SLICES-PP kick-off meeting to build the European Large Scale Research Infrastructure for ICT Research
Date: September 13, 2022
The European research project SLICES-PP had its official kick-off on September 6th 2022 with an event hosted physically by INRIA in Lille, France. SLICES is building a European-wide research infrastructure to support research and innovation with information and communication technologies, future networks, and digital transformation, including Internet of Things, edge computing and cloud computing. Endorsed by ESFRI, SLICES will provide advanced testbed infrastructure and tools, including compute, storage and network components, interconnected by dedicated high-speed links that will federate and mutualize resources made available by diverse universities and research centres.
SLICES-PP is a Horizon Europe research project, funded under the Grand Agreement No. 101079774 and gathers 25 partners of the SLICES-RI. The overall objective of SLICES-PP (‘Preparatory Phase’) is to tackle all key questions concerning legal, financial and technical issues leading to the establishment of the new SLICES research infrastructure and ensuring commitment of Member States/Associated Countries to its long-term operation and use in all fields of science.
The meeting was opened by the SLICES-PP project coordinator, Nathalie Mitton from INRIA. Representatives from all the institutions participating in the project were present, physically or remotely, and highlighted the importance of this scientific initiative, renewing their commitment and enthusiastic support to continue the SLICES journey and deliver tangible results.
‘SLICES is a unique initiative in digital sciences’, said Serge Fdida, SLICES coordinator from Sorbonne University. ‘It aims at providing a large-scale scientific instrument to support the discovery process for the design of digital infrastructures. We entered the ESFRI roadmap a year ago, successfully transitioning from the design to the preparation phase. Most importantly, our vibrant community is expanding, attracting a growing interest and support from the main stakeholders in research and industry.’
The main focus of the one-day event was the presentation of the activities that the partners will carry out during the 4-year programme of this project. Presentations were delivered by the coordination team and the work package leaders. They aimed at providing a basis for the establishment of the legal framework, the business plan and the preparation of all different aspects of the RI that make it sustainable and useful for the community.
‘It was a real pleasure to host this kick off meeting and welcome all partners in Lille’, says Nathalie Mitton, the Coordinator of SLICES-PP. ‘It is an honour to coordinate SLICES-PP, an important component in the setup of the SLICES-RI ESFRI infrastructure and we take a great pride of it. This kick-off meeting was rich of interesting discussions and interactions, demonstrating the synergy between partners that will definitely contribute to the success of SLICES.’
Useful Links
SLICES-RI website: http://194.177.207.96:5267/
SLICES-PP website: https://slices-pp.eu/