LOGO NEXUS FORUM EU

NexusForum2023

5 & 6 October @ Tangla Hotel Brussels

Fostering Innovation for Europe’s

Sovereign Cloud-Edge Continuum

NexusForum2023 managed to create a unique space for exploring together new, high-impact technological collaborations between the European research and industry ecosystems.

The rapid consolidation of the Edge Computing paradigm is having an extraordinary impact on Europe at scientific, technological, socio-economic, and geopolitical levels, as traditionally separated fields like HPC, Cloud, and IoT are now converging into a large and heterogeneous Computing Continuum that brings a number of amazing opportunities but also significant challenges.

NexusForum Summits are unique physical events aimed at exploring technological synergies between the European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud, the EU companies and Members States involved in the IPCEI on Cloud Infrastructure & Services, and the community of research and innovation projects developed under the Horizon Europe programme.

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EUcloudAlliance LOGO

Launched by the European Commission in 2021 under the direct sponsorship of Commissioner Thierry Breton, the European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud fosters collaboration between EU industry and Member States and helps to define common technology priorities and roadmaps for Europe’s next-generation cloud.

IPCEI LOGO

12 EU Member States, in close cooperation with the most innovative tech companies in their respective national ecosystems, have joined forces around a unique Important Projects of Common European Interest on Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure & Services to create a common cloud and edge infrastructure and its associated smart services.

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With a total budget of €95.5 billion, Horizon Europe is the ambitious EU research & innovation framework programme for 2021-2027. Several topics have been targeting Cloud and Edge Computing since 2021, providing funding for a number of on-going projects that are expected to contribute to developing world-leading data and computing technologies.

Agenda

Through a number of expert-led workshops, presentations, and panel discussions, NexusForum2023 will offer a unique opportunity for participants to learn about, and contribute to, the strategic EU technological initiatives directly involved in shaping Europe’s sovereign cloud-edge continuum.

THURSDAY, 5 October 2023

FRIDAY, 6 October 2023

TanglaHotel

THURSDAY, 5 October 2023

09:00 — Accreditation & Welcome Coffee ☕

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10:00 — OPENING WORDS & KEYNOTE SPEECH: European Commission 🇪🇺
  • Ignacio M. Llorente CEO of OpenNebula Systems & Chair of the Cloud/Edge WG, EU Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge & Cloud
  • Pierre ChastanetHead of Unit for Cloud & Software (Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology), European Commission
10:25 — KEYNOTE SPEECH: Government of Spain 🇪🇸
  • Jesús Marcos MorellHead of Area & IPCEI-CIS National Coordinator (State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures), Government of Spain
10:45 — Presentation: EUROPEAN INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP
In July 2023, the Cloud/Edge Working Group of the European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud presented to the European Commission in Brussels the updated European Industrial Technology Roadmap for the Next-Generation Cloud-Edge, a collective effort of the main European cloud and edge industry players to identify areas of investment for the joint development and deployment of the next generation of European cloud and edge technologies. This session will offer an introduction to this Roadmap—which serves as crucial input for the European Commission in the definition of the upcoming European digital investment programmes—and to the top technological priorities that the EU industry and research ecosystem are expected to address in the short and medium term in key areas such as Sovereignty & Open Source, Interoperability, Cybersecurity, and Sustainability.  
  • Dimosthenis Kyriazis Vice-Rector of Research and Lifelong Learning at the University of Piraeus & Rapporteur of the Cloud/Edge WG, EU Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge & Cloud
11:00 — Technology Priorities Workshop: SOVEREIGNTY & OPEN SOURCE

As Commissioner Thierry Breton has stated, “in the Digital Decade, open source will be a key element to achieve Europe’s resilience and digital sovereignty”. In this interactive session we will discuss how open source can help to reduce the market entry barriers in the cloud market, increase market competition and technology neutrality, and consolidate an approach to edge computing that balances its advantages and risks while minimising vendor lock-in and fostering an open ecosystem in Europe around sustainable joint innovation. We will also debate the practical challenges that strategic EU initiatives like the IPCEI-CIS pose in terms of implementing new models of open source governance able to ensure Europe’s technological sovereignty in the long term.

This interactive session will be co-chaired by:

  • Alberto P. Martí VP of Open Source Innovation, OpenNebula Systems
  • Sachiko Muto Senior Researcher, RISE
11:45 — Technology Priorities Workshop: INTEROPERABILITY

The European landscape of cloud & edge infrastructure services is highly fragmented and suffers a lack of interoperability that limits the practical capacity of users to easily deploy applications across multi-provider environments and to switch between vendors. In this interactive session we will discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with leveraging European or international standards for the implementation of compatible services across providers. We will also look at how strategic EU initiatives like the IPCEI-CIS are expected to promote the joint development of uniform abstraction layers for multi-provider portability, as well as meta-orchestration and federation mechanisms for the distributed cloud-edge continuum.

