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An overview of recommendations for each of our target audiences are provided below:

Research Collaborations should prioritise establishing an AARC Compliant AAI as an early cornerstone of their infrastructure. As the pressure for researchers to become active increases it will be increasingly tempting to adopt sub-optimal AAI mechanisms that will ultimately impact research productivity. Early investment in a common, AARC-compliant AAI significantly reduces long-term costs, operational complexity, and disruption, compared to retrofitting identity solutions once communities are already established.

Wherever suitable, the adoption of a hosted AAI solution is encouraged to minimise overhead and ease future interoperability between AAIs. 

Translating the AARC guidelines into practical recommendations that can be widely implemented across research infrastructures and their communities is essential. For this, the AARC Handbook is an important step forward. However, this needs to be complemented by an investment in AAI-specific capacity building, training, and knowledge exchange mechanisms.

It is crucial that funding agencies recognise AAI as Critical Infrastructure for Research and Education and promote the AARC BPA as the reference model for AAIs in the research and education community. 

To complement this, funding agencies should not only fund shared AAI solutions and hosted services but also require early involvement of AAI operators in grant proposals, ensuring best practices are followed and avoiding delays or suboptimal implementations due to late or unfunded AAI integration.

Ongoing funding for Research Community ManagementAAI communities of best practice (such as the AARC Projects or FIM4R) is essential. These are critical resources for new or evolving research collaborations who require customised guidance to navigate this complex, specialised domain and identify the best AAI solution for their unique requirements.

Additionally, supporting the expansion of the AARC BPA to ensure it can also address the education use-cases, is a natural next step for the AARC Community. 

Organisations providing complete AAI solutions should focus on optimising the setup time for research collaborations. This includes easy to follow documentation, quick-start guides, responsive support and clear information on pricing and/or eligibility. 

The wider Research AAI community should remain active and responsive to requests for guidance from new or evolving research collaborations.