Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - ICT infrastructures for e-science
Date: 2009-03-05
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: information science, information technology, new technology, research and development, research programme

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 5.3.2009 
COM(2009) 108 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

ICT INFRASTRUCTURES FOR e-SCIENCE 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

ICT INFRASTRUCTURES FOR e-SCIENCE 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1. 

Objective of the Communication 

This  Communication  highlights  the  strategic  role  of  ICT1  infrastructures  as  a  crucial  asset 
underpinning European research and innovation policies, and calls on Member States and the 
scientific  communities,  in  cooperation  with  the  European  Commission,  for  a  reinforced  and 
coordinated effort to foster world-class ICT infrastructures, also known as e-Infrastructures, 
to pave the way for the scientific discoveries of the 21st century. 

1.2. 

Background to e-Infrastructures 

Innovation, the foundation for economic development, depends on rapid scientific advances. 
Science  in  turn  has  become  increasingly  based  on  open,  cross-border  collaboration  between 
researchers  across  the  world.  In  addition,  it  is  making  intensive  use  of  high-capacity 
computing to model complex systems and to process experimental results.  

The emergence of new research methods that exploit advanced computational resources, data 
collections and scientific instruments, in other words e-Science, promises to revolutionise the 
scientific  discovery  process,  as  did  the  ‘Scientific  Renaissance’2  in  laying  the  basis  for 
modern science. It is crucial for Europe to embrace this underlying paradigm shift in order to 
retain its competitive edge and to respond to society’s expectations. 

To  facilitate  a  rapid  transition  to  e-Science,  the  European  Commission  and  Member  States 
have made significant investments in e-Infrastructures, including the pan-European research 
network GÉANT3, e-Science grids, data infrastructures and supercomputing.  

Striving  for  world  leadership  in  e-Science,  establishing  e-Infrastructures  as  a  sustainable 
utility and exploiting them to promote innovation are the three vectors of a renewed European 
strategy to support the ground-breaking science of 2020 and beyond. This strategy calls for a 
major step forward in terms of the type and intensity of investment, better linking of research 
and innovation policies and coordination of national and Community strategies. 

1.3. 

e-Infrastructures and the policy context 

The  Competitiveness  Council4  invited  Member  States  to  ‘encourage  public  and  private 
research  institutions  to  make  full  use  of  the  emerging  distributed  forms  of  research  activity 
(namely  e-Science)  based  upon  international  research  networks  made  possible  by  the 

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Information and Communication Technologies. 
M. B. Hall, The scientific renaissance, 1450-1630 ISBN 0486281159. 
The  GÉANT  network  provides  a  range  of  services,  not  yet  commercially  available  (current  speeds  ranging  from  40  to  100 
gigabit/s), to scientists across borders on a permanent basis. 
Competitiveness Council of 22-23 Nov 2007 
(www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/intm/97225.pdf). 

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availability  and  world-class  unique  quality  of  distributed  European  network  infrastructures 
like GÉANT and e-Science grids’, thus reinforcing the need for the coordination of policies. 
i2010 (Mid-Term Review, May 2008) 

e-Infrastructures  make  a  major  contribution 
to  the  objectives  of  the  i2010  strategy5  and 
the  vision  for  the  European  Research  Area 
(ERA6), and have a key role in supporting the 
deployment of new research facilities, whose 
development  is  articulated  with  ESFRI7  and 
e-IRG8  policy  groups  in  a  dialogue  with 
Member States. 

Renewed emphasis was placed on support for 
the  ERA  at  the  Ljubljana  Council  meeting9, 
highlighting that a new vision should include 
the  free  movement  of  knowledge  (‘fifth 
freedom’),  to  be  facilitated  in  particular  by 
to  world-class  research 
providing  access 
infrastructures 
and  using 
knowledge  across  sectors  and  borders.  The 
relevance  of  e-Infrastructures  for  innovation 
is  recognised  by  the  Aho  Report10  of  May 
2008. 

sharing 

and 

enhanced  by 

The contribution of ICTs to the Lisbon goals 
the  development  of 
is 
e-Infrastructures  (such  as  GÉANT  or  e-
Science grids) which help build new research 
and 
environments,  driving  productivity 
increasing the quality of science. 

