e-Science stands for an innovative way of conducting scientific research where the cooperation of academic and industrial research partners constitute a virtual community and exploit the collective power of European scientific facilities.
The term e-Infrastructure refers to this new research environment in which all researchers – whether working in the context of their home institutions or in national or multinational scientific initiatives – have shared access to unique or distributed scientific facilities (including data, instruments, computing and communications), regardless of their type and location in the world.
The e-Infrastructure activity will:
• Extend and reinforce the high capacity communication infrastructure GÉANT
• Strengthen multidisciplinary grid and supercomputing infrastructures
• Expand scientific data infrastructure
• Encourage the adoption of e-Infrastructure by an increasing number of user communities
• Stimulate new organisational models
• Support the construction of new computation and data treatment facilities
Exploit the power of e-Infrastructure as a vector of international cooperation.
e-InfraNET Project is ambitious to address the need for harmonising and co-ordinating the related national efforts and establishing a common European endeavour in order to serve successful integration of the diverse and parallel local and regional policies in the field of e-Infrastructures. The ERA-NET will be targeted at national programme managers and policy makers which will improve policy collaboration and build further on the outputs of existing groups, making sure the innovative policy ideas will be integrated properly in national and EC policy
The implementation of the project will be a unique opportunity bringing together key representatives from several countries all over Europe, working according to a well planned programme with a clear target of achieving progress that will lead to concrete common programmes and calls. The realisation of this ambitious objective will benefit the e-infrastructure sector in Europe, contributing towards: