At the eScience Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we had a conversation with Joeri van Leeuwen, a Dutch astronomer who gave a presentation at the final day of the conference. From the presentation, we understood that making magnificent astronomical pictures requires a lot of handwork, a lot of ticking and counting. Joeri van Leeuwen has automated this process using machine learning,...
Read More About LOFAR and APERTIF telescope systems tooled with machine learning and FPGA/GPU technology make cosmic explosions more visible to astronomers »

At the PLAN-E Workshop, the Platform of National eScience Centers in Europe, that was hosted in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, we talked with Juan Bicarregui, who is the coordinator of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Pilot project.
Read More About EOSCpilot science demonstrators boost follow-up initiatives in federating European Open Science Cloud concept »

At the eScience Conference in Amsterdam, in an interview with Prof. Dieter Kranzlmüller, Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Germany and in this function responsible for the strategic and external representation of LRZ, we discussed the topic of GeRDI which stands for Generic Research Data Infrastructure.
Read More About German Research Data Infrastructure GeRDI offers service to manage data according to FAIR principles »

Including the calls that closed early last year, more than 700 million euro of budget has been allocated to e-Infrastructure related projects. This can be concluded from data collected and aggregated in the e-IRG e-Infrastructure Knowledge Base maintained by the e-IRGSP projects.
Read More About Over 700 million euro of budget allocated to e-Infrastructure related projects in H2020 - close to 600 million euro to HPC related projects »

CERIC-ERIC, the Central European Research Infrastructure Consortium, offers access to more than 50 complementary instruments and two support laboratories, for multidisciplinary research in all fields of materials science and nanotechnology.
Read More About CERIC-ERIC call for proposals is now open »

The Open Clouds for Research Environments project (OCRE) aims to accelerate Cloud adoption in the European research community, by bringing together Cloud providers, Earth Observation (EO) organisations and the research and education community, through ready-to-use service agreements and 9.5 million euro in adoption funding.
Read More About OCRE enables easy Cloud usage through the European Open Science Cloud »

In the framework of the e-IRGSP support projects for the e-Infrastructure Reflection Group e-IRGSP6 partner Genias Benelux has for several years worked on the development of a Knowledge Base for European projects and infrastructures funded under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. To date, the Knowledge Base is a rich source of information for all who want to know more about a specific...
Read More About Do not get lost in the Horizon 2020 labyrinth, use the Knowledge Base »

Arjen van Rijn, the Institute Manager of Nikhef and a long-time member of the EGI community, was elected to be the next EGI Council Chair.
Read More About EGI appoints Arjen van Rijn new Council Chair »

Since 2016, the Helix Nebula Science Cloud (HNSciCloud) project has been investigating the hybrid cloud model to support the deployment of high-performance computing and big data capabilities for scientific research.
Read More About Helix Nebula Science Cloud demonstrated final results of pilot phase for hybrid cloud model »

On January 1, 2019 the new e-IRGSP6 project, the follow-up project of e-IRGSP5, was launched to continue the support for the e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG).
Read More About New e-IRGSP6 support project held its kick-off meeting in Luxembourg »

At the ESFRI Roadmap 2018 Launch Event in Vienna, Austria on 11 September 2018, e-IRG Chair Gabriele von Voigt explained the role of e-IRG in the ESFRI Roadmap 2018.
Read More About e-IRG Chair, Prof. Dr. Gabriele von Voigt, on role of e-IRG in ESFRI Roadmap 2018 on Research Infrastructures in Europe »

The PRACE position paper entitled “PRACE in the EuroHPC Era” advocates for a strong partnership between EuroHPC and PRACE, including key partners from the European ICT landscape.
Read More About PRACE to publish position paper on EuroHPC »

A new publication demonstrates how ELIXIR Finland, operated by CSC - IT Center for Science, supports life science research, biotechnological innovation and its translation into the knowledge economy. The publication features 19 user case stories, presenting the full breadth of infrastructure services offered by ELIXIR Finland.
Read More About ELIXIR Finland showcases its impact on research and innovation »

Through combining the experimental investigations from the largest-scale astronomical structures to the most fundamental particles, the partners in the ESCAPE project together will open new paths towards the understanding of the Universe. ESCAPE stands for European Science Cluster of Astronomy & Particle physics ESFRI research infrastructures.
Read More About Astronomy and particle physics combine forces for European Open Science Cloud »

The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) was officially launched on 23 November 2018, during an event hosted by the Austrian Presidency of the European Union.
Read More About European Open Science Cloud Portal is now up and running »

The e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG) has published a new edition of the e-IRG Magazine. This Fall edition of the new e-IRG Magazine is now available for download.
Read More About Fall 2018 edition of the e-IRG Magazine available »