‘Aho Report’ (May 2008) 

has 

successful 

development 
demonstrated 

of 
"The 
e-Infrastructures 
the 
importance  of  European  intervention  […] 
The  e-infrastructures  approach  should  be 
expanded  to  more  application-oriented  and 
user-oriented platforms’[…] they ‘are needed 
in  sectors  such  as  e-Government  (especially 
(cross-border 
e-Health 
procurement), 
applications), logistics and transport’[…]" 

infrastructures, 
The  report  highlights 
interoperability and standards’. The ERINA11 study confirmed the very high potential of e-
Infrastructures  beyond  the  research  domain,  in  helping  to  smooth  the  transition  of  novel 
technologies and services to the marketplace.  

the  ‘European  added  value  of  cross-border 

The current financial crisis will put pressure on national budgets. Yet, as the Commission has 
recently underlined12, it is now more important than ever to explore ‘innovative funding for a 
wide  range  of  infrastructure  projects,  including  transport,  energy  and  high-technology 
networks…’. 

2. 

E-INFRASTRUCTURES TRIGGERING A NEW SCIENTIFIC RENAISSANCE 

2.1. 

The e-Science paradigm shift 

The adoption of ICT in all phases of the scientific process will enable researchers to engage in 
cost-efficient collaboration with peers around the globe, while the increasing use of in-silico13 
experimentation opens up new frontiers to man-machine cooperation and scientific discovery. 

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EU policy framework for information society and media (www.ec.europa.eu/i2010). 
COM(2007) 161: The European Research Area: New Perspectives. 
European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (www.cordis.europa.eu/esfri). 
e-Infrastructures Reflection Group (www.e-irg.eu). 
Ljubljana Council 2008 (http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/08/st10/st10231.en08.pdf). 
Aho  Report:  ‘Information  Society  Research  and  Innovation:  Delivering  results  with  sustained  impact’,  May  2008 
(http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/information_society/evaluation/rtd/fp6_ist_expost/index_en.htm). 
ERINA study (www.erina-study.eu/homepage.asp). 
COM(2008) 800 final: A European Economic Recovery Plan. 
In silico is an expression used to mean ‘performed on a computer or via computer simulation’, coined by analogy with the Latin 
phrases  in  vivo  and  in  vitro,  which  are  used  to  refer  to  experiments  done  in  living  organisms  and  outside  living  organisms, 
respectively. 

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This is referred to as the transition from wet labs14 to virtual research environments and is the 
most visible part of the e-Science paradigm shift. 

The  systematisation  of  knowledge  supported 
by  observation  and  experimentation  was  the 
scientific 
factor  of 
distinguishing 
revolution in the Renaissance. 

the 

By scaling experimentation to unprecedented 
levels  to  tackle  the  very  small,  the  very  big 
and the very complex, we are on the verge of 
a new scientific renaissance.  

for 

targeted  healthcare 

For  example:  research  on  climate  change 
requires  complex  computer  simulations  that 
access  and  fetch  data  stored  in  on-line 
repositories  all  over  the  globe;  the  challenge 
of  creating  individualised  models  of  human 
beings 
requires 
increasingly  sophisticated  modelling  and 
simulation;  emulating 
the  behaviour  of 
hazardous  phenomena,  such  as  nuclear 
disasters,  pandemics,  tsunamis,  etc.,  requires 
researchers  to  experiment  more  and  more  in 
virtual worlds rather than in expensive, high-
risk real environments. 

The  ‘virtualisation’  of  experiments  enables 
researchers  from  all  around  the  globe  to 
cooperate  and  share  data  using  advanced 
research networks and grid infrastructures.  

