Insights from the first Horizon Cloud Summit 2020

On 25 & 26 November 2020, H-CLOUD organised its first major community event: The virtual edition of Horizon Cloud Summit 2020. Aim of the event was to gather researchers and innovators, Cloud stakeholders, as well as Cloud initiatives and projects to be on top of the relevant technology and market developments and to:

  • Discuss and shape the Strategic Agenda for Research, Innovation and Deployment of Cloud Computing in Europe as a crucial step to guide future public and private investments, by identifying the main research, innovation and deployment opportunities and challenges,
  • Share information on the latest advancements in the European Cloud Computing landscape, including relevant research initiatives, regulations, innovation, market opportunities, emerging use cases, as well as markets and business models, and
  • Increase collaboration among Cloud stakeholders and foster the creation of synergies across the European Cloud Computing ecosystem, that will ensure its growth.

The first Horizon Cloud Summit counted 340 registered participants from 37 countries, 59 speakers and 23 sessions.

DAY 1

The Opening Session of Summit Day 1, which was moderated by Martel Innovate CEO Dr Monique Calisti, kicked-off with an Introduction of the H-CLOUD project by H-CLOUD project coordinator Dr Federico M. Facca, Martel Innovate, and continued with the Keynote Session “Towards European Sovereignty in Data and Cloud” by Pierre Chastanet, Head of Unit Cloud & Software, European Commission. Hereafter, a high-profile panel of Cloud experts from academia, industry and public institutions discussed the future of Cloud Computing in Europe and set the scene for the Horizon Cloud Summit 2020. Panel members were: Pierre Chastanet (Head of Unit Cloud & Software, European Commission), Ana Juan Ferrer (Head of NG Cloud Lab, ATOS), Andreas Weiss (Director EuroCloud Deutschland and member of Gaia-X Architecture Board, eco/GAIA-X), Gianluca Granero (Tech Entrepreneur and Manager, Cubbit), Matt McNeil (Director of Solutions & Technology, Google Cloud, EMEA, Google), Alain Fiocco (CTO, OVHcloud), and Dr Jurry de la Mar (Account Director for International Research and Space Programs, T-Systems  / Deutsche Telekom).

The Opening Session continued with a series of Parallel Sessions evolving around the topic Cloud Computing Research Challenges and Skills: BluSpecs organised a panel session on trends in the provision of market relevant Cloud services in Europe, MELODIC/MORPHEMIC provided a workshop on Multi-Cloud application modelling, configuration, deployment, and adaptation, PLEDGER offered a workshop on quality of service for edge-to-Cloud continuum, and EGI Foundation held a workshop on research challenges for scientific Cloud. The day was closed with a wrap up session moderated by Angele Giuliano from AcrossLimits.

DAY 2

The second Opening Session of Horizon Cloud Summit, moderated by Mark Dietrich from EGI Foundation, started with the Keynote Session “GAIA-X: A federated European data infrastructure” by Andreas Weiss, Director EuroCloud Deutschland and member of Gaia-X Architecture Board, eco/GAIA-X. Hereafter Manuel Mateo Goyet, Deputy Head of Unit Cloud & Software, European Commission, introduced the thematic session “From Digital Europe to High Impact Project”. This thematic session included three parallel sessions on the three key priorities for the EU Data Strategy & European Green Deal: Cloud Federation, Cloud-Edge Continuum & Sustainable Cloud for Greener Europe. The morning ended with a session wrapping up the first half of the day, which was moderated by Gianni Dalla Torre from EGI Foundation.

After the lunch break, the second half of the day continued with Alessandra Massaro from IDC, who kicked off the thematic session of the afternoon. This session focused on success stories, best practices and use cases for innovating through Cloud adoption and included two parallel and a panel session, moderated Massimiliano Claps and Carla Arend from IDC, on public service and private Cloud best practices. The day ended with a session in which H-CLOUD partners Dr Federico M. Facca (Martel Innovate), Steve Robertshaw (AcrossLimits), and Gabriella Cattaneo (IDC) elaborated on the insights of the Summit and how they can be integrated into H-CLOUD’s Strategic Agenda for Cloud Research, Innovation and Deployment in Europe (SRIA).

The H-CLOUD team thanks all speakers and participants for taking part in Horizon Cloud Summit 2020! We look forward to meeting you again next year during Horizon Cloud Summit 2021!

H-CLOUD summit

 

In case you missed Horizon Cloud Summit, you can find the speakers’ PowerPoint presentations here or watch the session recordings here.