The Austrian Presidency and the European Commission invite stakeholders from all Member States to celebrate the launch of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). The launch event on 23 November 2018 marks the conclusion of a long process of consultation and reflection with stakeholders and is a symbolic start for the EOSC.
Read More About European Open Science Cloud to be officially launched in Vienna »

The third edition of the annual Digital Infrastructures for Research (DI4R) conference was held this year at the University of Lisbon campus in Lisbon, Portugal from 9 October to 11 October 2018.
Read More About Digital Infrastructures for Research – DI4R2018 – is serving the user base »

The EOSCpilot's second and final installment of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Stakeholders Forum 2018 will be held from 21-22 November 2018 at the Austria Center Vienna.
Read More About Second EOSC Stakeholders Forum to focus on implementation of EOSC work plan »

At the Workshops Day at ISC'18 in Frankfurt, Germany, we talked with e-IRG delegate Simon McIntosh-Smith, a professor of high-performance computing at the University of Bristol about the first ARM-based supercomputer. With some of his colleagues, Simon McIntosh-Smith designed and built Isambard, the world's first production-ready ARM-based supercomputer.
Read More About World's first ARM-based Isambard supercomputer is ready for science »

At the ISC'18 Conference in Frankfurt, Germany, we had the opportunity to talk with Thomas Lippert, who has recently become Chair of PRACE. Apart from that, he is also Director of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre where the first module of a new HPC system has been installed. This system is procured in the framework of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing in Germany. The machine of about 10...
Read More About Thomas Lippert to propose modular way of thinking to optimize both supercomputing technology and HPC policy »

The public Open e-IRG Special Edition Workshop under the Austrian EU Presidency will take place on 20-21 November 2018 in Vienna, Austria, focusing on e-Infrastructures in the broader context of the development of Open Science policies, the aspect of national nodes as foundation of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and the open issue of Key Performance Indicators for e-Infrastructures.
Read More About Special Edition of Open e-IRG Workshop under the Austrian EU Presidency will focus on relationship between Open Science, FAIR data and EOSC »

The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) has published the updated Strategy Report and Roadmap 2018 that identifies eight scientifically leading projects from previous Roadmaps which, after ten years of incubation, have reached the operational phase, or are well advanced in their construction, and deserved the ESFRI Landmark status, as well as six new projects that were...
Read More About The ESFRI Roadmap 2018 on Research Infrastructures in Europe is available online »

At the ISC'18 Conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Sergi Girona from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center expanded on EuroHPC, the exascale programme for Europe in the session on upcoming exascale systems. Analysing the TOP500 results, Sergi Gerona described the European Union as a union of states whereas the United States are united.
Read More About The EuroHPC roadmap to exascale by 2022 in Europe »

The Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), together with the CSIC and the IPCE, has just signed a General Protocol for Action, for a term of four years which can be automatically extended, to link up the Spanish node of European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science (E-RIHS).
Read More About Approval of the Protocol for the European project E-RIHS in Spain »

On 4 September 2018, 11 national research funding organisations, with the support of the European Commission including the European Research Council (ERC), have launched cOAlition S, an initiative to make full and immediate Open Access to research publications a reality.
Read More About cOAlition S: making Open Access a reality by 2020 »

The Horizon 2020 calls related to HPC will be cancelled from the 2019-2020 workprogramme. The related budget will be transferred to the new EuroHPC JU. This was announced by Thomas Skordas, European Commission director for "Digital Excellence and Science Infrastructure" in a blog post.
Read More About Part of Horizon 2020 HPC programme cancelled in favour of EuroHPC »

After his presentation at ISC'18 in the session "German HPC in Context", we were able to talk with Michael Resch, Chairman of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing. His talk covered the German HPC developments, also in connection with the European developments in EuroHPC. Michael Resch told us that all these things fit nicely together because Germany has been very active. It was among the first...
Read More About German HPC and EuroHPC, a question of competitive collaboration benefiting science »

At the ISC'18 Exhibition, we met Norbert Eicker at the Mont-Blanc booth. Norbert Eicker participates in the DEEP-EST project which is one of the Horizon2020 projects that develops technology for supercomputing. Norbert Eicker works at the Jülich Supercomputing Center leading the technology development in the field of supercomputer architectures. In the DEEP-EST project, the partners think about...
Read More About DEEP-EST project is exploring the nuts and bolts of mildly disruptive modular supercomputing architecture »