Speeding up the drug discovery process 

During  the  2006  avian  flu  alarm,  Asian  and 
European  laboratories  used  2000  computers 
in  the  EGEE15  grid  to  analyse  300 000  drug 
components  over  4  weeks  —  the  equivalent 
of  100  years  on  a  single  computer.  In-silico 
drug  screening  can 
the 
discovery  of  novel  drugs  while  minimising 
the trial-and-error approach in a laboratory. 

thus  accelerate 

Scientific data factories 
The  Large  Hadron  Collider  at  CERN16 
generates  600  million  particle  collisions  per 
second.  It  will  produce  enormous  quantities 
of  data 
to  7000 
to  be  made  available 
physicists in 33 countries via GÉANT and e-
Science infrastructures. 

What if your peer scientist is a robot? 

practices 

to 
and 

Robots  are  beginning 
revolutionise 
the 
laboratory 
reduce 
‘drudgery’  of  manual  experiments  in  ‘wet 
labs’. They automate processes and speed up 
the  collection  and  mining  of  scientific  data 
crucial to understanding complex phenomena 
and generating new knowledge. 

These changes have a transformational effect on scientific disciplines by extending their goals 
and scope into other domains, leading to cross-disciplinary research. 

Remaining  competitive  in  the  face  of  these  emerging  scientific  challenges  implies 
collaboration between research teams and resources across Europe and around the world, the 
capacity  to  use  and  manage  exponentially  growing  sets  of  data,  and  the  use  of  high-
performance computing environments for modelling and simulation. 

It  calls  for  the  wide  adoption  of  new  research  environments  powered  by  advanced  ICT  to 
effectively  accommodate  the  unprecedented  requirements  of  today’s  scientific  communities 
for connectivity, computing and information access. 

2.2. 

e-Infrastructure for today’s and tomorrow’s e-Science 

By  facilitating  new  scientific  discoveries  and  innovation,  e-Infrastructures  are  an  essential 
tool in supporting the ‘Lisbon Strategy’ for sustainable growth and jobs. 

The  European  Commission’s  Framework  Programme  for  Research  and  Technological 
Development  (FP7)  has  built  up  a  significant  momentum  for  the  deployment  of 

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A wet lab is a laboratory equipped with appropriate plumbing, ventilation, and equipment to permit hands-on scientific research. 
EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE, www.eu-egee.org). 
CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) 

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e-Infrastructures, not only to strengthen scientific excellence, but also to promote innovation 
and industrial competitiveness.  

While world leadership has been achieved in GÉANT and e-Science grids, more needs to be 
done  to  ensure  Europe’s  position  in  supercomputing  and  to  ensure  a  coherent  approach  to 
scientific data access and preservation. 

The 
exponential  growth  of  hardware 
performance  (computation  capacity  doubling 
every  18  months,  storage  every  12  months, 
and  network  speed  every  9  months17)  and 
scientific  demands  (reaching  the  exa-scale18 
level) poses new requirements and challenges 
for designing the e-Infrastructures of 2020. 

Simulation in large-scale engineering 

Computer  simulation  is  key  for  modern 
engineering.  The  production  of  complex 
artefacts  such  as  aircraft,  cars  or  personal 
appliances  relies  on  complex  modelling  and 
simulation, and the cooperation of researchers 
and engineers. 

E-Infrastructures  need  to  include  a  richer  set  of  functionalities,  such  as  new  generations  of 
system  and  application  software,  virtual  machines,  service  delivery  platforms,  visualisation 
tools,  semantic-based  search  engines,  etc.,  in  order  to  support  multi-disciplinary  teams  in 
transforming bits, bytes and flops19 into scientific discoveries and complex engineering. 

There  is  both  a  need  and  an  opportunity  to  further  develop  e-Infrastructure  as  a  strategic 
platform underpinning European scientific and innovation leadership. This calls for a renewed 
effort from the Member States, the European Commission and the scientific communities to 
boost investment in e-Infrastructures and to ensure the proper coordination and alignment of 
national and Community strategies. 

