The Important Project of Common European Interest for Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI-CIS) aims to promote cloud and edge computing strongly in Europe. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) has now published the “Announcement of the Expression of Interest Procedure for Planned Funding in the Area of Cloud and Edge Infrastructure and Services”. The deadline for submissions for expressions of interest is 30.8.2021. An information event will be held on 22.7.2021.
The eco Association is working on Europe’s next-generation cloud infrastructure: Many eco members are currently already involved in initiatives with the aim of creating a sovereign, highly scalable edge cloud infrastructure in Europe. With the Gaia-X Federation Services, for example, eco is pursuing the goal of creating a technical foundation that links data ecosystems and infrastructure ecosystems.
eco members working together on Europe’s digital sovereignty
“Alongside Gaia-X, the IPCEI-CIS is another important building block for keeping the European economy competitive in the long term through digitalisation,” says Andreas Weiss, Head of Digital Business Models at the eco Association. “However, there will be a need to plan large-scale funding for real infrastructure investments for the cloud, the edge and interconnection to achieve real economies of scale. Digitalisation must be brought to the surface, while adhering to the climate neutrality goals.”
Two-stage funding procedure has started
The funding is a two-stage procedure, consisting of a national expression of interest procedure and a subsequent matchmaking process at European level. Applicants can submit short, complete project outlines electronically to ipcei-cis@bmwi.bund.de by the deadline of 30 August 2021, expressing their interest in funding. From these, the BMWi will be selecting companies or consortia that will be permitted to participate in the EU matchmaking process.
The selection criteria can be found in the announcement (German language). Among other things, the total investment costs of the applicant or the consortium applying must be at least 10 million Euro. The IPCEI-CIS has a funding volume of 0.75 billion Euro for Germany. The goal is to create innovative technologies for energy-saving, carbon-neutral, highly efficient and interconnected systems.
Read Andreas Weiss’ article on the IPCEI-CIS initiative on dotmagazine.
For more information see www.ipcei-cis.de.
In an EU Industry Information Session at 11 am on 16 July, all interested parties will have the opportunity to ask questions. If you would like to participate, please register by email to ipcei-cis@bmwi.bund.de and ipcei-cloud.dge@finances.gouv.fr.
