (testbeds, demonstrators). This third conference will explore the relevance of the FDOs for turning to a global data landscape characterised by the STAP Principles, tackle the integration of FDOs with data use control technologies (dataspace technologies) and examine the challenges and showcase successful demonstrations of interoperability between different implementations. 

The conference will take place at the facilities of the Technische Universität Wien. Video interaction options and video recordings of all sessions and the training sessions will be provided.