From high-performance computing to connectivity and support for scientific research, there are several areas in which the FCCN Unit has developed innovative initiatives. Here are some of them:
RCTS100 - Connecting knowledge at high speed
Over the last five years, RCTS100 has been extending the fiber optic infrastructure of the national education and research network and ensuring its technological upgrade. "We are building a new generation of RCTS," said Ana Pinto, Director of the Unit's Network Services Area FCCN, in an interview published in January 2021. At the same time, the project also enabled the internal networks of nine public higher education entities to be trained internally.
By standardizing access to fiber and activating an optical transmission system with national coverage, it was possible to ensure equal access conditions to the network, regardless of the location of the subscribing entity. At this moment, RCTS teaching and research entities located in the south or in the interior north can already access multiple services at 100Gbps, and for this reason this project is a response to the "digital divide" [asymmetries felt, in different parts of the country, regarding the connectivity services available].
Learn more about RCTS100 here.
Innovation Program GÉANT
Support community ideas
The GÉANT Innovation Programme is an initiative that provides funding of up to 30,000 euros for innovative projects carried out by the community of European national research and education networks, as well as the entities they serve (universities, research institutes, among others). "The goal of this program is to support innovative ideas that come from our community," explains GÉANT, on the program's website.
Over the last two years, GÉANT has been running this innovation support program, supporting dozens of projects across Europe. The FCCN Unit has collaborated in boosting the program on Portuguese soil, supporting applications. The third edition is already underway, with applications open until January 30. If you belong to the RCTS Community and have an innovative idea that you would like to see funded, contact us to put it into practice.
INDEXAR - Toward Open Science
"To be an online reference in the location, validation and preservation of relevant scientific content in the areas of science, technology and culture" is the aim of the service of the FCCN Unit created in July 2022 - INDEXAR. This service consists of a nationwide directory of digital scientific repositories and journals. Thanks to a classification and listing system, users can find these repositories and scientific journals segmented by their areas of interest.
In this sense, INDEXAR has two communities of interest. In addition to the academic and research community (researchers, teachers, students) and the general public looking for documentation repositories, INDEXAR aims to reach repository managers, sharing the benefits guaranteed, in order to promote registration on this platform.
Find out more about INDEXAR here.
Project EUROCC
Enabling Advanced Computing
Co-funded by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), EuroCC is a European competence network in High Performance Computing (HPC), which promotes cooperation and implementation of best practices in this area across Europe. The goal is, through National Competence Centers (NCCs), to support academia, research, government and industry to take advantage of the HPC expertise, experience and resources available in the European geographic area.
Since 2020, the Portuguese EuroCC competence center has been coordinated by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through its Unit FCCN, and several partner Through this project, they provide experience and capabilities to support the adoption and use of HPC, thus fulfilling the overall purpose of EuroCC.
Learn more about the EuroCC here.
Pollen - Managing and sharing research data
The newly created Polen project aims to promote Open Science and meet the needs of the community in the management of research data. This initiative foresees the creation of several services that allow members of the teaching and research community to effectively manage and share research data, through three key elements: a data management plan system, a research data repository service and a community support service.
Under this project, the period of expression of interest and application to use the Polen Research Data Repository Service in its pilot implementation phase is now open. The selected institutions will have the opportunity to use and play an active role in testing the research data repository, issue recommendations or suggestions for improvement, ensure the deposit of their project's research data (up to a predetermined volume) and communicate the concerns of the national scientific community regarding the issue of depositing and safeguarding their research data.
Learn more about Polen here.
EOSC Synergy - Creating synergies on the European continent
Ensuring a common research data platform, where information is searchable, accessible, interoperable and reusable is the ultimate goal of the EOSC - European Open Science Cloud. This way, highlights the EOSC association, created in 2020 to implement this platform, it will be possible to promote an "interdisciplinary and impactful science in the context of the digital age".
The goals of the initiative are convergent with the European Commission's vision for the implementation of an Open Science policy on the continent. For this reason the EOSC has a profound impact on national research communities, since both national research data service providers and the institutions that use them to do science will have to align with this European initiative.
In Portugal, the Foundation for Science and Technology, through its Unit FCCN, has been making efforts in this area. Since October 2020, FCT has been the organization mandated to represent Portugal's interests within the EOSC association.
Learn more about the EOSC here.
-" Find out about more innovative projects promoted by the Unit at FCCN https://webcq.fccn.pt/inovacao/
