OpenNebula Systems welcomes the European Commission’s decision to approve up to 1.2 billion EUR of State aid for the Important Project of Common European Interest on Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure & Services (IPCEI-CIS) and the strong commitment it shows to developing strategic European open source technologies for cloud and edge computing. The project was jointly notified by seven Member States: France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. Member States will provide up to €1.2 billion in public funding, which is expected to unlock an additional €1.4 billion in private investments.

The IPCEI-CIS concerns the development of the first interoperable and openly accessible European data processing ecosystem, the multi-provider cloud-edge continuum. It will develop data processing capabilities, and software and data sharing tools that enable federated, energy-efficient, and trustworthy cloud and edge-distributed data processing technologies and related services. The innovation provided by the IPCEI-CIS will enable new possibilities for European businesses and citizens, advancing the Digital and Green transition in Europe.

“The IPCEI approved today is crucial to deliver breakthrough innovation on Cloud and Edge technologies that fulfill European requirements for interoperability, data privacy, sustainability, and cybersecurity. It will also provide the technologies and solutions to reach our Digital Decade Strategy 2030 objectives: a 75% of cloud uptake by EU enterprises and more than 10.000 edge nodes across Europe. With this IPCEI, Europe will reinforce its innovation leadership in next-generation data processing services.”

—Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for Internal Market

The participating companies will develop an open source software that will allow for real-time and low-latency services by distributed computing resources close to the user, thereby reducing the need to transmit large volumes of data to centralized cloud servers. The individual projects cover the entire cloud-edge continuum, from the basic software layer to sector-specific applications. OpenNebula Systems, a Direct Participant in the IPCEI-CIS, is going to play a key role in the development of a Next-Generation European Platform for the Datacenter-Cloud-Edge Continuum.

Additional resources about the IPCEI-CIS:

• Official announcement (December 5, 2023)
• Press release by the European Commission.