2.3. 

A renewed strategy 

Research  in  2020  cannot  be  imagined  without  the  intensive  use  of  sophisticated 
e-Infrastructures,  so  Europe  needs  to  commit  to  a  renewed  strategy  to  tackle  the  associated 
challenges  and  priorities.  Three  interrelated  vectors  are  key  to  such  a  strategy:  e-Science, 
e-Infrastructures and innovation. 

•  The first vector calls for Europe to become a hub of excellence for e-Science, exploiting 
multi-disciplinarity  and  global  collaboration  to  combine  complementary  skills  and 
resources in making use of computationally intensive simulations. Europe therefore needs 
to reinforce its research capacity in high-performance computing. 

•  The  second  vector  of  the  strategy  aims  to  consolidate  e-Infrastructures  as  persistent 
research  platforms  to  ensure  ‘research  continuity’.  The  focus  is  on  the  delivery  of 
production-quality  services  24  hours  a  day,  7  days  a  week,  and  on  the  long-term 
sustainability of e-Infrastructures, which requires the coordination of efforts at national and 
EU level and the adoption of adequate governance models. 

•  The  third  vector  focuses  on  the  innovation  potential  of  e-Infrastructures.  The  transfer  of 
expertise to areas beyond science (e.g. e-Health, e-Government, e-Learning) and the use of 
e-Infrastructures  as  cost-efficient  platforms  for  large-scale  technological  experimentation 
(e.g. Future Internet, massively parallel software, Living Labs) are different dimensions to 
be explored. 

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Commonly accepted laws governing the evolution of technology: Moore’s and Gilder’s. 
Exa-scale (1 exa = 1000 peta = 1000000 tera) computing programmes targeting 2020 are emerging in Japan and the USA. 
Flops or FLOPs — FLoating point Operations Per second — unit of measure of the performance of computers. 

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This  strategy  will  be  put  into  effect  by  a  number  of  concrete  actions  targeting  the  different 
the 
structural  domains  of  e-Infrastructures.  Its  successful 
coordination  of  efforts  and  reinforced  commitment  on  the  part  of  national  and  EU  funding 
authorities.  

implementation  requires 

3. 

EUROPE LEADING THE WAY 

3.1. 

e-Infrastructures today 

e-Infrastructures are currently structured into five intertwined domains, together providing a 
variety of functions and services: 

•  GÉANT  is  the  world’s  largest  multi-
gigabit  communication  network  dedicated 
to  research  and  education.  In  Europe, 
GÉANT  already  serves  around  4000 
universities  and  research  centres  and 
connects  34  National  Research  and 
Education Networks (NRENs). It is linked 
thus 
to  similar  networks  world-wide, 
forming  a  single  global  research  network 
(Balkans, 
the 
the  Black  Sea 
Mediterranean  regions,  along  with  Asia, 
Southern  Africa  and  Latin  America). 
leading  position  has  been 
GÉANT’s 
to 
achieved 
consolidated 
a 
thanks 
governance  model 
in  which  NRENs 
ensure the required deployment at national 
level  and  collectively  coordinate 
the 
implementation  of 
the  pan-European 
network through the alignment of strategic 
and  technological  options  as  well  as  the 
pooling  of  financial  resources  at  national 
and European level. 

and 

What is e-Infrastructure 

e-Infrastructure  is  ‘an  environment  where 
research  resources  (hardware,  software  and 
content)  can  be  readily  shared  and  accessed 
wherever  this  is  necessary  to  promote  better 
and more effective research’. 

and  middleware, 

Such  an  environment  integrates  networks, 
computational 
grids 
resources,  experimental  workbenches,  data 
repositories,  tools  and  instruments,  and  the 
operational support for global virtual research 
collaboration. 

What is a grid? 

