Blue Cloud 2026
A federated European FAIR and Open Research Ecosystem for oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters
Categories: Europeans | Florence | Anthropogenic impacts | In progress | Sharing Monitoring Technologies
Funding: Horizon Europe
Period: January 2023 – June 2026
Total project budget: € 8.845.420,00
Total budget CNR IIA: € 75.000,00
Scientific Responsible: Enrico Boldrini
Abstract of the project
Blue-Cloud 2026 is based on the Blue-Cloud pilot project, which has created an IT platform capable of providing access to multidisciplinary datasets and analytical services for ocean research. The project aims to further evolve its pilot ecosystem into a European federated ecosystem that will deliver fair and open data and serve the needs of EU marine agendas (sustainable blue economy, marine strategy and marine knowledge).
The advanced ecosystem will provide a core data service for the Digital Twin of the Ocean and will be coordinated by Trust-IT and MARIS. The main services provided will be the Data Discovery & Access Service (DD&AS), the Virtual Research Environment (VRE) and the Virtual Labs. Blue-Cloud 2026's architecture is scalable and sustainable and is designed to connect additional marine analytical infrastructure and services and address a growing range of users.
CNR-IIA will mainly contribute to the Work Page 2 dedicated to providing a FAIR service for the discovery and access of marine data (DD&AS) originating from the main marine data infrastructures (BDIs).
Indeed, the DD&AS was developed and is operated jointly by MARIS, CNR-IIA and CINECA during the Blue-Cloud pilot project. CNR-IIA will contribute to BlueCloud 2026 by providing, operating and advancing the Discovery and Access Broker (DAB) technology, which implements a brokerage approach to discover and access in a harmonized way multidisciplinary data shared online through heterogeneous web services.
In particular, CNR-IIA will contribute to the inclusion of additional BDIs compared to the pilot developed in the Blue-Cloud project, in particular EMSO, EMODNet Physics, EMBRC (EMO-BON) and SIOS. Each BDI will first of all be analyzed as regards the applications and services already available for data sharing on the web: in particular, the protocols used, the data models and their coding will be described. The resulting reports will be useful both to provide suggestions to data providers to improve the online publication, and for the subsequent implementation of the connection with the DD&AS by CNR-IIA.
The technical activity for which CNR-IIA is responsible will proceed with an implementation based on an agile methodology, considering the feedback received from the BDI referents at each development cycle.
Indeed, the DD&AS was developed and is operated jointly by MARIS, CNR-IIA and CINECA during the Blue-Cloud pilot project. CNR-IIA will contribute to BlueCloud 2026 by providing, operating and advancing the Discovery and Access Broker (DAB) technology, which implements a brokerage approach to discover and access in a harmonized way multidisciplinary data shared online through heterogeneous web services.
In particular, CNR-IIA will contribute to the inclusion of additional BDIs compared to the pilot developed in the Blue-Cloud project, in particular EMSO, EMODNet Physics, EMBRC (EMO-BON) and SIOS. Each BDI will first of all be analyzed as regards the applications and services already available for data sharing on the web: in particular, the protocols used, the data models and their coding will be described. The resulting reports will be useful both to provide suggestions to data providers to improve the online publication, and for the subsequent implementation of the connection with the DD&AS by CNR-IIA.
The technical activity for which CNR-IIA is responsible will proceed with an implementation based on an agile methodology, considering the feedback received from the BDI referents at each development cycle.
The objectives of Blue-Cloud 2026 include:
• Further develop the pilot Blue-Cloud ecosystem into a federated European ecosystem to provide FAIR and open data, analytical services and instrumental support for ocean research.
• Develop a marine thematic extension to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) composed of open web services for sharing and analyzing marine data for scientific purposes.
• Meeting the needs of EU marine agendas (sustainable blue economy, marine strategy and marine knowledge)
• Provide basic data service for the Digital Twin of the Ocean
• Mobilize and make available additional data infrastructure resources such as in-situ data.
• Develop a modular architecture that is scalable and sustainable and can be used to connect additional marine analytical infrastructure and services and address a growing range of users.
• Further develop the pilot Blue-Cloud ecosystem into a federated European ecosystem to provide FAIR and open data, analytical services and instrumental support for ocean research.
• Develop a marine thematic extension to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) composed of open web services for sharing and analyzing marine data for scientific purposes.
• Meeting the needs of EU marine agendas (sustainable blue economy, marine strategy and marine knowledge)
• Provide basic data service for the Digital Twin of the Ocean
• Mobilize and make available additional data infrastructure resources such as in-situ data.
• Develop a modular architecture that is scalable and sustainable and can be used to connect additional marine analytical infrastructure and services and address a growing range of users.
