Blue-Cloud D6.4 Strategic Roadmap (Release 2)
Creators: name: Vera, Julia
name: Larkin, Kate
name: Delaney, Conor
name: Tonné, Nathalie
name: Cisternino, Stefano
name: Calewaert, Jan-Bart
name: Pittonet, Sara
name: Drago, Federico
name: Schaap, Dick M.A.
name: Pagano, Pasquale
name: Obaton, Dominique
name: Ellenbroek, Anton
name: Cabrera, Patricia
name: Drudi, Massimiliano
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Action plan
Mission
Roadmap
Strategic Goals
Sustainability
Value Proposition
Vision

description: The Blue-Cloud project has piloted a digital platform and services showcasing how web-based Open Science can enhance the marine knowledge value chain in support of greater societal objectives, namely those seeking to address Ocean challenges and opportunities associated with the delivery of the EU Green Deal and UN Agenda 2030. It has proved how providing researchers with cloud-based analytical tools and computing resources, coupled with access to marine data openly available across different, existing European data services and research infrastructures, can shorten the research-to-innovation cycle, enabling them to harness artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the transformation of marine data to products, progress more efficient modelling of ocean variables, support environmental analytical data services, inspire and accelerate community-driven innovation and collaborate at a global scale. Blue-Cloud has further showcased the specific applications that these improved capabilities can deliver, advancing solutions towards e.g., monitoring biodiversity; predicting changes in ecosystems; producing marine environmental indicators; or managing fisheries and aquaculture. 
Blue-Cloud Vision 2030 
"To contribute to a European cloud-based knowledge system that provides access to a diverse and dynamic portfolio of analytical, prediction & visualisation capabilities underpinned by seamless access to a wealth of FAIR, transdisciplinary Ocean & freshwater observation data, enabling Open Science to deliver knowledge -including hindcast & forecast simulations-, and to drive innovation -notably through artificial intelligence-, science-based policies and public awareness for a safe, healthy and sustainably productive Ocean, in support of the EU Green Deal & UN Agenda 2030".
Building on its results and looking ahead (2026-2030), Blue-Cloud's distinctive and specific contribution to the marine knowledge value chain will be geared at accelerating marine & freshwater data interoperability and improving data modelling and Big Data analytics through collaborative, cloud-based Open Science (Blue-Cloud's Mission 2030). Blue-Cloud will evolve as a key component of Europe's FAIR marine digital knowledge ecosystem, providing a flagship community of practice and incubator for data analysis and modelling methods in support of applied research of the ocean, European seas, coastal and inland waters. It will contribute to the successful evolution of the (digital) marine knowledge system required to support the EU Green Deal and the UN Agenda 2030, namely becoming a key link in: 

Making ocean & freshwater digital commons accessible to the wider scientific community via EOSC: Blue-Cloud will offer its interoperable data framework to bridge the gap with EOSC, supporting the FAIRification of marine & freshwater data and facilitating multidisciplinary innovation at a wider scale. 
Supporting the development of analytical services and/or Digital Twins that add value to the core European Digital Twin of the Ocean (EU DTO) to inform policy making in the delivery of societal objectives: Blue-Cloud will leverage its digital ecosystem and community of practice to deliver both user-driven and/or community-driven value at the intersection of the communities enabling the development of environmental (marine & freshwater related) data analytical services and/or digital twins, namely: the "Observation and Data Collection & Management" communities, the "Data Modelling" communities and the "e-infrastructures" that provide cloud storage and computing capabilities. 
To achieve its Mission, Blue-Cloud will strive to maximise value to primary, secondary & tertiary users: 

Primary users (marine researchers, computer scientists & software developers): It will improve its digital platform with user-driven upgrades (more functionalities, more computing power, more federated data); sustain a well-resourced customer support centre (including providing expertise on the application of artificial intelligence); and nurture community-building by providing users with training opportunities and incentives, aiming at offering access to these resources free-of-charge to researchers. 
Secondary users (EU and (inter)national environmental agencies; marine data & research infrastructures; EOSC; DestinE & EU DTO; Horizon Europe Mission Lighthouses & Blue Parks; Blue Economy SMEs & Industry): It will continue to evolve its DD&AS with new data repositories from current contributing infrastructures and from new infrastructures to further bridge their gap with EOSC; set up a DTO Task Force to make Blue-Cloud resources easily portable and/or integrated into the future EU DTO; explore collaboration opportunities with other public and/or private initiatives seeking to develop digital twins to support the EU DTO and/or Blue-Economy undertakings, offering them a unique digital ecosystem to co-create, build and test the algorithms and models enabling the data streams and workflows required for their operation, together with an Open Science community of practice that can be leveraged for innovation; and engage with new marine and freshwater research projects and with Horizon Europe "Mission" platforms to identify needs and challenges of marine data users that could be addressed with new methods incubated in Blue-Cloud. 
Tertiary users (policy makers, funders, civil society organisations, citizens): Blue-Cloud will continue to steer innovation towards supporting strategic EU policy strategies and action (i.e., MSFD, WFD, Biodiversity and "Farm to Fork") and towards supporting international collaboration around global ocean observing and forecasting capabilities, with special attention to supporting the delivery of the UN Agenda 2030 SDGs 2, 13 and 14. It will closely monitor and engage with developments around the EU Green Deal Data Space (GDDS) to further identify challenges, opportunities and priority action areas where Blue-Cloud could contribute to accelerate progress. It will continue to support the development of user-friendly applications and interfaces that contribute to increasing the flow of citizen science data into the marine knowledge value chain and to bringing ocean science closer to citizens. 
Strategic Goals 2026-2030 and a comprehensive Action Plan have been designed to drive future developments towards delivering Blue-Cloud's Mission 2030, working around 5 strategic paths of action: 

Strategic Action Path 1: Sustain the flow of FAIR & open marine data into Blue-Cloud. 
Strategic Action Path 2: Trigger the development of innovative data analytics methods around priority environmental thematics to inspire and guide the Blue-Cloud community towards further evolving applications in support of key policy objectives. 
Strategic Action Path 3: (Further) Federate with key marine data, research and e-infrastructures and strategic initiatives (e.g., EOSC, EDITO-Infra) to enhance value to users. 
Strategic Action Path 4: (Further) Grow a thriving ocean open science community, leveraging skills, incentives and rewards and promoting wide dissemination of FAIR methods incubated in Blue-Cloud to boost innovation at a wider scale. 
Strategic Action Path 5: Connect and align with wider developments and other communities to contribute to a European and a global, international knowledge system in support of the EU Green Deal and the UN Agenda 2030.
Delivering Blue-Cloud's Mission 2030 will require support from EU policy and funding frameworks, which will be needed not only to continue to evolve Blue-Cloud's efforts, but also to create a thriving context for the successful delivery of its overarching vision, which spans well beyond the scope of action of Blue-Cloud. The following table sums up the roadmap of actions that Blue-Cloud has laid out to deliver its Mission 2030, coupled with recommendations for policy actions that are considered critical to realise the full potential of web-based Open Science in the marine domain, paving the way for the successful delivery of the knowledge system required to advance research of Ocean, seas, coastal and inland waters in Europe and beyond.