Research Data Alliance (RDA) Europe continues its series of support programmes for data researchers and practitioners and is now running 2 Open Calls to facilitate participation of 7 RDA Early Career Researchers and 5 Expert RDA members to the 12th RDA Plenary meeting in Botswana.
Read More About RDA Grants for Early Careers and Experts - Join the 12th RDA Plenary, 5-8 November 2018, Botswana as part of the International Data Week 2018 »

In the first half of 2018, members of the Science|Business Network's Cloud Consultation Group met twice to discuss potential business models for the European Union's proposed "Science Cloud" project.
Read More About How the Science Cloud could pay its way »

The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), is the European programme that builds a virtual environment for all researchers to store, manage, analyse and re-use data for research, innovation and educational purposes. You can share your wishes and thoughts via the online EOSC Stakeholder Open Consultation.
Read More About Share your thoughts and vote on the evolution of EOSC and FAIR data »

The first keynote speaker at ISC'18 in Frankfurt, Germany, was Maria Girone, CTO at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland. She talked about the challenges that are coming up for CERN in the next decade and the way these are being tackled already today with the newest technologies, including machine learning, artificial intelligence, advanced simulation,...
Read More About CERN seeking answers and collaboration with industry to future challenges in data processing and storage »

SURFsara has developed a proof of concept of an ELIXIR supportdesk based on its national servicedesk model. The supportdesk assists users in ELIXIR ID and service registration using the ELIXIR Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure (AAI). It is now ready to be further applied within ELIXIR's European research infrastructure for life sciences.
Read More About SURFsara to create a national servicedesk for the international ELIXIR research infrastructure »

The eInfraCentral project has published its third newsletter.
Read More About Third Issue of eInfraCentral newsletter now available »

eInfraCentral is a Coordination and Support Action funded under the EU Horizon 2020 framework programme's INFRASUPP-03-2016 call. Running from January 2017 to mid-2019, eInfraCentral's mission is to ensure that by 2020 a broader and more varied set of users - including industry - benefits from European e-Infrastructures.
Read More About eInfraCentral bringing together researchers and e-infrastructures »

The eROSA Project consortium - INRA, WUR and Agroknow - have released the "Roadmap for a pan-European e-Infrastructure for Open Science in Agricultural and Food Sciences".
Read More About eROSA Project to release Roadmap for a pan-European e-Infrastructure for Open Science in Agricultural and Food Sciences »

After the recent e-IRG and Vi-SEEM Workshops, we were invited by Ivan Dimov, Deputy Minister of Education and Science at his cabinet in Sofia, Bulgaria for an interview. Ivan Dimov gave a keynote at both workshops about e-Infrastructures and supercomputing. He is responsible for research in Bulgaria.
Read More About Exchange of experience and focus on specialisation are key to Europe regaining status in EuroHPC and e-Infrastructures »

During the recent e-IRG Open Workshop in Sofia, Bulgaria, Dr. Peter Bauer, Deputy Director of Research at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), gave a talk on the need for co-design in supercomputers for weather prediction.
Read More About ECMWF's scalability programme and co-design effort result in proposal for "Extreme Earth" Flagship Initiative »

The European Open Science Cloud, which will support EU science in its global leading by creating a trusted environment for hosting and processing research data, is one important step closer to becoming a reality. Meeting in Brussels on 29 May, 2018, EU research ministers endorsed the roadmap for its creation. The Conclusions of the Competitiveness Council, proposed by the current Bulgarian...
Read More About EU ministers endorse Commission's plans for research Cloud »

After the e-IRG Open Workshop held in Sofia, Bulgaria, we had the opportunity to speak with Augusto Burgueño-Arjona, Head of the e-Infrastructures and Science Cloud Unit in DG Connect at the European Commission, for an update of the European Open Science Cloud's status.
Read More About European Open Science Cloud's federating core will give researchers access to existing e-Infrastructures and services »

The recent e-IRG Open Workshop in Sofia, Bulgaria was followed by the International Conference on e-Infrastructures for excellent science in Southeast Europe and Eastern Mediterranean, organized by the Vi-SEEM project. We were able to talk with Ognjen Prnjat, Vi-SEEM project coordinator and responsible for the conference. Ognjen Prnjat works for the Greek Research and Technology Network. This...
Read More About Vi-SEEM virtual research environment emerges as a mini-EOSC for Southeast European and Eastern Mediterranean scientists »

The e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG) has published a new edition of the e-IRG Magazine, formerly known as e-IRG Newsletter. This Spring edition of the new e-IRG Magazine is now available for download.
Read More About Spring 2018 edition of the e-IRG Magazine available »