A  grid  is  a  service  for  sharing  computer 
power  and  data  storage  capacity  over  the 
Internet.  It  goes  well  beyond  the  connection 
between  computers  and  ultimately  aims  to 
turn  the  global  network  of  computers  into  a 
vast  computational  resource  for  large-scale 
computer- and data-intensive applications. 

•  e-Science  Grids  have  emerged  to  respond  to  the  requirements  of  the  most  demanding 
scientific  disciplines  (e.g.  high-energy  physics,  bioinformatics)  to  share  and  combine  the 
power  of  computers  and  sophisticated,  often  unique  scientific  instruments.  With  support 
from the EU’s Framework Programmes, Europe now hosts the largest multi-science grids. 
EGEE today operates a multi-disciplinary grid with over 80 000 computers on 300 sites in 
50  countries  worldwide,  used  by  several  thousand  researchers.  The  DEISA  project20 
provides  a  persistent,  production-quality,  supercomputing  environment  across  Europe, 
interlinking the 11 most powerful supercomputers in the continent. 

•  The scientific data domain aims to tackle the accelerated and uncontrolled proliferation of 
data, which, if left unmanaged, could undermine the efficiency of the scientific discovery 
process21.  It  is  therefore  crucial  to  develop  new  tools  and  methods  to  ensure  the 
availability, treatment and preservation of unprecedented quantities of data. The landscape 

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DEISA (Distributed European Infrastructure for Supercomputing Applications, www.deisa.eu). 
COM(2007) 56: Scientific Information in the Digital Age. 

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of  data  repositories  across  Europe  is  fairly  heterogeneous,  but  there  is  a  solid  basis  to 
develop  a  coherent  strategy  to  overcome  the  fragmentation  and  enable  research 
communities to better manage, use, share and preserve data. European-funded projects in 
the  field  of  scientific  data  infrastructures  share  a  common  vision:  any  form  of  scientific 
content  resource  (scientific  reports,  research  articles,  experimental  or  observational  data, 
rich  media,  etc.)  should  be  easily  accessible,  as  a  knowledge-sharing  platform,  through 
user-friendly e-Infrastructure services. 

•  Supercomputing  e-Infrastructures  address  the  data-intensive  and  complex  challenges  of 
providing  modern  science  with  the  new  computing  and  simulation  capabilities  it  needs. 
The strategic interest of the Member States and the research community in European high-
performance  computing  and  simulation  services  has  led  to  the  creation  of  a  new  e-
Infrastructure,  PRACE22,  supported  by  the  ‘Capacities’  programme  of  the  Seventh 
Research Framework Programme. 

•  Global  Virtual  Research  Communities,  anticipating  the  advent  of  research  2.023 
paradigms, have opened new perspectives for cross-border multi-disciplinary collaboration 
among  research  communities.  A  cultural  change  is  taking  place  in  the  way  scientific 
knowledge  is  produced  and  disseminated,  leading  to  the  emergence  of  Global  Virtual 
Research  Communities.  Europe  is  already  contributing  to  the  innovation  of  the  scientific 
process  by  enabling  scientific  communities  to  use  e-Infrastructures  to  address  research 
challenges of global relevance.  

3.2. 

e-Infrastructures for 2020 and beyond 

Europe’s  response  to  the  long-term  challenges  of  e-Science  requires  a  more  efficient  and 
coordinated  approach  to  European  investment  in  world-class  scientific  infrastructures.  By 
providing  common  responses  to  different  user  requirements,  e-Infrastructures  are  crucial  in 
order to foster scientific excellence, promote global scientific partnerships and stimulate the 
development  of  high-quality  human  capital,  while  ensuring  economies  of  scale. 
E-Infrastructures  are  public  goods  that  support  education,  research  and  innovation  policies. 
The  active  involvement  of  public  authorities  in  setting  priorities  and  strategies  is  therefore 
essential. 

GÉANT’s  unique  capability  to  enable  ground-breaking  research  collaboration  though  high-
speed  connectivity  and  advanced  services  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  European  success 
stories.  For  Europe  to  keep  up  its  proud  tradition  of  innovation  and  discovery  in  science 
beyond 2020, GÉANT needs to build upon its outstanding performance to meet the exa-scale 
dimension and contribute to the design of the Future Internet. 

