E-Infrastructure Concertation Meeting

The 8th e-Infrastructure Concertation Meeting was held in the Globe from 4 to 5 November to discuss the development of Europe’s distributed computing and storage resources.
 

Project leaders attend the E-Concertation Meeting at the Globe on 5 November 2010. © Corentin Chevalier

E-Infrastructures have become an indispensable tool for scientific research, linking researchers to virtually unlimited e-resources like the grid. The recent e-Infrastructure Concertation Meeting brought together e-Science project leaders to discuss the development of this tool in the European context. The meeting was part of an ongoing initiative to develop a world-class e-infrastructure resource that would establish European leadership in e-Science.

The e-Infrastructure Concertation Meeting was organised by the Commission Services (EC) with the support of e-ScienceTalk. “The Concertation meeting at CERN has been a great opportunity for e-ScienceTalk to meet many of the 38 new projects funded in the last call, and we look forward to working with them through the GridBriefings, GridCafe, GridCast, GridGuide and iSGTW,” says Catherine Gater, e-ScienceTalk Project Coordinator. “The e-Infrastructure family of projects is growing rapidly and we are very pleased to be part of it.”

The event was an excellent opportunity for project coordinators to develop new ideas, discuss the impact of their projects and explore future collaboration. It also gave them a chance to talk to the people funding their work. Representatives from the EC Framework programmes that fund many of the e-Infrastructure projects also attended the meeting. While project leaders are in constant contact with the EC through evaluations and reviews, this was an opportunity for the two groups to meet more informally.

CERN continues to be at the centre of the development of e-infrastructures as they make their way into the non-scientific realm. “CERN has been an excellent host and has provided a stunning venue in the Globe - we're looking forward to the next e-Infrastructure family reunion,” says Gater.

by Katarina Anthony