The Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs)
The European Cloud, Edge & IoT Continuum is supported by the effort of three Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs). Two of them, namely Open Continuum and UNLOCK-CEI, cooperated from the start focussing respectively on the supply and demand sides of the CEI Continuum, and a third one, NexusForum.EU, bringing topics as the connection with longer-tern research, the IPCEI-CIS project and with ecosystems in Japan and South Korea. This joint work will also benefit from the synergies and legacy of other existing EU projects in the domains of Cloud, Edge, IoT, AI, and connectivity.
UNLOCK-CEI
The UNLOCK CEI project aims at unlocking the potential for accelerating the deployment of the Cloud-Edge-IoT (CEI) computing continuum. The project specifically focuses on the demand side drivers and challenges and the technology-driven innovations and business opportunities driving demand value chains.
In particular, the project has set the following main objectives:
- Objective 1: Carry out a systematic assessment of the current state of the European CEI demand landscape, analysing the business opportunities brought by this paradigm change
- Objective 2: Define market scenarios for the development of the open European CEI ecosystem and a CEI Readiness Framework
- Objective 3: Build and activate the CEI Industry Constituency, i.e., a group of industry stakeholders representing the most important or promising value chains in Europe for CEI potential demand, to aggregate demand needs and identify demand-pull drivers for CEI adoption
- Objective 4: Develop a productive and effective interface between the demand constituency and the supply side to improve the market readiness and successful adoption of these technologies
- Objective 5: Create awareness of CEI in Europe and generate impact.
Open Continuum
OpenContinuum supports the cloud-edge-IoT domain by focusing on the supply side of the computing continuum landscape.Its goal is to foster European strategic autonomy and interoperability through an open ecosystem for the computing continuum, with open source and open standards as two key enablers to be supported and leveraged throughout the community.
In particular, the project has set the following main objectives:
- Objective 1: Promote the establishment of a European industrial Open Ecosystem based on Open Source and Open Standards
- Objective 2: Map and analyse the supply-side landscape of the European emerging Computing Continuum
- Objective 3: Engage the EU industrial and research actors to create a supply-side community that spans the whole Computing Continuum
- Objective 4: Coordinate the relevant EU project portfolio towards an open European ecosystem for the cloud-edge-IoT continuum
NexusForum.EU
The NexusForum.EU project will boost the consolidation of the European Computing Continuum ecosystem building on the valuable activities and impact generated so far by within the existing EUCloudEdgeIoT ecosystem, as well as will provide a forward-looking and bold vision in new areas and directions that have not been explored so far. The 30 months project officially started in January 2024.
In particular, the project has set the following main objectives:
- Objective 1: Consolidate the European research, development, and innovation activities and capabilities related to the Cognitive Computing Continuum, and provide a bold long-term outlook and vision for potential research and innovation topics addressing the gaps in EU work programmes.
- Objective 2: Monitor the European regulatory landscape and policy activities and initiatives related to the Cognitive Computing Continuum, suggesting ways to align research and technology priorities in key strategic areas with relevant EU policy aspects.
- Objective 3: Facilitate collaboration and knowledge exchange between European scientific communities and industrial organisations actively involved in research, development, and innovation activities related to the Cognitive Computing Continuum, coordinating impactful contributions to relevant SDOs, technology providers, open source communities, and pan-European initiatives.
- Objective 4: Facilitate engagement at international level with research, industry, and users from different domains/sectors interested in the Cognitive Computing Continuum, especially those based in Japan and South Korea.
- Objective 5: Establish and consolidate a new series of inclusive and sustainable annual cross-fertilisation events for the European computing constituency, facilitating development, and innovation activities related to the Cognitive Computing Continuum.