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL - CNR - IT
TRUST-IT SRL - TRUST-IT - IT
MARIENE INFORMATION SERVICE MARIS BV - MARIS - NL
NUBISWARE SRL - NUBISWARE - IT
INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE RECHERCHE POUR L'EXPLOITATION DE LA MER - IFREMER - FR
SEASCAPE BELGIUM - SSBE - BE
MERCATOR OCEAN - MOI - FR
VLAAMS INSTITUUT VOOR DE ZEE - VLIZ - BE
FOUNDATION EURO-MEDITERRANEAN CENTER ON CLIMATE CHANGE - CMCC - IT
EUROPEAN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY LABORATORY - EMBL - DE
KONINKLIJK NEDERLANDS METEOROLOGISCH INSTITUUT - KNMI - NL
CINECA INTERUNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM - CINECA - IT
NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURES FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY - GRNET - EL
SORBONNE UNIVERSITY - SU - FR
UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM - UvA - NL
IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNAS - FORTH - EL
INSTITUT DE RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPPEMENT - IRD - FR
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OCEANOGRAPHY AND EXPERIMENTAL GEOPHYSICS - OGS -IT
HELLENIC CENTER FOR MARINE RESEARCH - HCMR - EL
ETT SPA - ETT - IT
EUROPEAN MULTIDISCIPLINARY SEAFLOORAND WATER COLUMN OBSERVATORY - EUROPEAN RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE CONSORTIUM - EMSO ERIC - IT
ALFRED-WEGENER-INSTITUT HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR POLAR- UND MEERESFORSCHUNG - AWI - DE
UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE – ULiege - BE
STICHTING EGI - EGI - NL
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GEOPHYSICS AND VOLCANOLOGY - INGV - IT
SOCIB - CONSORCIO PARA EL DISENO, CONSTRUCCION, EQUIPAMIENTO Y EXPLOTACION DEL SISTEMA DE OBSERVACION COSTERO DE LAS ILLES BALEEARS - SOCIB - ES
EUROPEAN GLOBAL OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEM - EUROGOOS - BE
SVERIGES METEOROLOGISKA OCH HYDROLOGISKA INSTITUT - SMHI - SE
EUROPEAN MARINE BIOLOGICAL RESOURCE CENTER EUROPEAN RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE CONSORTIUM - EMBRC-ERIC - FR
HIDROGRAPHIC INSTITUTE - IH - PT
SIOS SVALBARD AS - SIOS - NO
INSTYTUT OCEANOLOGII POLSKIEJ AKADEMII NAUK - IO PAN - IOPAN - PL
STIFTELSEN HUB OCEAN - HUB Ocean - NO
IEEE FRANCE SECTION - IEEE - FR
OCEANSCOPE - OceanScope - FR
POKAPOK - POKAPOK - FR
NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY CENTER - NOC - UK
TRUST-IT SRL - TRUST-IT - IT
MARIENE INFORMATION SERVICE MARIS BV - MARIS - NL
NUBISWARE SRL - NUBISWARE - IT
INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE RECHERCHE POUR L'EXPLOITATION DE LA MER - IFREMER - FR
SEASCAPE BELGIUM - SSBE - BE
MERCATOR OCEAN - MOI - FR
VLAAMS INSTITUUT VOOR DE ZEE - VLIZ - BE
FOUNDATION EURO-MEDITERRANEAN CENTER ON CLIMATE CHANGE - CMCC - IT
EUROPEAN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY LABORATORY - EMBL - DE
KONINKLIJK NEDERLANDS METEOROLOGISCH INSTITUUT - KNMI - NL
CINECA INTERUNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM - CINECA - IT
NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURES FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY - GRNET - EL
SORBONNE UNIVERSITY - SU - FR
UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM - UvA - NL
IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNAS - FORTH - EL
INSTITUT DE RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPPEMENT - IRD - FR
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OCEANOGRAPHY AND EXPERIMENTAL GEOPHYSICS - OGS -IT
HELLENIC CENTER FOR MARINE RESEARCH - HCMR - EL
ETT SPA - ETT - IT
EUROPEAN MULTIDISCIPLINARY SEAFLOORAND WATER COLUMN OBSERVATORY - EUROPEAN RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE CONSORTIUM - EMSO ERIC - IT
ALFRED-WEGENER-INSTITUT HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR POLAR- UND MEERESFORSCHUNG - AWI - DE
UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE – ULiege - BE
STICHTING EGI - EGI - NL
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GEOPHYSICS AND VOLCANOLOGY - INGV - IT
SOCIB - CONSORCIO PARA EL DISENO, CONSTRUCCION, EQUIPAMIENTO Y EXPLOTACION DEL SISTEMA DE OBSERVACION COSTERO DE LAS ILLES BALEEARS - SOCIB - ES
EUROPEAN GLOBAL OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEM - EUROGOOS - BE
SVERIGES METEOROLOGISKA OCH HYDROLOGISKA INSTITUT - SMHI - SE
EUROPEAN MARINE BIOLOGICAL RESOURCE CENTER EUROPEAN RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE CONSORTIUM - EMBRC-ERIC - FR
HIDROGRAPHIC INSTITUTE - IH - PT
SIOS SVALBARD AS - SIOS - NO
INSTYTUT OCEANOLOGII POLSKIEJ AKADEMII NAUK - IO PAN - IOPAN - PL
STIFTELSEN HUB OCEAN - HUB Ocean - NO
IEEE FRANCE SECTION - IEEE - FR
OCEANSCOPE - OceanScope - FR
POKAPOK - POKAPOK - FR
NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY CENTER - NOC - UK
Henry Boldrini
Robert Roncella
Fabrizio Papeschi
Massimiliano Olivieri
Matthias Santoro
Lena Rettori
Paul Mazzetti