Today,  the  sustainability  of  e-Science  grids 
depends  mostly  on  the  strong  demand  from 
scientific user communities working together 
funded  under  national  and 
in  projects 
Community programmes. This entails the risk 
of discontinued operation and is becoming an 
inhibiting  factor  for  the  full  exploitation  of 
grids. 

National Grid Initiatives (NGIs) 

NGIs  are  entities  with  a  public  mission 
aiming  to  integrate  funding  resources  at 
national level for the provision of grid-based 
services.  They  provide  a  ‘one-stop-shop’  for 
a number of common grid-based services for 
national research communities. 

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PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe, www.prace-project.eu). 
Research 2.0 is a term to describe the use of web 2.0 technology to enhance creativity, information sharing and collaboration in 
research. 

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Project-based,  short  technology  development  cycles  may  undermine  the  interoperability  of 
grid  infrastructures,  thus  hindering  cross-disciplinary  cooperation  and  economies  of  scale. 
The EGEE and DEISA projects have already gone a long way to combining disciplines and 
coordinating strategies. To ensure long-term sustainability, these endeavours must evolve into 
truly pan-European organisation models that will open grid e-infrastructures to all scientific 
disciplines  and  complement  national  funding  strategies  in  support  of  e-Science.  Several 
National Grid Initiatives are emerging to respond in a coordinated and cost-effective way to 
the needs of scientific disciplines for computational resources. 

objective 

scientific 

Data, data and more data… 

Bioinformatics  repositories  are  growing  in 
size  at  an  exponential  rate.  By  2012  the 
information added every year to a single data 
repository  will 
reach  4  petabytes/year, 
equivalent of a 10 kilometre stack of CDs. 

data 
of 
The 
e-Infrastructures is to develop an ecosystem 
of  European  digital  repositories,  combining 
and  adding  value  to  national  and  discipline-
based  repositories  to  respond  to  Member 
State requests to improve access to scientific 
information. 
The  emergence  of  ‘big  data  science’  has  a  global  dimension24,  as  it  reflects  the  increasing 
value of raw observational and experimental data in virtually all fields of science (humanities, 
biodiversity,  high-energy physics,  astronomy, etc.). Europe needs to pay particular attention 
to the accessibility, quality assurance and preservation of key data collections. For example, 
European  environmental  policies  are  supported  by  the  INSPIRE25  Directive,  which  is 
intended  to  bring  about  a  European  spatial  information  infrastructure  to  deliver  integrated 
spatial information services. In a heterogeneous digital data landscape, where it is estimated 
that only 28% of research output is managed in digital repositories26, a new strategy for the 
management of scientific information and associated policies needs to be developed, based on 
the path-finding activities of key research stakeholders (e.g. EMBL, ESA, ECMWF, CERN27) 
as well as academic institutions and libraries. 

Supercomputing  has  been  identified  as  a  key  priority  for  boosting  Europe’s  scientific 
performance. This requires a new strategy for industrial involvement and coordination among 
funding  authorities28.  By  addressing  strategic,  policy,  technical,  financial  and  governance 
issues  related  to  supercomputing,  PRACE  is  building  important  momentum  in  mobilising 
significant national funds  to  deploy an ecosystem of  peta-scale machines  in  Europe, aiming 
for exa-scale performance by 2020. 

To efficiently support e-Science and gain a lead in Global Virtual Research Communities, 
Europe  needs  to  continue  developing  world-class  e-Infrastructures  able  to  support  new 
‘participative’  paradigms.  This  provides  a  unique  opportunity  to  strengthen  the  role  of 
European research in the evolving global context.  

However, to fully exploit the potential of global scientific collaboration, a number of issues 
need  to  be  addressed.  These  concern  the  clash  of  cultures  between  different  disciplines,  the 
need to rethink organisational models, and the setting up of quality assurance mechanisms and 
business models.  

