The European Parliament supports the European cloud IT initiative. In a non-legislative resolution adopted on Thursday 16 February, it calls on the European Union to properly finance this initiative presented by the European Commission in April 2016 (see EUROPE 11535).
Communication on use of cloud computing aims to help the scientific community to store, share and use data and scientific recasts by developing underlying capabilities, namely intensive calculations, rapid connectivity and high-capacity cloud solutions.
The report, drawn up by Jerzy Buzek (EPP, Poland), welcomed the initiative as the first step towards the creation of a suitable fountain for open, competitive action at EU level. It particularly welcomes the focus on building high-speed networks, large-scale storage structures, high-performance calculation resources and a European megadata ecosystem.
However, the resolution notes two obstacles: lack of finance and lack of infrastructure. It expresses concern about a finance deficit of €4.7 billion and urges the European Commission to find suitable financing mechanisms.
The text also stresses the need to develop an open, reliable, collaborative platform for managing, analysing, sharing, using and preserving research data. It says that the best standards and high inter-operability will encourage communication among different systems based on cloud infrastructure.
Finally, the resolution asks the Commission and member states, in cooperation with stakeholders, to draw up a roadmap in order to set precise deadlines as soon as possible for the European cloud for open science.
Resolution can be viewed at http://bit.ly/2kQHNnK (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)