IPCEI on Next-Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services to boost Europe’s Digital Decade

The Commission announced support for an Important project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) on Next-Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services on 5 December 2023. The IPCEI authorises 7 member states (France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain) to mobilise up to €1.2 billion in public funding – spurring a further €1.4 billion in private investments – to support research, development and initial industrial deployment of European innovations in cloud and edge technologies

This Important Project of Common European Interest on Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI-CIS) will allow the development of interoperable and accessible European data processing technologies, enabling a cloud to edge continuum across multiple providers. The IPCEI aims at enabling research and development to develop an open-source software that would allow for real-time and low-latency applications by distributed computing resources close to the users.

This will enable greater energy and resource-efficiencies, for instance, by reducing the need to transmit large volumes of data to centralised cloud servers and by improving the energy efficiency of infrastructure elements. Furthermore, cloud and edge software is a key enabler of the EU’s digital transformation, encompassing all information technology applications and services used by the businesses.

The IPCEI-CIS will be a key initiative for making available the technology that is necessary to achieve some of the Digital Decade targets, namely:

• 75% of EU companies using Cloud, AI or Big Data; and
• 10,000 climate-neutral highly secure edge nodes deployed across Europe by 2030.

The technology stemming from this IPCEI will accelerate the development of a truly interoperable European cloud and edge computing market, which treats data privacy, cybersecurity and sustainability as primary concerns.

The IPCEI will also help to accomplish the European Data Strategy. It complements legislative efforts in the Data Act seeking to remove the obstacles that prevent European cloud users from using multiple providers or switching between them.

The IPCEI on Cloud Infrastructure and Services also supports other areas of the Commission’s work. Notably, on overcoming strategic dependence on foreign providers in of cloud and software technologies.