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US National Science Foundation DataNet program (http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08021/nsf08021.jsp). 
Directive 2007/2/EC: Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community. 
‘Investigative Study of Standards for Digital Repositories and Related Services’ DRIVER (http://dare.uva.nl/document/93727). 
EMBL  (European  Molecular  Biology  Laboratory),  ESA  (European  Space  Agency),  ECMWF  (European  Centre  for  Medium-
Range Weather Forecasts), CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research). 
Europe  has  been  under-represented  in  the  world  top  ranking  lists  tracking  trends  in  high-performance  computing 
(http://www.top500.org/). 

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New strategies for the technological development of e-Infrastructures are also fundamental to 
ensure ‘future-proof’ solutions, based on open standards, which can be maintained and further 
improved in the long run and add value to the investment in research facilities, large and/or 
unique instruments, etc. 

4. 

EUROPEAN ACTIONS 

The successful implementation of a renewed strategy depends on putting into effect a series of 
concrete  actions  that  target  the  different  domains  of  European  e-Infrastructures  and  on 
establishing synergies between them. 

4.1. 

Consolidating the world leadership of GÉANT 

GÉANT, in close articulation with NRENs, needs to continue providing persistent top-of-the-
range  connectivity  with  much  higher  levels  of  performance  to  researchers,  educators  and 
students in order to lower access barriers to distributed resources and instrumentation. It needs 
to reinforce its global perspective, encompassing both advanced and developing regions29. 

GÉANT  also  needs  to  integrate  the  latest  technological  trends  in  networking  and  support 
experimentation in new paradigms that will lead to the Internet of the Future30. 

Member  States  are  invited  to  reinforce  the  coordination  of  national  and  European 
policies in the area of Research and Education Networks. 

Member States and research communities are invited to support and use GÉANT as an 
experimental platform leading towards the Internet of the Future. 

The  Commission,  through  FP7  and  international  cooperation,  will  continue  to  provide 
steady support to GÉANT to reinforce its capacity and global perspective. 

4.2. 

Structuring the e-Science grid landscape 

Future  European  e-Science  grids  should  continue  to  build  upon  the  success  of  current 
initiatives, driven by the common needs of different scientific disciplines, and to seek uptake 
by industry.  

However, to reinforce long-term sustainability, governance models need to evolve towards a 
European Grid Initiative (EGI) building upon the emerging National Grid Initiatives (NGIs). 

Member States are invited to consolidate and further develop National Grid Initiatives 
(NGIs) as a basis for a renewed European strategy. 

The  Commission  will  support  the  transition  to  new  governance  models  for  European 
e-Science  grids  as  well  as  their  efficient  deployment  to  serve  a  wide  range  of  research 
fields, ensuring the technological interoperability of global grids.  

4.3. 

Enhancing access to scientific information 

European  and  National  e-Infrastructures  need  to  address  the  emerging  challenge  of  data 
centric science. To achieve this, Europe needs to deploy a coherent and managed eco-system 
of repositories of scientific information. Europe needs to define consistent policies to enhance 
access to scientific information (e.g. in line with the indications of ESFRI position paper on 

29 

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initiatives  such  as  ALICE 
Building  on 
(www.tein2.net) supported by DG RELEX, DEV and AIDCO. 
Supporting initiatives like FIRE (Future Internet Research & Experimentation): (http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/fire/). 

(http://alice.dante.net),  EUMEDconnect 

(www.eumedconnect.net),  TEIN2 

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scientific  data,  the  Communication  on  scientific  information  in  the  digital  age:  access, 
dissemination and preservation31 and the Open Access pilot in FP732 launched in 2008). 

Member States and scientific communities are invited to step up investment in scientific 
data infrastructures and promote the sharing of best practices.  

The  Commission  will  reinforce  the  catalytic  investment  under  FP7  in  scientific  data 
infrastructure, to support accessibility and preservation policies. 

