The official launch of the CEI-Sphere Coordination and Support Action (CSA) marks an exciting new chapter in the development of Europe’s Cloud-Edge-IoT (CEI) ecosystem. Building on the legacy of the UNLOCK-CEI project, CEI-Sphere will continue to drive progress in creating an open, interoperable, and competitive CEI Continuum, fostering innovation and collaboration across critical industries.
A key feature of CEI-Sphere is the Large-Scale Pilots (LSPs), which will kick off in January 2025. These pilots, beginning with the energy sector, will serve as testbeds for the latest cloud-edge innovations. The LSPs will also play a critical role in developing continuous engagement environments, or “spheres,” around key vertical industries, ensuring sustained cross-sector collaboration and alignment with European priorities such as open-source, data spaces, and standards.
Over the next 30 months, CEI-Sphere will focus on delivering several impactful outcomes, including:
- Defining a high-level CEI reference architecture
- Establishing a comprehensive use-case catalogue and conducting market analysis
- Developing an innovation ecosystem visualisation tool
- Establishing a certification framework to ensure the long-term success of CEI infrastructure
CEI-Sphere will continue to align with major EU initiatives such as IPCEI Cloud, NGI (Next Generation Internet), Chips JU, and NexusForum.EU. Through its clustering activities, hackathons, and policy recommendations, CEI-Sphere aims to accelerate standardisation, interoperability, and partnerships across Europe’s Cloud-Edge-IoT ecosystem.
Stay tuned as we prepare for the LSPs launch in January 2025 and continue to unlock the potential of CEI in Europe!
For further updates on the project, please subscribe to our newsletter.