At the open e-IRG Workshop, held 3-4 October 2017 at Tallinn University in Estonia, we had the opportunity to talk with Ilja Livenson, an IT specialist working on the Estonian Scientific Computing Infrastructure (ETAIS) project, and George Papastefanatos, a senior researcher and project manager at the ATHENA Research Centre and research associate with the University of Athens, about national...
Read More About ETAIS and eInfraCentral: a national and a European approach for offering e-Infrastructure services »

The Open e-IRG Workshop under Bulgarian EU Presidency will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 14-15 May 2018.
Read More About e-IRG Open Workshop to focus on EuroHPC and development of e-Infrastructures in South-Eastern European (SEE) and Eastern-Mediterranean (EM) region »

During the annual SURFsara Super D Event on December 12, 2017 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we had a conversation with Erik Schultes, International Science Coordinator at the GO FAIR International Support and Coordination Office in Leiden, the Netherlands.
Read More About GO FAIR initiative to create implementation networks for stewardship of data »

GÉANT has confirmed Erik Huizer in his role as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) following his appointment in July 2017 on an interim basis.
Read More About GÉANT confirms Erik Huizer as CEO »

Europe has an ambitious plan to become a main player in supercomputing. The EuroHPC initiative is a joint undertaking with as one of its goals to construct an exascale supercomputer based on European technology.
Read More About The European Processor Initiative (EPI) to develop the processor that will be at the heart of the European exascale supercomputer effort »

The preparations for the Square Kilometre Array are advancing: construction is due to begin in 2020. An EU-funded project team working on infrastructure was one of several groups involved in the detailed design of this instrument, which will be co-located on two continents.
Read More About Designing infrastructure for radio astronomy on an epic scale »

The 52nd closed e-IRG delegate meeting was held in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 20 March 2018. The meeting was opened by the Deputy Minister of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science Prof. Ivan Dimov.
Read More About Professor Ivan Dimov, Deputy Minister of Ministry of Education and Science, Bulgaria opened the 52nd e-IRG delegates meeting in Sofia, 20 March, 2018 »

The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), presented in the Communication on European Cloud Initiative - Building a competitive data and knowledge economy in Europe, as a part of the Digital Single Market Strategy, aims to give Europe a global lead in scientific data infrastructures and ensure that European scientists reap the full benefits of data-driven science.
Read More About European Commission awaits consultation on the European Open Science Cloud »

The European Commission adopted on 14 March 2018 the Implementation Roadmap for the European Science Cloud.
Read More About European Commission to adopt Implementation Roadmap for the European Open Science Cloud »

The regional conference on "e-Infrastructures for excellent science in Southeast Europe and Eastern Mediterranean" will be held on 15-16 May 2018 in Grand Hotel Sofia and in Best Western Expo Hotel in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Read More About e-Infrastructures for excellent science in Southeast Europe and Eastern Mediterranean in Sofia on 15-16 May, 2018 »

Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Spain; CEA, France; CINECA, Italy; ETH Zuerich/CSCS, Switzerland; and Forschungszentrum Juelich/JSC, Germany jointly announce a Public Information Event, which will be held on 15 March 2018 from 10:00 to 16:00 CET on the premises of BSC in Barcelona, Spain.
Read More About ICEI Public Information Event on the realisation of a federated HPC and data analytics infrastructure »

"Shaping Europe's Digital Future - High Performance Computing for Extreme Scale Scientific and Industrial Applications" is an event on High Performance Computing co-organised by the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission. It will take place on 19 April 2018 at the National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Read More About Shaping Europe’s Digital Future - Bulgarian Presidency event on High Performance Computing in Sofia on 19 April 2018 »

The Human Brain Project (HBP) is organising a webinar on Frameworks and Financing Models for Research Infrastructures in Europe on February 20, 2018 between 14h00 and 16h00.
Read More About Webinar on Frameworks and Financing Models for Research Infrastructures in Europe »

During the annual SURFsara Super D Event on December 12, 2017 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, we had the pleasure to talk with Thomas Schulthess, Director of the Swiss Supercomputing Centre - CSCS - in Lugano, who gave a keynote presentation at Super D about the European exascale developments and the requirements to achieve this.
Read More About Combination of top-down initiatives like EuroHPC and bottom-up science driven projects make European exascale effort healthy »

Science Europe and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) are launching an initiative for the voluntary international alignment of research data management policy. The organisations presented the initiative on 30 January in Brussels at a co-hosted event on how to manage research data in an era of Open Science.
Read More About Science Europe and NWO launch initiative to align research data management policy across Europe »

During the annual SURFsara Super D Event on December 12, 2017 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we had a conversation with Thomas Skordas, who is responsible for the EuroHPC strategic initiative. Thomas Skordas is Director of "Digital Excellence and Science Infrastructures" of the European Commission's Directorate in DG Connect.
Read More About European Commission explains why Joint Undertaking is well suited as legal instrument to help create EuroHPC ecosystem »