4.4. 

Building the new generation of supercomputing facilities 

In line with the ESFRI roadmap33, Europe needs to deploy a new eco-system of computational 
resources  so  as  to  achieve  peta-flop  performance  by  2010  and  move  towards  exa-scale 
computing  in  2020.  This  requires  a  particular  focus  on  developing  and  upgrading  software 
and  simulation  models  to  exploit  the  power  of  the  new  generations  of  supercomputers,  and 
calls  for  reinforced  research  and  development  on  enabling  hardware  and  software 
technologies  both  upstream  and  downstream  along  the  value  chain,  including  advanced 
components and systems, system and application software, modelling and simulation. 

To  build,  manage  and  exploit  this  new  research  capability,  Europe  needs  to  develop  new 
organisational  structures,  building  on  the  pioneering  work  of  PRACE.  Furthermore,  the 
opportunities offered by public-private partnerships and pre-commercial procurement34 need 
to be exploited to leverage investment in this strategic field. 

To this end, European investment in supercomputing should have a clear industrial impact. 

Member States are invited to scale up and pool investment in support of PRACE as well 
as in related research areas in full articulation with the Commission. 

The  Commission  will  launch  actions  to  define  and  support  an  ambitious  European 
strategic  agenda  for  supercomputing,  ranging  from  components  and  systems  to  the 
required software and services. 

4.5. 

Hosting global virtual research communities 

Europe  needs  to  exploit  e-Infrastructures  to  reap  the  high  innovation  potential  of  multi-
disciplinary  research  and  to  help  its  researchers  exploit  the  benefits.  It  also  needs  to  ensure 
that scientific disciplines are structured and organised so that they can fully benefit from the 
services provided by e-Infrastructures. This requires enhanced training efforts to ensure that 
researchers can make optimal use of e-Infrastructures. 

Member  States  and  the  European  Commission  need  to  ensure  that  future  investment  in 
research facilities is designed to fully exploit e-Infrastructures. 

Member  States  and  research  communities  are  invited  to  embrace  the  e-Science 
paradigm by continuing to exploit the benefits of e-Infrastructures. 

The  Commission  will  reinforce  its  integrating  activities  under  FP7  to  promote  the 
emergence of stronger European virtual research communities and to encourage them to 
share best practices, software and data. 

31 
32 
33 

34 

COM(2007)56: Communication on scientific information in the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation. 
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/open_access. 
The  ESFRI  roadmap  identifies  new  research  infrastructure  to  meet  the  long-term  needs  of  European  research  communities 
(www.cordis.europa.eu/esfri/roadmap.htm). 
COM(2007) 799: Pre-commercial Procurement: Driving innovation to ensure sustainable high-quality public services in Europe. 

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5. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Support  for  research  and  innovation  policies  is  crucial  for  Europe  to  cope  with  the  huge 
challenges in the 10 to 15 years ahead. Science will experience major changes in the way it is 
performed.  Researchers  will  be  facing  unprecedented  levels  of  complexity  in  tackling 
scientific  challenges  with  a  global  societal  impact.  Bringing  together  knowledge  from 
different fields of science will be essential. 

E-Infrastructures provide the underlying platforms for computationally intensive applications 
that enable collaboration combining knowledge from different fields of science. New forms of 
organisation - including virtual organisations across the globe - will emerge from the use of 
highly distributed network environments such as GÉANT. 

The reinforced and coordinated efforts of the Member States, the European Commission and 
the  scientific  communities  concerned  will  accelerate 
the  pace  of  deployment  of 
e-Infrastructures  in  order  to  increase  their  capacity  and  functionality  by  several  orders  of 
magnitude. 

The  renewed  strategy 
in  e-Science,  develop  world-class  e-
Infrastructures  and  exploit  research  innovation  potential  is  essential  to  position  Europe  as  a 
hub of scientific excellence and a truly global scientific partner. 

to  achieve 

leadership 

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