This interactive session will be co-chaired by:

  • Alfonso Carrillo-Aspiazu Senior Edge & Telco Solutions Architect, OpenNebula Systems
  • Johan KristianssonSenior Researcher, RISE

12:30 — Networking Lunch 🥗

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13:30 — Private Session: IPCEI-CIS DIRECT PARTICIPANTS
14:00 — Technology Priorities Workshop: CYBERSECURITY
Despite the evident benefits of cloud & edge computing, its adoption is still somehow limited because of what EU customers and industries perceive as a lack of security and transparency in applied technologies. In this interactive session we will discuss possibles ways to address critical challenges such as the need to develop European meta-orchestration solutions able to enforce global cybersecurity and compliance policies in multi-provider environments, the lack of open frameworks leveraging Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) and enabling end-to-end Confidential Computing capabilities across the cloud-edge continuum, and the need to promote joint innovation in AI-powered cybersecurity technologies for cloud and edge operations. This interactive session will be co-chaired by:
  • Björn Fanta Head of Research, Fabasoft
  • Juncal Alonso Senior Researcher, Tecnalia
14:45 — Technology Priorities Workshop: SUSTAINABILITY

While cloud & edge infrastructures continue growing, carbon usage needs to be reduced in order to meet the EU’s 2023 climate neutrality goal for the European datacentre industry. In this interactive session we will discuss how technologies like AI/ML can help to incorporate parameters such as energy efficiency, green energies, and compliance policies into the automated decision-making processes involved, for example, in the deployment and management of workloads across a multi-provider cloud-edge continuum. We will also look at how next-generation European meta-orchestration solutions will have to take into account the increasing heterogeneity at the edge and the need to use predictive models adapted to specific conditions such as node mobility and high variability in power supply availability.

This interactive session will be co-chaired by:

  • Erik Langius Scientist Integrator, TNO
  • Thomas Ohlson Timoudas Researcher, RISE

15:30 — Coffee Break ☕

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16:00 — Panel Discussion: NEXT-GENERATION CLOUD & TELCO EDGE INFRASTRUCTURE

In March 2021, the European Commission released its Digital Compass, with one of its main objectives being the deployment of 10,000 climate-neutral, highly secure Edge Nodes across the EU by 2023. This panel discussion will analyse the opportunities and challenges that this brings to the European cloud market, and how the EU industry is planning to contribute to achieve that objective through joint technological innovation and pan-European collaboration.

  • Maria Barros Weiss Head of Digital Ecosystems, IONOS
  • Alfonso Carrillo-Aspiazu Senior Edge & Telco Solutions Architect, OpenNebula Systems
  • Andreas Florath Cloud Architect, Deutsche Telekom
  • Alexander Heine Lead Computation Circle (Digital Rail for Germany), DB Netz
  • Çağatay Yılmaz Project Manager (ICE Data Center), RISE

Session organised in collaboration with the EU Edge Observatory

17:00 — Presentation: EUROPEAN OPEN SOURCE INNOVATION, FROM ONEedge TO OSMOP.EU
  • Alberto P. Martí VP of Open Source Innovation, OpenNebula Systems
  • Constantino Vázquez Chief Operating Officer, OpenNebula Systems
17:30 — KEYNOTE SPEECH: Government of Spain 🇪🇸
  • Alberto PalomoNational Chief Data Officer (State Secretariat for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence), Government of Spain

18:00 — Cocktail Party 🍷

FRIDAY, 6 October 2023

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09:00 — Presentations: HIGH-IMPACT HORIZON EUROPE PROJECTS

In this session, a number of high-impact EU-funded research and innovation actions will present new approaches and open source developments that are especially relevant for the IPCEI-CIS and the European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud. These projects will explain how they are addressing technological challenges such as workload orchestration across the cloud-edge continuum, the use of AI for cloud operations, the development of middleware solutions for cloud interoperability/portability, the adoption of emerging container and virtualization technologies, or the management of heterogeneous infrastructure resources across public cloud or telco/5G edge service providers:

  • SovereignEdge.COGNIT [2022-DATA-01-02] — Alberto P. Martí (VP of Open Source Innovation, OpenNebula Systems)
  • AC3 [2022-DATA-01-02] — David Vallejo (Head of the PMO, Arsys)
  • ACES [2022-DATA-01-02] — Giovanni Rimassa (Chief Innovation Officer, Martel Innovate)
  • CODECO [2022-DATA-01-02] — Rizkallah Touma (Research Lead, i2CAT)
  • OASEES [2022-DATA-01-03] — Enrique Areizaga (Digital Transformation Manager, Tecnalia)
  • TALON [2021-HUMAN-01-01] — Giovanni Frattini (Technical Manager, Engineering)
  • CLARUS [2021-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01-09] — Iván Valdés (Edge/Cloud Software Architect, Ikerlan)
  • 6G-SANDBOX [SNS-2022-STREAM-C-01-01] — Alfonso Carrillo (Senior Edge & Telco Solutions Architect, OpenNebula Systems)
  • MEDINA [H2020-SU-ICT-2018-2020] — Juncal Alonso (Senior Researcher, Tecnalia)

Session organised in collaboration with EUCloudEdgeIoT

10:30 — Coffee Break ☕

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11:00 — Panel Discussion: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR THE COGNITIVE CLOUD

One of the high-impact research and innovation topics launched by the European Commission in recent years is the so-called Cognitive Cloud. In addition to reducing latency, improving security, and optimizing resource consumption, this panel discussion will look at how Artificial Intelligence is expected to enable serverless and highly-distributed edge cloud architectures to be more flexible and adaptable to the changing needs of IoT/edge application developers.

  • Idoia de la Iglesia — Team Leader, IoT & Digital Platforms, Ikerlan
  • Philippe Massonet — Scientific Coordinator, CETIC
  • Thomas Ohlson Timoudas Researcher, RISE
  • Paul Townend — Associate Professor, Umeå University
  • Constantino Vázquez — Chief Operating Officer, OpenNebula Systems

Session organised in collaboration with the COGNIT Project

11:50 — Panel Discussion: BUILDING A EUROPEAN EDGE CLOUD FOR DATA SPACES

The EU’s Strategy for Data aims at creating a single market for data that will ensure Europe’s global competitiveness and data sovereignty, a process that is also expected to contribute to bringing some balance to the European cloud market. This panel discussion will look at the emerging Common European Data Spaces and how they are going to influence (and benefit from) the future deployment of a federated edge cloud infrastructure across Europe.

  • Domenico Chirico Enterprise Architect, KPN
  • Tobias Guggenberger Project Manager & Researcher, Fraunhofer ISST
  • Patrick Hebant Associate Director, Dataspace Ecosystem, Amadeus
  • Michel Iñigo Senior Innovation & Technology Manager, Mondragón Corporation
  • Marco Mancini Senior Cloud Solutions Architect, OpenNebula Systems

Session organised in collaboration with the Data Spaces Support Centre

12:40 — CLOSING SPEECH: Government of Spain 🇪🇸
  • Ignacio M. Llorente CEO of OpenNebula Systems & Chair of the Cloud/Edge WG, EU Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge & Cloud
  • Matías González Martín Secretary General of Telecommunications and Regulation of Audiovisual Communication Services (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation), Government of Spain

13:00 — Networking Lunch 🥗

Keynote Speakers

Join us in Brussels at NexusForum2023 to find out what the main technological priorities related to cloud & edge computing are for the European Commission and for the current Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (July–December 2023).

Pierre Chastanet

Mr Pierre Chastanet

Head of Unit for Cloud & Software

Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology

(DG CONNECT)

EC logo
Jesus Marcos

Mr Jesús Marcos Morell

Head of Area & IPCEI-CIS National Coordinator

Cabinet of the General Secretariat of Telecommunications and Organisation of Audiovisual Communication Services

State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures

MINECO logo
Alberto Palomo

Mr Alberto Palomo

National Chief Data Officer

Chairman of the Gaia-X Government Advisory Board

State Secretariat for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence

MINECO logo
EC logo
MINECO logo
MINECO logo

Closing Speech 🛰️

MartinGonzalez

Mr Matías González Martín

Secretary General of Telecommunications and Regulation of Audiovisual Communication Services

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation

 

MINECO logo

Organised by

OpenNebula logo

In collaboration with

edge observatory
EUCEI
COGNIT
DSSC

Some of the Participants

Participants NexusForum2023
amadeus
arsys
CETIC
DB
Deloitte
DT
fabasoft
fincantieri
ISST
ikerlan
KPN
mondragon
RISE
tecnalia
umea

This Event Has Ended

THANK YOU… AND SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR!

NexusForum2023 is a free physical event that took place on 5 & 6 October 2023 in Brussels and included public and private sessions, workshops, presentations, and panel discussions around the main topics related to next-generation cloud & edge computing in Europe.

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