04/12/2025
The Institute of Information Science and Technologies of the Italian National Research Council of Italy (Cnr-Isti) has secured a major strategic milestone in the European research landscape. Following a highly competitive call with 121 proposals, Cnr-Isti has been selected to coordinate one of the 13 foundational "candidate nodes" of the new EOSC (European Open Science Cloud) Federation.
The announcement was made at the EOSC Symposium in Brussels, where the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing the Federation's operational path was introduced. This achievement places CNR at the very center of Europe's research data strategy.
The CNR-led node—the only one coordinated by the institution in this first critical wave—is the "EOSC Node Digital Twin of the Ocean".
The EOSC Federation is the European Commission's flagship initiative to create a federated "system of systems," described by DG RTD Director-General Marc Lemaître as the "backbone of Europe’s digital research and innovation ecosystem." This open and trusted infrastructure will enable researchers to access and reuse high-quality data and services across borders and disciplines, reinforcing European data sovereignty and global competitiveness.
"To be selected from over 120 proposals to coordinate the only CNR-led node in this first, historic wave is a source of great pride and a significant responsibility," said Pasquale Pagano, researcher at the Institute of Information Science and Technologies (CNR-ISTI) and Coordinator of the new node. "It is a testament to years of work and our proven expertise in managing complex digital infrastructures."
The CNR node will have a critical thematic mission: it will serve as the primary operational bridge between the EOSC ecosystem and the European Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO), the core public infrastructure (EDITO) for ocean modeling.
The node will provide a collaborative Virtual Research Environment (VRE) where the entire marine scientific community can access core DTO data, combine it with data from other research infrastructures, and develop new models and services. This work will in turn directly support the goals of the EU Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters."
This strategic selection is built on the decade-long success of the D4Science e-infrastructure, developed and operated by CNR's Institute of Information Science and Technologies "A. Faedo" (ISTI) in Pisa. D4Science is already the engine behind the successful Blue-Cloud projects, which acted as the pathfinder, building the community and technology that now form the foundation of the new official EOSC Node.
Per informazioni:
Pasquale Pagano
Cnr-Isti
pasquale.pagano@isti.cnr.it
Ufficio stampa:
Beatrice Rapisarda
Collaboratrice Ufficio Stampa Cnr
beatrice.rapisarda@cnr.it
Responsabile Unità Ufficio stampa:
Emanuele Guerrini
emanuele.guerrini@cnr.it
ufficiostampa@cnr.it
06 4993 3383