In order to demonstrate the role of commercial cloud solutions in the effectiveness of research projects, the Open Clouds for Research Environments (OCRE) project will support 15 projects.
In total, approximately 6 million euros will be distributed among 15 European innovation projects as part of the second phase of the project to adopt cloud services created through the OCRE IaaS+ framework agreements.
Each project will receive between $100,000 and $500,000, and one of the distinctive features of this funding mechanism, OCRE explains on its website, is the way it "connects commercial cloud service providers and researchers directly.
All applications were evaluated, scored and ranked by the OCRE team for cloud technology adoption funding and overseen by an external advisory board.
This is seen as a key moment in the CEBRE's goal of founding a digital single market for digital and cloud services for European research. This second round of funding was also a way to use a remaining amount of the CEBRE budget in a way "to help researchers have the tools they need at their disposal by demonstrating their value."
For OCRE Project Director Dave Heyns, this close collaboration between researchers and commercial cloud service providers has been "extremely rewarding for the OCRE team." "We believe we have demonstrated the significant benefits that commercial cloud computing offers to the European research community and contributed to making these services more accessible."
On its website, OCRE details the projects receiving funding. Genetic analysis initiatives, virtual reality or machine learning are some examples that fall under three major areas: Health, Environment and Digital Technologies.
You can learn more about the supported projects on the project's official website & other success stories.