The EOSC-hub project, funded by the European Commission, started on January 1st 2018, bringing together an extensive group of national and international service providers to create the Hub: a central contact point for European researchers and innovators to discover, access, use and reuse a broad spectrum of resources for advanced data-driven research.
Read More About EOSC-hub to launch integrated services for the European Open Science Cloud »

Researchers are one step closer to being able to quickly and easily create data management plans for their research. Science Europe launches a framework for research data management protocols that scientific communities can use to set up domain-specific protocols as templates for researchers within their field.
Read More About Framework for Research Data Management makes life simpler for researchers »

The European Commission has unveiled its plans to invest jointly with the Member States in building a world-class European supercomputers infrastructure, confirming its commitment to EuroHPC.
Read More About European Commission proposes to invest 1 billion euro in world-class European supercomputers »

The Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, in partnership with the European Commission, will host the 2018 Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU Flagship conference "Research Infrastructures beyond 2020 - sustainable and effective ecosystem for science and society".
Read More About Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU to host Flagship Conference "Research Infrastructures beyond 2020" »

The OpenAIRE datathon started on 30 November 2017 and will take place until the end of February 2018.
Read More About OpenAIRE datathon encouraging developers and data scientists to analyse the OpenAIRE Information Space »

In a report entitled "Top science requires top infrastructure", the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) advises the new government to make an extra 27 million euro per year available for the Netherlands' national digital infrastructure.
Read More About NWO advocates permanent funding for national digital infrastructure »

The EUDAT Collaborative Data Infrastructure (CDI) has appointed Per Öster, Director of Research Infrastructures at CSC - IT Center for Science, to lead the EOSC-Hub project as Project Director. This agreement was made during the EUDAT CDI Council which was hosted by the IN2P3 Computing Centre, in Lyon, France, on 21 November 2017.
Read More About EUDAT CDI Council appoints Per Öster as Project Director of the EOSC-hub project »

In order to take a step closer towards the realisation of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), Germany and the Netherlands are setting up an international office to support the GO FAIR Initiative, the International Support and Coordination Office (ISCO). France is joining them and will also contribute to the office.
Read More About Progress towards the European Open Science Cloud »

The Fall edition of the e-IRG newsletter is now available for download.
Read More About Fall 2017 edition of the e-IRG newsletter available »

European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Digital Society Maria Gabriel has visited the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (IICT) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) in Sofia on 13 October 2017 to discuss the EuroHPC-related perspectives and challenges in Bulgaria.
Read More About Commissioner Gabriel to visit Institute of Information and Communication Technologies in Sofia, Bulgaria »

On October 26, 2017, the Commission has made available the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Declaration to all scientific stakeholders, for their endorsement and commitments to the realisation of the EOSC by 2020.
Read More About European Commission officially releases European Open Science Cloud Declaration »

A more strategic approach is needed to the co-ordination between regional, national, and European research activities and to the initiatives supporting them. That is the main message of the Policy Brief "On Public-to-Public Partnerships and the Next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation", released by Science Europe.
Read More About It is time to clarify who funds what research in Europe, says Science Europe »

On November 6, 2017, the European Commission in cooperation with the Estonian Presidency of the EU is organising an event called "Fet Flagships - Partnering for Excellence" in Brussels, Belgium from 10h30 till 16h15. The event takes stock of the value and importance of the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Flagships for Europe.
Read More About European Commission to organise FET Flagships - Partnering for excellence »

The draft of the work programme for 2018 - 2020 of the Horizon 2020 Research and Development funding programme has been published. The work programme gives details on the topics for which proposals are invited, and the amount of budget available. Although it is still a draft, not many changes are to be expected in the final version.
Read More About Draft work programme for 2018 - 2020 of the European Horizon 2020 funding programme now available »

The second volume of the ESFRI Scripta series is dedicated to the outcomes of the ad hoc Working (WG) Group on Long-Term Sustainability (LTS) of Research Infrastructures (RIs).
Read More About ESFRI Scripta Volume II: 'Long-Term Sustainability of Research Infrastructures' report is now published »

The ETP4HPC Workshop that took place on June 22 at ISC'17 in Frankfurt, Germany offered us the chance to interview Jean Gonnord and Didier Juvin, both from CEA, which is the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, about the role of CEA in European HPC. Didier Juvin is Programme Director of the Simulation and HPC Programme at CEA.
Read More About CEA, ETP4HPC and European Commission working hard together to deliver commercial exascale by 2023 »