The broad aims of the Network are:

• To establish a sustainable community of partners, including both academic and non-academic participants, interested in the development and application of digital repositories as an integrated component of e-research infrastructures.
• To encourage and facilitate the development and uptake of e-Science digital repositories, irrespective of discipline, in both academic and industrial contexts. We will provide a forum where participants can meet on a regular basis to exchange ideas, identify problems and applications, and plan future research.
• To encourage and facilitate the federation of digital repositories within the UK and internationally, and the 'grid-enabling' of the data they manage and preserve.
• To enable the UK e-Science community to take a lead role in this field within the international community, by facilitating collaborations with international partners and by participation at international conferences and other events.
• To identify areas where additional research would be beneficial to the wider community, and provide recommendations to the EPSRC (and other funding bodies) regarding their support for these, together with evidence and justification in the form of utility and value for money.
• To encourage and facilitate the dissemination of current activities and the results of research in the field.

Specific objectives of the Network include:

• To run a series of workshops and seminars to encourage and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and best practice in the domain.
• To create an interactive web resource for the exchange and dissemination of information and experience within the network.
• To establish a resource cataloguing tools, methods and other material relevant to the Network's aims. This resource will itself incorporate digital repository technology.
• To attend national and international conferences to discuss and publicise the activities of the network, and to extend participation.
• To promote and advise on the application of enhanced digital repository technologies to industrial problems.
• To establish and support working groups addressing identified specific issues within the Network's broader domain of interest.